Learn Arabic › A2 › واسِطَة
واسِطَة
means; medium (of doing something) /ˈwaːsitˤa/
nounA2#707 most common
Also: intermediary; go-between, connections; nepotism (wasta), agency; instrumentality
Example sentences
عِندَهُ واسِطَة.
He has connections.
حَصَلَ على الوَظيفةِ بِالواسِطة.
He got the job through connections.
التِّليفون واسِطةُ اتِّصالٍ مُهِمّة.
The telephone is an important means of communication.
لَعِبَ دَورَ الواسِطةِ بَينَ الطَّرَفَينِ المُتَنازِعَين.
He played the role of intermediary between the two disputing parties.
يَعتَمِدُ كَثيرونَ على الواسِطةِ بَدَلاً مِنَ الكَفاءةِ في الحُصولِ على المَناصِب.
Many rely on connections rather than competence to get positions.
لَولا الواسِطةُ لَما تَمَكَّنَ مِن تَجاوُزِ تِلكَ العَقَباتِ الإِدارِيّةِ المُعَقَّدة.
Were it not for connections, he could not have overcome those complicated administrative obstacles.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | واسِطةٌ | وَسائِطُ |
| Genitive | واسِطةٍ | وَسائِطَ |
| Accusative | واسِطةً | وَسائِطَ |
| Vocative | يا واسِطةُ | يا وَسائِطُ |
Word family
وَسَطmiddle, center
وَسيطmediator, intermediary, broker
تَوَسَّطَto mediate, to be in the middle
مُتَوَسِّطaverage, medium; Mediterranean
بِواسِطةby means of, via
Etymology
واسِطة comes from the Semitic root و-س-ط, meaning middle or center. It is the feminine active participle, literally the one in the middle, and so came to mean an intermediary, a means, or a medium. The same root gives وَسَط (middle), وَسيط (mediator), and مُتَوَسِّط (average, Mediterranean). Arabic later passed the word into Turkish, Persian, and Urdu as a loan.
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