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Learn Arabic › B2 › نَشّ

نَشّ

to shoo away (an animal, bird, or insect) /ˈnaʃːa/

verbB2#3488 most common

Also: to dry up, evaporate (of water), to sizzle, hiss (in frying or boiling), to buzz, hum (of insects)

Example sentences

نَشَّ الوَلَدُ القِطَّةَ عَنِ الطَّاوِلَةِ.
The boy shooed the cat off the table.
نُشَّ الذُّبَابَ عَنِ الطَّعَامِ!
Shoo the flies away from the food!
نَشَّتِ الفَلّاحَةُ الدَّجاجَ بَعيدًا عَنِ الحَديقَةِ.
The farmer woman shooed the chickens away from the garden.
نَشَّ الحارِسُ الأَطفالَ الذين كانوا يَتَسَلَّقونَ السُّورَ.
The guard shooed away the children who were climbing the wall.
نَشَّتِ البُحَيْرَةُ الصَّغيرَةُ تَمامًا بَعدَ أَشهُرٍ مِنَ الجَفافِ.
The small lake dried up completely after months of drought.
نَشَّ الزَّيْتُ في المِقلاةِ بِصَوتٍ عالٍ حينَ وَضَعَتِ الطاهِيَةُ قِطَعَ الدَّجاجِ.
The oil sizzled loudly in the pan when the cook put in the pieces of chicken.

Conjugation

Present ActiveSimple Past ActiveSimple Future Active
1sgأَنُشّنَشَشْتُسَأَنُشّ
2sgتَنُشّنَشَشْتَسَتَنُشّ
3sgيَنُشّنَشَّسَيَنُشّ
1plنَنُشّنَشَشْناسَنَنُشّ
2plتَنُشّوننَشَشْتُمسَتَنُشّون
3plيَنُشّوننَشُّواسَيَنُشّون

Word family

نَشيشa hissing or sizzling sound
مِنَشّةa fly whisk or fan used for shooing flies
ناشّone who shoos away; also, water that is drying up
نُشوشdrying up, desiccation (of water)

Etymology

نَشّ comes from the Semitic triliteral root ن-ش-ش, a geminate root in which the second and third consonants are identical and merge under the shadda. The root likely began as an onomatopoeic word for a sharp hissing or sizzling sound, the kind made by frying oil or evaporating water. From that sound, Arabic speakers extended the verb to the quick hissing gesture used to drive off flies, cats, or chickens, and separately to water that hisses away as it dries up. Arabic is a Semitic language, not an Indo-European one, so it has no Proto-Indo-European root; its ancestry lies in Proto-Semitic sound-symbolic roots instead.

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