شمال

Arabic

Etymology 1

Diachronically from Proto-Semitic *šimāl-, synchronically from ش م ل (š-m-l). Cognate with Hebrew שְׂמֹאל (səmōl, “left”), Akkadian 𒆏 (šumēlum, “left side”), Aramaic סְמָלָא (səmālā) / ܣܡܠܐ (semmālā, “left side”), Coptic ϣⲙⲟⲩⲗ (šmoul), Ugaritic 𐎌𐎎𐎀𐎍 (šmảl). The north sense derives from the left-hand side facing the sunrise, also attested in Sabaean 𐩠𐩦𐩱𐩣𐩡 (hs²ʾml, “to be northward”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃi.maːl/

Noun

شِمَال • (šimāl) f (plural أَشْمُل (ʔašmul) or شَمَائِل (šamāʔil) or شُمُل (šumul))

1. left hand
2. left side
3. bad omen
4. handful of ears

Declension

Declension of noun شِمَال (šimāl)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شِمَال šimāl	الشِّمَال aš-šimāl	شِمَال šimāl
Nominative	شِمَالٌ šimālun	الشِّمَالُ aš-šimālu	شِمَالُ šimālu
Accusative	شِمَالًا šimālan	الشِّمَالَ aš-šimāla	شِمَالَ šimāla
Genitive	شِمَالٍ šimālin	الشِّمَالِ aš-šimāli	شِمَالِ šimāli
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شِمَالَيْن šimālayn	الشِّمَالَيْن aš-šimālayn	شِمَالَيْ šimālay
Nominative	شِمَالَانِ šimālāni	الشِّمَالَانِ aš-šimālāni	شِمَالَا šimālā
Accusative	شِمَالَيْنِ šimālayni	الشِّمَالَيْنِ aš-šimālayni	شِمَالَيْ šimālay
Genitive	شِمَالَيْنِ šimālayni	الشِّمَالَيْنِ aš-šimālayni	شِمَالَيْ šimālay
Plural	basic broken plural triptote‎; basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	أَشْمُل‎; شَمَائِل‎; شُمُل ʔašmul‎; šamāʔil‎; šumul	الْأَشْمُل‎; الشَّمَائِل‎; الشُّمُل al-ʔašmul‎; aš-šamāʔil‎; aš-šumul	أَشْمُل‎; شَمَائِل‎; شُمُل ʔašmul‎; šamāʔil‎; šumul
Nominative	أَشْمُلٌ‎; شَمَائِلُ‎; شُمُلٌ ʔašmulun‎; šamāʔilu‎; šumulun	الْأَشْمُلُ‎; الشَّمَائِلُ‎; الشُّمُلُ al-ʔašmulu‎; aš-šamāʔilu‎; aš-šumulu	أَشْمُلُ‎; شَمَائِلُ‎; شُمُلُ ʔašmulu‎; šamāʔilu‎; šumulu
Accusative	أَشْمُلًا‎; شَمَائِلَ‎; شُمُلًا ʔašmulan‎; šamāʔila‎; šumulan	الْأَشْمُلَ‎; الشَّمَائِلَ‎; الشُّمُلَ al-ʔašmula‎; aš-šamāʔila‎; aš-šumula	أَشْمُلَ‎; شَمَائِلَ‎; شُمُلَ ʔašmula‎; šamāʔila‎; šumula
Genitive	أَشْمُلٍ‎; شَمَائِلَ‎; شُمُلٍ ʔašmulin‎; šamāʔila‎; šumulin	الْأَشْمُلِ‎; الشَّمَائِلِ‎; الشُّمُلِ al-ʔašmuli‎; aš-šamāʔili‎; aš-šumuli	أَشْمُلِ‎; شَمَائِلِ‎; شُمُلِ ʔašmuli‎; šamāʔili‎; šumuli

Synonyms

• يَسَار (yasār)

Antonyms

• يَمِين (yamīn)

References

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “شمال”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[1], London: Williams & Norgate
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “شمال”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[2], London: W.H. Allen
• “Proto-Semitic Root: *ŝimaʔl-; Number 2218” in Georgiy Starostin, Tower of Babel, Copyright 1998-2003 by S. Starostin.

