# Arabic dictionaries



## българин

[Moderator's Note: Many threads have been merged to create this one; old posts containing dead links have been removed to avoid confusion.]
Thanks a lot mate! That helped....I guess I got too caught up in the different dialects of arabic story and forgot about synonyms. But anyway, I think I need a new dictionary (right now i have one that has about 3,000 words). But I am having trouble finding a decent one. I have looked in about 4 bookstores and only 2 have arabic dictionaries, but they're poorly made, unclear, and sloppy. Any ideas??

Split from here.


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## elroy

Hans Wehr seems to be everyone's favorite, but it's only Arabic-English and not English-Arabic.


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## greg from vancouver

българин- Hans Wehr, in my humble opinion, is your only option if you're serious about studying MSA. Be warned that it is a one-direction dictionary, as Elroy said. For English to Arabic, there are a number of websites you could use... I don't own such a book and seem to make out fine with the web resources.
Also, make sure you're familiar with the Arabic root system of cataloguing words beforehand, or else you'll have steam coming out of your ears when you start looking for words....!
Greg


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## cherine

greg from vancouver said:
			
		

> Also, make sure you're familiar with the Arabic root system of cataloguing words beforehand, or else you'll have steam coming out of your ears when you start looking for words....!


 Well, there are now dictionaries (at least one) that don't use the root system, words are listed alphabetically according to the way they're written not according to their stem.
If you prefer this, I recomment al-mawrid المورد (which also give a good English-Arabic dictionary).


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## Whitedogg

I haven't heard of al-mawrid dictionary before, I bet it's useful. But the best dictionary I've heard of and own is HANS WEHR (edited by J Milton Cowan). Actually you can't find it in Bulgaria - you have to buy it from abroad.


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## mujahid7ia

Mawrid is nice and easy, but I think Hans Wehr is, without question (IMHO ), the best Arabic-English dictionary out there, and root order is usually more useful anyway.

Has anyone used that Oxford dictionary (red and black I think)?


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## goheels

Hi, I was wondering if there are any good technical dictionaries out there for Arabic.  I'm looking for all technical, but mainly petroleum related.  Thanks


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## CarlosPerezMartinez

българин said:
			
		

> But anyway, I think I need a new dictionary (right now i have one that has about 3,000 words). But I am having trouble finding a decent one. Split from here.


 
I had a Russian-educated teacher of Arabic who had a very good Arabic-Russian Dictionary. The author was Varanov (or Baranov or something like that). If you speak Russian could be a good solution for you.


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## Anatoli

It's professor Kharlampy *B*aranov (a very unusual first name).

42,000 main words with detailed entries. It is based on the root system like Hans Wehr dictionary.
http://covers.allshops.ru/s/sy/syt/sytin222840.gif


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## Thomas F. O'Gara

Wehr-Cowan is the best available Arabic English, but if you balk at the price a generally acceptable substitute is the Maan Medina dictionary, which is cheaper, available in paperback and laid out amazingly similar to Wehr-Cowan.

Goheels, if you're interested in technical dictionaries please contact me to get a good website to order some.

As for English Arabic, has anybody out there ever used any of the Elias dictionaries?  They may not be that great, but they're a riot to use, with all those old woodcut pictures!


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## cherine

I don't like the Elias very much, for my actual level of English which is not excellent but a bit above average. So I guess it can be very good for Arabic learners, as it was for me when I was a beginner, both in English and in French.


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## masdar

Hello everyone,

Long-time reader first time poster here.  I'm a big user of on-line dictionaries, especially sakhr when it is working.  For a while sakhr automatically linked to a number of arabic-arabic dictionaries which was very handy for getting the various forms of whichever verb I was looking up but they seemed to have dropped this feature.  Does anyone know if it is available anywhere else?

Thanks


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## cherine

Hello Masdar, and welcome to the forum 

If you want a link to online monolingual Arabic dictionaries, there's that GREAT site : الورّاق 
Register there for free, and enjoy a wealth of Arabic books, mainly old ones. But very useful for those interested in classical Arabic litterature.

In fact, I forgot to add that site to the sticky, I guess I'll be doing it soon.


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## MarcB

free download

al-Sihah fi-al-lugha - al-Jawahari (Arabic-Arabic dictionary)
Lisan al-'Arab - ibn manzur (Arabic-Arabic dictionary)
Nuja't al-ra'id (Arabic Thesaurus)
http://www.studyquran.co.uk/LLhome.htm
Edward William Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (Dictionary)​


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## Nunty

Greetings.

