Learn ArabicB1 › نُفايَة

نُفايَة

trash, waste /nuˈfaː.ja/

nounB1#2759 most common

Also: garbage, refuse, rubbish

Example sentences

هٰذِهِ نُفايَة.
This is trash.
أَرمي النُّفايَة في السَّلَّة.
I throw the trash in the bin.
يَجِبُ فَرزُ النُّفاياتِ قَبلَ رَميها.
Waste must be sorted before it is thrown out.
تُسَبِّبُ النُّفاياتُ البلاستيكيَّةُ تَلَوُّثًا كَبيرًا في المُحيطاتِ.
Plastic waste causes major pollution in the oceans.
تَعمَلُ البَلَديَّةُ عَلى تَحويلِ نُفايَةِ الطَّعامِ إِلى سَمادٍ عُضويٍّ.
The municipality is working on turning food waste into organic compost.
لَولا القَوانينُ الصّارِمَةُ الَّتي تُلزِمُ المَصانِعَ بِمُعالَجَةِ نُفاياتِها الكيميائيَّةِ، لَتَفاقَمَتِ الأَزمَةُ البيئيَّةُ في المِنطَقَةِ.
If it weren't for the strict laws requiring factories to treat their chemical waste, the environmental crisis in the region would have worsened.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeنُفايَةٌنُفاياتٌ
Genitiveنُفايَةٍنُفاياتٍ
Accusativeنُفايَةًنُفاياتٍ
Vocativeيا نُفايَةُيا نُفاياتُ

Word family

نَفىto banish, exile, deny
نَفْيnegation, exile, banishment
مَنْفىplace of exile
نافِيةnegating (e.g. a grammatical negation particle)
نُفاياتwaste, garbage (plural, common in environmental contexts)

Etymology

Nufāya comes from the Arabic root n-f-y (ن ف ي), whose base verb nafā means to banish, expel, or negate. The noun pattern fuʿāla often names the leftover or byproduct of an action, so nufāya literally means the thing that has been cast off or rejected. Over time the word settled into everyday use for trash or waste, especially the discarded remainder of something once used.

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