Learn Arabic › A2 › مِسْكِين
مِسْكِين
poor person /misˈkiːn/
nounA2#1194 most common
Also: poor thing, wretch, needy person
Example sentences
هَذَا الوَلَدُ مِسْكِينٌ.
This boy is poor.
أَعْطَتِ المَرْأَةُ مالًا لِلمِسْكِينِ.
The woman gave money to the poor man.
المِسْكِينُ لا يَجِدُ طَعامًا يَأْكُلُهُ.
The poor man cannot find food to eat.
ساعَدَ المُتَطَوِّعونَ المَساكِينَ في الشِّتاءِ البارِدِ.
The volunteers helped the needy during the cold winter.
يا لَهُ مِنْ مِسْكِينٍ، فَقَدَ كُلَّ ما يَملِكُ في لَحظَةٍ واحِدَةٍ.
What a poor wretch; he lost everything he owned in a single moment.
كانَ مِسْكِينًا في مالِهِ ومِسْكِينًا في رُوحِهِ، عاجِزًا عَنِ الدِّفاعِ عَن نَفسِهِ أَمامَ ظُلمِ الأَقوِياءِ.
He was poor in his money and poor in his spirit, unable to defend himself against the injustice of the strong.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | مِسْكِينٌ | مَسَاكِينُ |
| Genitive | مِسْكِينٍ | مَسَاكِينَ |
| Accusative | مِسْكِينًا | مَسَاكِينَ |
| Vocative | يا مِسْكِينُ | يا مَسَاكِينُ |
Word family
مِسْكِينَةpoor woman; poor thing (f.)
مَسَاكِينpoor people, the needy (pl.)
مَسْكَنَةdestitution; abject humility
تَمَسْكَنَto feign meekness or poverty
Etymology
مِسْكِين is an old Semitic loanword. It traces to Akkadian muškēnu, a term for a dependent commoner, and reached Arabic through Aramaic. From Arabic it later passed into Europe, giving Italian meschino, French mesquin, and Spanish mezquino, all meaning mean or wretched. Arabic speakers came to feel it as belonging to the root س ك ن, to be still, but that link is a later association rather than its true source.
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