Learn Arabic › B1 › نَبَأ
نَبَأ
news, tidings /ˈnabaʔ/
nounB1#2989 most common
Also: report, significant piece of information
Example sentences
هَذَا نَبَأٌ سَعِيدٌ.
This is happy news.
قَرَأْتُ نَبَأً غَرِيبًا فِي الجَرِيدَةِ.
I read strange news in the newspaper.
أَذَاعَتِ القَنَاةُ نَبَأَ وَفَاةِ الفَنَّانِ.
The channel broadcast the news of the artist's death.
تَنَاقَلَتْ وَسَائِلُ الإِعْلَامِ هَذَا النَّبَأَ بِسُرْعَةٍ.
Media outlets passed along this news quickly.
يَتَسَاءَلُ النَّاسُ عَنِ النَّبَإِ العَظِيمِ الَّذِي يَتَحَدَّثُونَ عَنْهُ.
People ask each other about the great tiding they keep discussing.
سُمِّيَتِ السُّورَةُ الثَّامِنَةُ وَالسَّبْعُونَ بِالنَّبَإِ لِوُرُودِ هَذِهِ الكَلِمَةِ فِي مَطْلَعِهَا.
The seventy-eighth surah is named An-Naba because this word appears at its opening.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | نَبَأٌ | أَنْبَاءٌ |
| Genitive | نَبَإٍ | أَنْبَاءٍ |
| Accusative | نَبَأً | أَنْبَاءً |
| Vocative | يَا نَبَأُ | يَا أَنْبَاءُ |
Word family
نَبِيّprophet
أَنْبَأَto inform, tell
تَنَبَّأَto predict, prophesy
إِنْبَاءthe act of informing
أَنْبَاءnews items (plural of naba')
Etymology
Naba' comes from the Semitic root n-b-', which carries the sense of announcing or making known. Arabic built a family of words on this root for the act of telling and the news itself. The same root produced the word for prophet in both Arabic and Hebrew, since a prophet is literally one who brings an announcement. The word gained extra weight in religious Arabic, where it names important, often momentous, reports.
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