Learn Arabic › B1 › وَحْشِيّ
وَحْشِيّ
wild /waħˈʃiːj/
adjectiveB1#2755 most common
Also: savage, brutal, barbaric
Example sentences
الأسدُ حيوانٌ وحشيٌّ.
The lion is a wild animal.
رأينا حيواناتٍ وحشيّةً في حديقة السفاري.
We saw wild animals in the safari park.
كان الهجومُ وحشيًّا جدًّا.
The attack was very brutal.
عوملت الحيواناتُ بطريقةٍ وحشيةٍ في ذلك المكان.
The animals were treated in a brutal way in that place.
وصفت وسائل الإعلام الجريمة بأنها وحشية لا تليق بالبشر.
The media described the crime as savage, unbefitting of humans.
على الرغم من غريزته الوحشية، ألِفَ الحيوانُ العيشَ بين البشر.
Despite its wild instinct, the animal grew used to living among humans.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | وَحْشِيٌّ | وَحْشِيُّونَ |
| Genitive | وَحْشِيٍّ | وَحْشِيِّينَ |
| Accusative | وَحْشِيًّا | وَحْشِيِّينَ |
| Vocative | وَحْشِيٌّ | وَحْشِيُّونَ |
Word family
وَحْشwild beast, wild animal
وَحْشَةloneliness, desolation
وَحْشِيَّةsavagery, brutality
تَوَحُّشbarbarism, going feral
مُتَوَحِّشsavage, feral, brutal
Etymology
وَحْشِيّ comes from the Arabic triliteral root و ح ش, which gives the noun وَحْش, 'wild beast, creature of the untamed land'. Adding the nisba suffix ـِيّ, the common Arabic way of turning a noun into an 'of/belonging to' adjective, produces 'of the wild, wild-like'. Over time the sense extended from untamed animals to savage or brutal human conduct. The same root gives وَحْشَة, 'desolation, loneliness', since the wilderness was seen as the empty, unpeopled space beyond settled life.
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