Learn ArabicB2 › مَأْسَوِيّ

مَأْسَوِيّ

tragic /maʔsaːˈwij/

adjectiveB2#3973 most common

Also: tragical, calamitous, disastrous

Example sentences

هذا خبر مأساوي.
This is tragic news.
انتهت القصة بنهاية مأساوية.
The story ended with a tragic ending.
عاش الكاتب حياة مأساوية مليئة بالخسائر.
The writer lived a tragic life full of losses.
وصف الصحفيون الحادث بأنه مأساوي بكل المقاييس.
Journalists described the accident as tragic by every measure.
تحمل الرواية طابعاً مأساوياً يعكس معاناة الشعب خلال الحرب.
The novel carries a tragic character that reflects the people's suffering during the war.
بالرغم من الطابع المأساوي الذي غلب على الأحداث، استطاعت الحكومة معالجة الأزمة بكفاءة.
Despite the tragic character that dominated events, the government managed to handle the crisis efficiently.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeمَأْسَاوِيٌّمَأْسَاوِيُّونَ
Genitiveمَأْسَاوِيٍّمَأْسَاوِيِّينَ
Accusativeمَأْسَاوِيًّامَأْسَاوِيِّينَ
Vocativeيا مَأْسَاوِيُّيا مَأْسَاوِيُّونَ

Word family

مأساةtragedy
مآسٍtragedies
أسىgrief, sorrow
تأسّىto console oneself, to take comfort
مأساويةtragic (feminine form)

Etymology

The word comes from the Arabic root ء-س-و/ي, the same root behind أسِيَ (to grieve) and أسى (grief, sorrow). From this root Arabic formed مأساة, literally an instance of grief, which came to mean tragedy in the literary sense. مأساوي is the relational (nisba) adjective built from مأساة, so it means of or belonging to tragedy. The root is native Semitic, not a borrowing from Greek tragōidia, even though the modern literary sense of tragedy overlaps with the Western concept.

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