قاموس

Arabic

FWOTD – 26 October 2017

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós). Sense 1 stems from the title of Firuzabadi’s dictionary, the The Encompassing ὠκεανός, which became popular.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qaː.muːs/
  • (Hijazi) IPA^(key): [qaː.muːs], [ɡaː.muːs]

Noun

قَامُوس • (qāmūs) m (plural قَوَامِيس (qawāmīs))

2. dictionary, lexicon

   Synonym: مُعْجَم (muʕjam)

   قَامُوسٌ جَيْبِيٌّ ― qāmūsun jaybiyyun ― pocket dictionary

   • 2014 August 30, “جديد أكسفورد قاموس رائد”, in Al-Akhbar‎^[1]:

     يَضُمُّ ٱلْقَامُوسُ ٱلْجَدِيدُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ 130 أَلْفَ كَلِمَةٍ وَعِبَارَةٍ

     yaḍummu l-qāmūsu l-jadīdu ʔakṯara min 130 ʔalfa kalimatin waʕibāratin

     The new dictionary covers more than 130 thousand words and expressions

3. (obsolete) ocean

   Synonyms: مُحِيط (muḥīṭ), خِضَمّ (ḵiḍamm)

Declension

Declension of noun قَامُوس (qāmūs)

singular	basic singular triptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	قَامُوس qāmūs	الْقَامُوس al-qāmūs	قَامُوس qāmūs
nominative	قَامُوسٌ qāmūsun	الْقَامُوسُ al-qāmūsu	قَامُوسُ qāmūsu
accusative	قَامُوسًا qāmūsan	الْقَامُوسَ al-qāmūsa	قَامُوسَ qāmūsa
genitive	قَامُوسٍ qāmūsin	الْقَامُوسِ al-qāmūsi	قَامُوسِ qāmūsi
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	قَامُوسَيْن qāmūsayn	الْقَامُوسَيْن al-qāmūsayn	قَامُوسَيْ qāmūsay
nominative	قَامُوسَانِ qāmūsāni	الْقَامُوسَانِ al-qāmūsāni	قَامُوسَا qāmūsā
accusative	قَامُوسَيْنِ qāmūsayni	الْقَامُوسَيْنِ al-qāmūsayni	قَامُوسَيْ qāmūsay
genitive	قَامُوسَيْنِ qāmūsayni	الْقَامُوسَيْنِ al-qāmūsayni	قَامُوسَيْ qāmūsay
plural	basic broken plural diptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	قَوَامِيس qawāmīs	الْقَوَامِيس al-qawāmīs	قَوَامِيس qawāmīs
nominative	قَوَامِيسُ qawāmīsu	الْقَوَامِيسُ al-qawāmīsu	قَوَامِيسُ qawāmīsu
accusative	قَوَامِيسَ qawāmīsa	الْقَوَامِيسَ al-qawāmīsa	قَوَامِيسَ qawāmīsa
genitive	قَوَامِيسَ qawāmīsa	الْقَوَامِيسِ al-qawāmīsi	قَوَامِيسِ qawāmīsi

Descendants

• → Hausa: ƙamus
• → Malay: kamus
  • → Indonesian: kamus
• → Maranao: kamos
• → Northern Kurdish: qamûs
• → Ottoman Turkish: قاموس (kamus)
  • Turkish: kamus
• → Pashto: قاموس (qâmos)
• → Persian: قاموس (qâmus)
  • Tajik: қомус (qomus)
• → Somali: qaamuus
• → Sundanese: kamus
• → Swahili: kamusi
  • → Kikuyu: kamusi
  • → Luhya: ekamusi
  • → Meru: kamusi
• → Urdu: قاموس (qāmūs)
• → Uyghur: قامۇس (qamus)

Malay

Noun

قاموس (plural قاموس-قاموس or قاموس٢)

1. Jawi spelling of kamus.‎‎

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic قَامُوس (qāmūs), from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós).

Noun

قاموس • (kamus)

1. dictionary

   Synonym: فرهنك (ferhenk)

2. ocean

   Synonyms: عمان (ummân), اقیانوس (okyanus), بحر محیط (bahr-ı muhit)

Descendants

• Turkish: kamus

Further reading

• Şemseddin Sâmi (1899–1901) “قاموس”, in قاموس تركی [kamus-ı türki] (in Ottoman Turkish), Constantinople: İkdam Matbaası, page 1039

Pashto

Etymology

From Arabic قَامُوس (qāmūs), from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑmos/

Noun

قاموس • (qāmus) m

1. (obsolete, rare) dictionary

   Synonym: وييپانګه (wëyipânga)

Declension

Declension of قاموس

	singular	plural
direct	قاموس (qâmos)	قاموسونه (qâmosuna)
oblique	قاموس (qâmos)	قاموسونو (qâmosuno)
vocative	قاموسه (qâmosa)	قاموسونو (qâmosuno)

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic قَامُوس (qāmūs), from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /qaː.ˈmuːs/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [qɑː.muːs]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [qɑː.muːs]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [qɑː.muːs]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [qɔː.mus]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [qɒː.muːs]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [qɔ.mus]

Readings
Classical reading?	qāmūs
Dari reading?	qāmūs
Iranian reading?	ġâmus
Tajik reading?	qomus

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

Noun

Dari	قاموس
Iranian Persian
Tajik	қомус

قاموس • (qâmus)

1. dictionary
2. ocean

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic قَامُوس (qāmūs), from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós). Doublet of اُوقِیَانُوس (ūqiyānūs).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /qɑː.muːs/

Noun

قامُوس • (qāmūs) m (Hindi spelling क़ामूस)

1. dictionary

   Synonyms: شَبْدَکوش (śabdakoś), لُغَت (luġat)

2. encyclopedia

   Synonyms: دائِرَۃُ الْمَعارِف (dāiratu l-ma'ārif), کِتابُ الْمَعارِف (kitābu l-ma'ārif), اِنْسائِیکِلوپِیڈْیا (insāīkilopīḍyā)

3. ocean

   Synonym: اُوقِیَانُوس (ūqiyānūs)

References

• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “قاموس”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• “قاموس”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.