معنى

See also: معنی

Arabic

Etymology

From the root ع ن ي (ʕ-n-y), from the verb عَنَى (ʕanā, “to be on someone's mind”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʕ.nan/
• IPA^(key): /maʕ.naː/ (informal)

• Audio (informal: مَعْنَى)

  (file)

Noun

مَعْنًى • (maʕnan) m (construct state مَعْنَى (maʕnā), dual مَعْنَيَانِ (maʕnayāni), plural مَعَانٍ (maʕānin), plural construct state مَعَانِي (maʕānī))

1. meaning, import, sense
2. concept, notion, idea, thought
3. rhetorical expression, figurative expression

Declension

Declension of noun مَعْنًى (maʕnan)

Singular	singular in ـًى (-an)
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مَعْنَى maʕnā	الْمَعْنَى al-maʕnā	مَعْنَى maʕnā
Nominative	مَعْنًى maʕnan	الْمَعْنَى al-maʕnā	مَعْنَى maʕnā
Accusative	مَعْنًى maʕnan	الْمَعْنَى al-maʕnā	مَعْنَى maʕnā
Genitive	مَعْنًى maʕnan	الْمَعْنَى al-maʕnā	مَعْنَى maʕnā
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مَعْنَيَيْن maʕnayayn	الْمَعْنَيَيْن al-maʕnayayn	مَعْنَيَيْ maʕnayay
Nominative	مَعْنَيَانِ maʕnayāni	الْمَعْنَيَانِ al-maʕnayāni	مَعْنَيَا maʕnayā
Accusative	مَعْنَيَيْنِ maʕnayayni	الْمَعْنَيَيْنِ al-maʕnayayni	مَعْنَيَيْ maʕnayay
Genitive	مَعْنَيَيْنِ maʕnayayni	الْمَعْنَيَيْنِ al-maʕnayayni	مَعْنَيَيْ maʕnayay
Plural	broken plural diptote in ـٍ (-in)
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مَعَانِي maʕānī	الْمَعَانِي al-maʕānī	مَعَانِي maʕānī
Nominative	مَعَانٍ maʕānin	الْمَعَانِي al-maʕānī	مَعَانِي maʕānī
Accusative	مَعَانِيَ maʕāniya	الْمَعَانِيَ al-maʕāniya	مَعَانِيَ maʕāniya
Genitive	مَعَانٍ maʕānin	الْمَعَانِي al-maʕānī	مَعَانِي maʕānī

Descendants

• Azerbaijani: məna
• Bashkir: мәғәнә (məğənə)
• Bengali: মানে (mane)
• Hausa: ma'ana
• Hindi: मअनी (maanī)
• Persian: معنی (ma'ni)
• Kazakh: мағына (mağyna)
• Kyrgyz: маани (maani)
• Malay: makna
• Pashto: معنى (ma'nã), معنا (ma'nã)
• Swahili: maana
• Tajik: маънӣ (maʾnī), маъно (maʾno)
• Turkish: mana
• Tatar: мәгънә (mäğnä)
• Turkmen: many
• Uyghur: مەنە (mene)
• Urdu: معنی (ma'nī)
• Uzbek: mano, maʻno, mani

References

• Horten, Max (1910) “Was bedeutet مَعْنًى als philosophischer Terminus? Eine Studie zur Geschichte der islamischen Philosophie”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[1] (in German), volume 64, pages 391–396
• Wehr, Hans (1979) “عني”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

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North Levantine Arabic

Noun

معنى • (maʿna) m (plural معاني (maʿāni))

1. meaning

Usage notes

• The construct form is either unchanged as in standard Arabic or it becomes معنات, معناة (maʿnēt). Especially with personal suffixes the latter is predominant. The word does not become feminine, however.