Etymology 2

From the root ش م ل (š-m-l) meaning “to bundle, “to wrap”, “to huddle”, “to be cold” – such senses are influenced by the cold-dry northerly wind necessitating wrapping up with clothes.

Noun

شِمَال • (šimāl) m (plural شَمَائِل (šamāʔil))

1. case, sheath, wrapping

Declension

Declension of noun شِمَال (šimāl)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شِمَال šimāl	الشِّمَال aš-šimāl	شِمَال šimāl
Nominative	شِمَالٌ šimālun	الشِّمَالُ aš-šimālu	شِمَالُ šimālu
Accusative	شِمَالًا šimālan	الشِّمَالَ aš-šimāla	شِمَالَ šimāla
Genitive	شِمَالٍ šimālin	الشِّمَالِ aš-šimāli	شِمَالِ šimāli
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شِمَالَيْن šimālayn	الشِّمَالَيْن aš-šimālayn	شِمَالَيْ šimālay
Nominative	شِمَالَانِ šimālāni	الشِّمَالَانِ aš-šimālāni	شِمَالَا šimālā
Accusative	شِمَالَيْنِ šimālayni	الشِّمَالَيْنِ aš-šimālayni	شِمَالَيْ šimālay
Genitive	شِمَالَيْنِ šimālayni	الشِّمَالَيْنِ aš-šimālayni	شِمَالَيْ šimālay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَمَائِل šamāʔil	الشَّمَائِل aš-šamāʔil	شَمَائِل šamāʔil
Nominative	شَمَائِلُ šamāʔilu	الشَّمَائِلُ aš-šamāʔilu	شَمَائِلُ šamāʔilu
Accusative	شَمَائِلَ šamāʔila	الشَّمَائِلَ aš-šamāʔila	شَمَائِلَ šamāʔila
Genitive	شَمَائِلَ šamāʔila	الشَّمَائِلِ aš-šamāʔili	شَمَائِلِ šamāʔili

References

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “شمال”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[3], London: Williams & Norgate
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “شمال”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[4], London: W.H. Allen

Etymology 3

From the root ش م ل (š-m-l) meaning “to be leftward” – the north direction being the left-hand side facing the sunrise. Additionally it is relatable to the root meaning “to bundle” or “to wrap”, as the cold northern wind necessitated wrapping up with clothes, contrasting with جَنُوب (janūb, “south”) from the root ج ن ب (j-n-b) meaning “changing”, “laying aside” clothes, the warm southern wind allowing to put off clothes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.maːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

شَمَال • (šamāl) m

1. north

Declension

Declension of noun شَمَال (šamāl)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَمَال šamāl	الشَّمَال aš-šamāl	شَمَال šamāl
Nominative	شَمَالٌ šamālun	الشَّمَالُ aš-šamālu	شَمَالُ šamālu
Accusative	شَمَالًا šamālan	الشَّمَالَ aš-šamāla	شَمَالَ šamāla
Genitive	شَمَالٍ šamālin	الشَّمَالِ aš-šamāli	شَمَالِ šamāli

Coordinate terms

• (compass points) اِتِّجَاهَات الْبَوْصَلَةِ (ittijāhāt al-bawṣalati);

شَمَال غَرْبِيّ (šamāl ḡarbiyy)	شَمَال (šamāl)	شَمَال شَرْقِيّ (šamāl šarqiyy)
غَرْب (ḡarb)		شَرْق (šarq)
جَنُوب غَرْبِيّ (janūb ḡarbiyy)	جَنُوب (janūb)	جَنُوب شَرْقِيّ (janūb šarqiyy)

