Learn ArabicB1 › مَأْساة

مَأْساة

tragedy /maʔˈsaːh/

nounB1#2784 most common

Also: disaster, calamity

Example sentences

هذه مأساة كبيرة.
This is a great tragedy.
عاشت العائلة مأساة حقيقية.
The family lived through a real tragedy.
تحولت القصة إلى مأساة إنسانية.
The story turned into a human tragedy.
كانت الحرب مأساة لم ينسها أحد.
The war was a tragedy no one forgot.
تتكرر مآسي اللاجئين في كل مكان.
The tragedies of refugees repeat everywhere.
لا يمكن اختزال مأساة الشعب في أرقام إحصائية.
The tragedy of a people cannot be reduced to statistical figures.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeمَأْسَاةٌمَآسٍ
Genitiveمَأْسَاةٍمَآسٍ
Accusativeمَأْسَاةًمَآسِيَ
Vocativeيا مَأْسَاةُيا مَآسِي

Word family

أسىgrief, sorrow
تأسىto grieve, mourn
مأساويtragic
مآسٍtragedies (plural)

Etymology

The word comes from the Arabic root ء-س-ي, tied to grief and sorrow. The related noun أسى means grief or sorrow itself. مأساة is built on the pattern مَفْعَلة, which turns a root into a noun naming a single instance or scene of that root's meaning, here a scene of grieving. It is a native Arabic formation, not a borrowing.

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