سواد

Arabic

Root
س و د (s w d)
17 terms

سَوَاد صَبِيّةٍ (sawād ṣabiyyatin, “the silhouette of a girl”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.waːd/

Noun

سَوَاد • (sawād) m (plural أَسْوِدَة (ʔaswida) or أَسَاوِد (ʔasāwid))

1. (uncountable) blackness, black
2. (uncountable or countable) an indistinct or unrecognizable figure; a shape; a silhouette; the shadow of a thing or an animal

   رَأَيْتُ سَوَادًا مِنْ بَعِيدٍ ― raʔaytu sawādan min baʕīdin ― I saw a shape in the distance.

3. (uncountable) multitude (of people)

   سَوَادُ النَّاس ― sawādu n-nās ― the majority of people

4. (countable, rare) the body of a human or an animal

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ar:body

5. (uncountable) the backwoods; the countryside

   Synonyms: رِيف (rīf, “the countryside”), كَفْر (kafr, “a village”)

Declension

Declension of noun سَوَاد (sawād)

singular	basic singular triptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سَوَاد sawād	السَّوَاد as-sawād	سَوَاد sawād
nominative	سَوَادٌ sawādun	السَّوَادُ as-sawādu	سَوَادُ sawādu
accusative	سَوَادًا sawādan	السَّوَادَ as-sawāda	سَوَادَ sawāda
genitive	سَوَادٍ sawādin	السَّوَادِ as-sawādi	سَوَادِ sawādi
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سَوَادَيْن sawādayn	السَّوَادَيْن as-sawādayn	سَوَادَيْ sawāday
nominative	سَوَادَانِ sawādāni	السَّوَادَانِ as-sawādāni	سَوَادَا sawādā
accusative	سَوَادَيْنِ sawādayni	السَّوَادَيْنِ as-sawādayni	سَوَادَيْ sawāday
genitive	سَوَادَيْنِ sawādayni	السَّوَادَيْنِ as-sawādayni	سَوَادَيْ sawāday
plural	broken plural triptote in ـَة (-a)‎; basic broken plural diptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	أَسْوِدَة‎; أَسَاوِد ʔaswida‎; ʔasāwid	الْأَسْوِدَة‎; الْأَسَاوِد al-ʔaswida‎; al-ʔasāwid	أَسْوِدَة‎; أَسَاوِد ʔaswidat‎; ʔasāwid
nominative	أَسْوِدَةٌ‎; أَسَاوِدُ ʔaswidatun‎; ʔasāwidu	الْأَسْوِدَةُ‎; الْأَسَاوِدُ al-ʔaswidatu‎; al-ʔasāwidu	أَسْوِدَةُ‎; أَسَاوِدُ ʔaswidatu‎; ʔasāwidu
accusative	أَسْوِدَةً‎; أَسَاوِدَ ʔaswidatan‎; ʔasāwida	الْأَسْوِدَةَ‎; الْأَسَاوِدَ al-ʔaswidata‎; al-ʔasāwida	أَسْوِدَةَ‎; أَسَاوِدَ ʔaswidata‎; ʔasāwida
genitive	أَسْوِدَةٍ‎; أَسَاوِدَ ʔaswidatin‎; ʔasāwida	الْأَسْوِدَةِ‎; الْأَسَاوِدِ al-ʔaswidati‎; al-ʔasāwidi	أَسْوِدَةِ‎; أَسَاوِدِ ʔaswidati‎; ʔasāwidi

Descendants

• Cypriot Arabic: sfata
• Maltese: swied
• Moroccan Arabic: سواد (swād)
• → Ottoman Turkish: سواد (sevâd)
  • Turkish: sevad
  • → Armenian: սևատ (sewat), սևադ (sewad)
• → Ottoman Turkish: صاوات (savat), صوات (savat), صواد (savad)
  • Turkish: savat
  • → Albanian: savat
  • → Armenian: սավաթ (savatʻ)
• → Classical Persian: سَوَاد (sawād)
  • → Azerbaijani: savad
  • → Kazakh: сауат (sauat)
  • → Middle Armenian: սաւատ (sawat)
  • → Kyrgyz: сабат (sabat)
  • → Tatar: сәвәт (säwät), сәвад (säwad)
  • → Turkmen: sowat
  • → Uzbek: савод (savod)

Proper noun

سَوَاد • (sawād) f

1. (archaic, historical) Sawad, a fertile region in southern Iraq

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic سَوَاد (sawād, “blackness”). Doublet of صاوات (savat, “niello, Tula work”).

