Learn ArabicA2 › مَن

مَن

who /ˈman/

otherA2#866 most common

Also: whoever, whom, the one who

Example sentences

مَن هَذَا؟
Who is this?
مَن أَنْتَ؟
Who are you?
مَن طَرَقَ البَابَ؟
Who knocked on the door?
مَن يَزُرْنِي أُكْرِمْهُ.
Whoever visits me, I will honor him.
لَا أَعْرِفُ مَن أَخَذَ كِتَابِي.
I do not know who took my book.
مَن جَدَّ وَجَدَ، وَمَن زَرَعَ حَصَدَ.
Whoever strives finds, and whoever sows reaps.

Word family

مَاwhat
مَاذَاwhat
مَهْمَاwhatever
أَيّwhich

Etymology

مَن descends from a Proto-Semitic interrogative pronoun for animate beings, reconstructed as *man, meaning 'who'. The same form survives across the family: Akkadian mannu, Aramaic man, and Ge'ez mannu all mean 'who'. Arabic kept both the question word and a relative use, 'the one who'.

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More Arabic words

تَعامُلdealing, interactionحارِسguardدَوْمdoum palmعادِيّordinary, normalصَنْعmakingمَسْأَلَةmatter, issueمانَعto object (to), to mindمَحَطَّةstation