Learn Arabic › B1 › هائِل
هائِل
enormous /ˈhaːʔil/
adjectiveB1#1793 most common
Also: tremendous, terrifying, appalling
Example sentences
هذا مبلغ هائِل.
This is an enormous sum.
لديه عدد هائِل من الكتب.
He has a huge number of books.
واجهت الشركة خسارة مالية هائِلة هذا العام.
The company faced a tremendous financial loss this year.
أحدث الزلزال دماراً هائِلاً في المدينة.
The earthquake caused enormous destruction in the city.
بذل الفريق جهداً هائِلاً لإنجاز المشروع قبل الموعد النهائي.
The team made a tremendous effort to finish the project before the deadline.
رغم التقدم التقني الهائِل، لا يزال البشر عاجزين أمام قوى الطبيعة.
Despite the immense technological progress, humans remain powerless before the forces of nature.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | هائِلٌ | هائِلونَ |
| Genitive | هائِلٍ | هائِلينَ |
| Accusative | هائِلاً | هائِلينَ |
| Vocative | يا هائِلُ | يا هائِلونَ |
Word family
Etymology
هائِل is the active participle of the verb هالَ, meaning to frighten or terrify. It derives from the triliteral root ه-و-ل, which carries the sense of fear, dread, and overwhelming scale. Over time the word shifted from describing what is terrifying to describing what is simply vast or enormous, much as the English word terrific lost its link to terror.
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