I can still barely read Arabic, but I can greet people politely, which is a good start, and optimism is my strong point. I'm looking for an Arabic-Hebrew-Arabic dictionary. Does anyone know of one?

Someone in the Hebrew forum suggested the online Ayelon-Shin'ar dictionary, but neither he nor anyone else there seems to have any experience with it. Does someone here know how reliable and helpful it is?

(My choice, though, would be to have a good print dictionary.)

Thank you!


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## linguist786

First of all I hope I haven't broken any rules by making this thread.. I got slaughtered the last time I made one about dictionaries 

Does anyone have an Arabic -> Urdu (& vice-versa) dictionary? Could anyone recommend one?

Both an online one and an actual book would be good.

I don't think anyone here speaks Urdu who's learning Arabic, but I remember someone mentioning they had one for some reason.. I forgot who it was.

Suggestions from _anyone_ appreciated.


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## abusaf

salam aleykum

I don't know about a dictionary per se. However, this: 
http://www.emuslim.com/Quran/Dictionary_Urdu.asp 
presents the words used in the Quran in Urdu, it's very useful, but perhaps you have seen it before. 

EDIT: Moreover the site has Verb sheets and "80% Words of the Quran" in Urdu.


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## linguist786

Shukran, Abusaf. Wonderful site!

More suggestions welcome, I'm still not sure whether there is a good Arabic -> Urdu dictionary out there..


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## Taalib

Ahlan bi-kum:

Having studied al-fusha for four years intensely, and having picked up Egyptian and Jordanian (mostly Palestinian Ammani) dialects during my language training there, I am fairly certain that my poor Hans Weir dictionary is about to bite the dust. I stumbled online to a product called the Mawrid Bookman BAS-1875, an electronic Arabic-English device that claims to be the chosen translation tool of the United Nations. It's a steep $300 but I wonder if it's worth it? For that matter, does anyone here have recommendations for this or similar electronic devices?

Nothing can replace the beloved green bible--but I wonder if the electronic devices would be more practical for quick trips back to the Mideast that I take every few months. Fa ana having completed every textbook out there on Arabic and running through three intensive summer language institutes, including the Middlebury gauntlet, I still need a portable tool for help me in vocabulary acquisition when reading Arabic texts, which is primarily economic/political with selective fluency in literature and cultural lexicons. The normal pocket dictionaries won't cut it as they're far too limited--they just don't have enough definitions after the first couple tens of thousands of words to keep up with the more complex semantical fields that the big dailies like Hayat love to use (even on safha uula, argh!).

Your advice is appreciated, and this forum--having just discovered it--rocks.

at-taalib al-mujarrab


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## cherine

Hello Taalib and welcome to the forum 



Taalib said:


> I stumbled online to a product called the Mawrid Bookman BAS-1875, an electronic Arabic-English device that claims to be the chosen translation tool of the United Nations. It's a steep $300 but I wonder if it's worth it? For that matter, does anyone here have recommendations for this or similar electronic devices?


Unfortunately, I don't know about this tool. But I sometimes us the Mawrid Arabic-English paper dictionary, which is a good one. I don't know if they're the same thing though. It has more words than Hans Wehr, and looking up words is easier, because words are arranged alphabetically as they're written, not according to their roots.



> The normal pocket dictionaries won't cut it as they're far too limited--they just don't have enough definitions after the first couple tens of thousands of words to keep up with the more complex semantical fields that the big dailies like Hayat love to use (even on safha uula, argh!).


Some words used in current newspapers are neologisms, arabized terms... so maybe that's what's giving you hard time understanding them.
You can always discuss such difficulties here whenever you want 



> Your advice is appreciated, and this forum--having just discovered it--rocks.
> at-taalib al-mujarrab


A little correction : mujarrab is the passive form (maf3uul) of jarraba. I think you meant to say al-mujarrib.
And thanks for your opinion about the forum, I think the same


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## zooz

Hi Taalib,

I had _Al Mawrid BAS-1595F ,_ and I believe the model you mentioned is newer version. It's a very handy tool and personally I would recommend it just as any product from _Al Mawrid._

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.


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## Sepia

I once had a small contest with my wife - we are both pretty good translators and can type well (+250 key/min.)

We looked up a few words - one of us using the electronic dictionary, the other one a printed dictionary - to see who was faster. After a while we switched - she had the electronic device, I the printed dictionary. Apart from the fact that we did not find everything in the electronic dictionary, the person using the printed one was faster in both cases. 
Of course it is a matter of practice, but I think you'll always be faster with a book, even if it is a heavy one like Websters. The fact is, intuitively you learn to grab into the right place so you only have to flip a few pages. 