Noun

شَمَال • (šamāl) f (plural شَمَالَات (šamālāt))

1. north wind

Declension

Declension of noun شَمَال (šamāl)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَمَال šamāl	الشَّمَال aš-šamāl	شَمَال šamāl
Nominative	شَمَالٌ šamālun	الشَّمَالُ aš-šamālu	شَمَالُ šamālu
Accusative	شَمَالًا šamālan	الشَّمَالَ aš-šamāla	شَمَالَ šamāla
Genitive	شَمَالٍ šamālin	الشَّمَالِ aš-šamāli	شَمَالِ šamāli
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَمَالَيْن šamālayn	الشَّمَالَيْن aš-šamālayn	شَمَالَيْ šamālay
Nominative	شَمَالَانِ šamālāni	الشَّمَالَانِ aš-šamālāni	شَمَالَا šamālā
Accusative	شَمَالَيْنِ šamālayni	الشَّمَالَيْنِ aš-šamālayni	شَمَالَيْ šamālay
Genitive	شَمَالَيْنِ šamālayni	الشَّمَالَيْنِ aš-šamālayni	شَمَالَيْ šamālay
Plural	sound feminine plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَمَالَات šamālāt	الشَّمَالَات aš-šamālāt	شَمَالَات šamālāt
Nominative	شَمَالَاتٌ šamālātun	الشَّمَالَاتُ aš-šamālātu	شَمَالَاتُ šamālātu
Accusative	شَمَالَاتٍ šamālātin	الشَّمَالَاتِ aš-šamālāti	شَمَالَاتِ šamālāti
Genitive	شَمَالَاتٍ šamālātin	الشَّمَالَاتِ aš-šamālāti	شَمَالَاتِ šamālāti

References

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “شمال”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[5], London: Williams & Norgate
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “شمال”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[6], London: W.H. Allen
• Wehr, Hans (1979) “شمل”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

---

Chagatai

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic شَمَال (šamāl).

Noun

شمال (šemal)

1. wind

---

Moroccan Arabic

Root
ش م ل
1 term

Etymology 1

From Arabic شَمَال (šamāl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.maːl/

Noun

شمال • (šamāl) m

1. north

Derived terms

• شمالي (šamāli, “northern”)

See also

(compass points)

	شمال
غرب		شرق
	جنوب

Etymology 2

From Arabic شِمَال (šimāl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃmaːl/

Noun

شمال • (šmāl) m

1. left

Derived terms

• شمالي (šmāli, “left-handed”)

---

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic شَمَال (šamāl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃoˈmɒːl/

Noun

Dari	شمال
Iranian Persian
Tajik	шимол

شمال • (šomâl)

1. north
2. Northern Iran

Derived terms

• شمالی

---

South Levantine Arabic

Root
ش م ل
1 term

Etymology 1

From Arabic شِمَال (šimāl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃmaːl/, [ʃmæːl]

• Audio (Jerusalem):

  (file)

Noun

شمال • (šmāl) m

1. left

   Antonym: يمين (yamīn)

Etymology 2

From Arabic شَمَال (šamāl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.maːl/, [ʃaˈmæːl]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

Noun

شمال • (šamāl) m

1. north

Derived terms

• شمالي (šamāli, “northern”)

See also

(compass points)

	شمال (šamāl)
غرب (ḡarb)		شرق (šarq)
	جنوب (janūb)

---

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian شمال (šamāl), itself from Arabic شَمَال (šamāl).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʃʊ.mɑːl/, /ʃɪ.mɑːl/
• Rhymes: -ɑːl

Noun

شُمال or شِمال • (śumāl or śimāl) m (Hindi spelling शुमाल or शिमाल)

1. north

References

• “شمال”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “شمال”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.

See also

(compass points)

شمال مغربی	شمال	شمال مشرقی
مغرب		مشرق
جنوب مغربی	جنوب	جنوب مشرقی