Noun

سواد • (sevâd) (definite accusative سوادی (sevâdı), plural سوادلر (sevâdlar))

1. blackness, darkness, lightlessness, the state, property or quality of being black, or an area of darkness

   Synonyms: سیاهلق (siyâhlık), قره‌لق (karalık)

2. ink, a colorant-based solution used to color a surface together with a quill, to produce an image, or text

   Synonym: مركب (mürekkeb)

3. writing, scripture, text, graphism of symbols such as characters or letters that express some meaning

   Synonyms: خط (hatt), نوشته (nevişte), یازی (yazı)

Derived terms

• تكثیر سواد ایتمك (teksir sevâd etmek, “to write superfluous things”)
• حامض سواد (hamız-ı sevâd, “melanic acid”)
• سواد اعظم (sevâd-ı aʼzâm, “Muslims faithful to the Caliph”)
• سواد البطن (sevâdüʼl-batn, “liver”)
• سواد العین (sevâdüʼl-ʼayn, “pupil of the eye”)
• سواد الوجه (sevâdüʼl-vech, “shame”)
• سواد خط (sevâd-ı hat, “writing ink”)
• سواد عراق (sevâd-ı ʼirâk, “Sawad”)
• سوادلو (sevâdlı, “diversified with black”)

Descendants

• Turkish: sevad
• → Armenian: սևատ (sewat), սևադ (sewad)

Proper noun

سواد • (sevâd)

1. (historical) Sawad, the name of a fertile region in southern Iraq used in early Islamic times

   Synonym: سواد عراق (sevâd-ı ʼirâk)

Descendants

• Turkish: Sevad

Further reading

click to expand

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886), “سواد”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 103
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “sevad”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4172
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962), “sevâd”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[1] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1132
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “سواد”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 696
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Nigredo”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 1137
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “سواد”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 2694
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “سواد”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1085

Persian

سواد (etymology 1 sense 7)

سواد (etymology 1 sense 9)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Arabic سَوَاد (sawād).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /sa.ˈwaːd/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sä.wɑ́ːd̪]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sä.wɑ́ːd̪]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [sä.wɑ́ːd̪]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [sä.wɔ́ːd̪̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [sæ.vɒ́ːd̪̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [sä.vɔ́d̪]

Readings
Classical reading?	sawād
Dari reading?	sawād
Iranian reading?	savâd
Tajik reading?	savod

Noun

سواد • (savâd) (plural سوادها)

1. (archaic, literature) blackness (of hair, eyes, ink, etc.)
   • Saadi Shirazi

     لبان لعل چون خون کبوتر -- سواد زلف چون پر پرستو

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (archaic, literature) darkness (of night, etc.)
3. (archaic, literature) innermost part (of heart)
4. (archaic) draft, an early version of a written document
   • Tarikh-i Bayhaqi

     استادم گفته سوادی کرده ام امروز بیاض کنند... گفت [ امیر ] نیک آمد.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (archaic) manuscript (hand-written document)
   • Khaqani

     منم که گاه کتابت سواد شعر مرا فلک سزد که شود دفتر و ملک ورّاق .

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

6. (archaic) copy (the result of copying)
8. (archaic, historical) Sawad, the fertile territory in southern Mesopotamia
9. (archaic) countryside (rural area) (used both in singular and plural forms)
   • Hudud al-'Alam

     و اندر وی [ اندر خوزستان ] رودهای عظیم و آبهای روان است و سوادهای خرم

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

11. (archaic, architecture) decorative facade in Sasanian architecture, such as that of Arch of Ctesiphon
    • مرآت البلدان ناصری

      بالای این درگاه چهار طبقه پنجره است که از برای زینت جلو عمارت بنا شده و به اصطلاح بناهای این عصر آنها را سواد می نامند

      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

12. literacy

    در تعریف سنتی سواد، توانایی خواندن و نوشتن است و یا توانایی به‌کاربردن زبان برای خواندن

    In the traditional sense, literacy is either the ability to read and write or one's own ability to read

13. being knowledgeable and competent

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: savad
• → Kazakh: сауат (sauat)
• → Middle Armenian: սաւատ (sawat)
• → Kyrgyz: сабат (sabat)
• → Tatar: сәвәт (säwät), сәвад (säwad)
• → Turkmen: sowat
• → Uzbek: савод (savod)

See also

• باسوادی (bâ-savâdi, “literate, educated”)

Etymology 2

Noun

سواد • (sovâd)

1. an animal disease

References

• Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–), “سواد”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press.

• محمد معین [Mohammad-e Mo'in] (1972), “سواد”, in Jafar Shahidi, editor, فرهنگ فارسی معین [Farhang-e Fârsi-ye Mo'in, Moin Persian Dictionary] (in Persian), Tehran: Amir Kabir Publishers.

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit स्वाद (svāda).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /sʋɑːd̪/
• Rhymes: -ɑːd̪

Noun

سْواد • (svād) m (Hindi spelling स्वाद)

1. taste, flavour

Declension

Declension of سواد

	singular	plural
direct	سْواد (svād)	سْواد (svād)
oblique	سْواد (svād)	سْوادوں (svādõ)
vocative	سْواد (svād)	سْوادو (svādo)

Synonyms

• ذَائِقَہ (zāiqa), لَذَّت (lazzat)

Further reading

• Fallon, S. W. (1879), “سواد”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co., page 788
• Platts, John T. (1884), “سواد”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 691
• “سواد”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.
• John Shakespear (1834), “سواد”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC, page 1112
• “سواد”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.