Learn Arabic › B2 › مُحْتال
مُحْتال
swindler /ˈmuħ.taːl/
nounB2#3327 most common
Also: con artist, trickster, crook
Example sentences
هذا الرجل محتال.
This man is a swindler.
لا تثق بهذا المحتال.
Don't trust this swindler.
ألقت الشرطة القبض على محتال مشهور في المدينة.
The police arrested a well-known swindler in the city.
حذرتني أمي من محتالين يدّعون أنهم موظفو بنك.
My mother warned me about swindlers who claim to be bank employees.
تمكن المحتال من إقناع ضحاياه بتحويل أموالهم عبر قصة مختلقة عن استثمار مربح.
The swindler managed to convince his victims to transfer their money through a fabricated story about a profitable investment.
على الرغم من أساليبه الملتوية، لم يفلح ذلك المحتال في الإفلات من العدالة بعدما كشفت التحقيقات المالية الدقيقة تفاصيل مخططه.
Despite his devious methods, that swindler did not manage to escape justice after precise financial investigations revealed the details of his scheme.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | مُحْتالٌ | مُحْتالونَ |
| Genitive | مُحْتالٍ | مُحْتالينَ |
| Accusative | مُحْتالاً | مُحْتالينَ |
| Vocative | يا مُحْتالُ | يا مُحْتالونَ |
Word family
حيلةtrick, ruse, stratagem
احتالto swindle, to scheme
حوّلto transform, to convert
استحالةimpossibility, transformation
حالstate, conditionEtymology
The word comes from the Semitic root ḥ-w-l, whose core sense is to turn or change, seen also in حال (state, condition) and حيلة (trick, stratagem). Form VIII of the verb, احتال, means to resort to cunning or scheme one's way to a goal. مُحْتال is the active participle of that verb, so it literally names one who turns and twists circumstances, and by extension a person who tricks or swindles others.
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