Learn Arabic › B2 › مُسْتَنْقَع
مُسْتَنْقَع
swamp /mus.ˈtan.qaʕ/
nounB2#3989 most common
Also: marsh, bog, quagmire (figurative)
Example sentences
هُنَاكَ مُسْتَنْقَعٌ خَلْفَ الْبَيْتِ.
There is a swamp behind the house.
الضَّفَادِعُ تَعِيشُ فِي الْمُسْتَنْقَعِ.
Frogs live in the swamp.
سَقَطَتِ السَّيَّارَةُ فِي الْمُسْتَنْقَعِ وَعَلِقَتْ فِيهِ.
The car fell into the swamp and got stuck in it.
تَحَوَّلَتِ الْحَدِيقَةُ إِلَى مُسْتَنْقَعٍ بَعْدَ الْأَمْطَارِ الْغَزِيرَةِ.
The garden turned into a swamp after the heavy rains.
يَصِفُ الْكَاتِبُ الْفَسَادَ السِّيَاسِيَّ بِأَنَّهُ مُسْتَنْقَعٌ يَبْتَلِعُ كُلَّ مَنْ يَقْتَرِبُ مِنْهُ.
The writer describes political corruption as a swamp that swallows everyone who comes near it.
لَمْ تَكُنِ الْحَرْبُ سِوَى مُسْتَنْقَعٍ اسْتَنْزَفَ مَوَارِدَ الدَّوْلَةِ وَأَرْوَاحَ جُنُودِهَا لِعُقُودٍ.
The war was nothing but a quagmire that drained the state's resources and its soldiers' lives for decades.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | مُسْتَنْقَعٌ | مُسْتَنْقَعَاتٌ |
| Genitive | مُسْتَنْقَعٍ | مُسْتَنْقَعَاتٍ |
| Accusative | مُسْتَنْقَعًا | مُسْتَنْقَعَاتٍ |
| Vocative | يَا مُسْتَنْقَعُ | يَا مُسْتَنْقَعَاتُ |
Word family
اِسْتَنْقَعَto stagnate, sit as a pool
نَقَعَto soak, steep
مَنْقُوعsteeped drink; soaked
مُسْتَنْقَعَاتswamps, marshes (plural)
نَقِيعinfusion, steeped liquid
Etymology
The word comes from the Arabic root ن-ق-ع (n-q-ʿ), which covers the idea of water sitting still and soaking into the ground. مُسْتَنْقَع is built on the Form X pattern مُسْتَفْعَل, which turns a verb of state into a noun naming the place where that state occurs. So the word literally names the place where water stagnates. This is a native Semitic formation, not a borrowing.
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