Learn Arabic › A1 › نِصْف
نِصْف
half /ˈnisˤf/
nounA1#416 most common
Also: middle (in compounds like midnight), one of two equal parts
Example sentences
هٰذَا نِصْفُ تُفّاحَةٍ.
This is half an apple.
اِنْتَظِرْني نِصْفَ ساعَةٍ.
Wait for me for half an hour.
أَكَلَ الطِّفْلُ نِصْفَ الكَعْكَةِ ثُمَّ تَرَكَ الباقِيَ.
The child ate half the cake, then left the rest.
يَعيشُ نِصْفُ سُكّانِ المَدينَةِ في الضَّواحي.
Half the city's residents live in the suburbs.
لَمْ يَقُلْ لي إِلّا نِصْفَ الحَقيقَةِ، وَأَخْفى النِّصْفَ الآخَرَ.
He told me only half the truth and hid the other half.
إِنَّ نِصْفَ العِلْمِ أَخْطَرُ مِنَ الجَهْلِ، لِأَنَّ صاحِبَهُ يَظُنُّ أَنَّهُ أَحاطَ بِالكُلِّ.
Half-knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance, because the one who holds it thinks he has grasped the whole.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | نِصْفٌ | أَنْصَافٌ |
| Genitive | نِصْفٍ | أَنْصَافٍ |
| Accusative | نِصْفًا | أَنْصَافًا |
| Vocative | يا نِصْفُ | يا أَنْصَافُ |
Word family
أَنْصَافhalves (plural)
نِصْفِيّsemi-, half-
مُنْتَصَفmiddle, midpointإِنْصَافfairness, equity
نَصَفَto halve, to reach the middle
Etymology
نِصْف comes from the Semitic root n-ṣ-f, which carries the idea of dividing something into two equal parts. The same root gives إِنْصَاف, meaning fairness, since to be fair is to give each side its equal share. The word passed into Maltese as nofs, still meaning half.
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