If you are not talking about software that is hooked into your word-processing-software, I'd say, forget the electronic dictionaries.


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## CélineK.

Sorry to bother you. I need an online dictionary that gives the Arabic word with English letters. Is there such a thing? I checked out all the links in the resources sticky.
Thank you!


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## MarcB

_CélineK,_
http://en.wiktionary.org/ look up the word in English then scroll down and you will find many languages. Find the Arabic with transliteration next to the Arabic script. Also I suggest the resource sticky for how to read Arabic, it is not so hard.


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## quddusaliquddus

Hi all,
What would be the best classical Arabic dictionary?


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## MarcB

Hans-Wehr is one of the best Arabic-English but it is only one direction. Lisab al-arab is a good monlingual


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## Taalib

If you're not confident enough with classical Arabic at the very beginning stages to use an Arabic to English dictionary (and I agree that Weir's dictionary--which is actually just a translation from his masterful Arabic to German tome--is the best), then I suggest using the Oxford English-Arabic dictionary.  Al-Mawrid is also a popular dictionary, but its definitions are much more modern than Hans Weir (whose last edition was in the early 1990s), and it comes in both Arabic-English and English-Arabic varieties.


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## Jana337

http://www.lessan.org/web/all.jsp if you can speak German.

Jana


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## SaiH

I use in general Hans Wehr (Arabic-German) and Götz Schregle (German-Arabic) although Schregle is not very good. I think there are no really good dictionaries for German-Arabic. 
My mostly used online dictionaries are sakhr and arabsun.


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## MarcB

معنى    في قاموس البراق
معنى    في قاموس البراق
1st is English-Arabic


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## Alchemy

Hello all,

Firstly, please excuse my ignorance again, I'm just starting out with this.

I got out a book from my local library and I'm having problems understanding something very fundamental. If I look up a word in English, I'll find a variety of words (the number of translations varying by word). I just don't know which one I should be using as I don't know how to distinguish between the words. There's no instruction as to whether the word is MSA or a dialectal one.

I found a dictionary site online just here: http://www.ectaco.co.uk/English-Arabic-Dictionary/

I get the same problem - I type in a word and click on the verb, but I'm left with multiple words. I think I'm missing something, but what could it be?

Thanks very much.


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## clevermizo

In no language will you find one-to-one dictionary correspondences. The best way to deal with such situations is to look up a word in English-Arabic, then look up the Arabic word in the reverse dictionary, and see if there is more explication as to different senses, such that you may reach an appropriate sense. This is not just true for Arabic.

There are some dictionaries which list sentence/phrase usage examples - these are best to help you figure out what it is that you want. 

And lastly, if you have a question about the usage of a word and its alleged synonyms, you can always ask on here and someone with more knowledge will be able to help you out. Sometimes a dictionary will return words that are somewhat interchangeable, sometimes not - so you often have to do some digging. 

Online bidirectionals are usually not so good at providing exemplar material to help you sort out synonyms or pseudo-synonyms. There are some print dictionaries that may be better at this. You will probably have to use a mix of dictionaries in your learning. I think the Hans Wehr provides example material; I'm not sure. Al-Mawrid in its Arabic-English direction usually provides a lot of phrase-like examples.


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## palomnik

Alchemy, one unfortunate fact about learning Arabic is that almost all the English-Arabic dictionaries (and pretty much all the good ones!) are designed for Arabs learning English - not surprisingly, since there a lot more of them out there than than there are English speakers learning Arabic.  Clevermizo's advice about looking up the words you find in a reverse dictionary is good advice.


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## Petter

In my experience, when just starting to learn Arabic, the dictionary is not of so much help. There is rarely a one to one correspondence with the Arabic and English words.
The problem for beginners with Hans Wehr's dictionary f.ex is that it usually list so many different meanings (sometimes very divergent meanings too) of each word.

A very recommendable book, at least for modern newspaper-like vocabulary, is 'Using Arabic Synonyms' by Dilworth Parkinson, which gives the most common synonyms with example sentences of how they are used. You won't find any word in it of course, but it is a really valuable book for getting a grasp of how the vocabulary is used in context.


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## Alchemy

Thanks so much for all the advice everyone.

I had a stroke of luck today. A few days ago, I put an advert on a website saying that I was looking to do a language exchange with someone who is native or has a good grasp of Arabic in my town. The same day I had a response from a Jordanian who lives fairly near me. I just came back from a "lesson" (the word sounds too formal) that was nice and insightful. He cleared up many things and he's keen to continue doing the sessions twice a week. I feel very priviledged and I know this will give me the courage to plough on.


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## spaghetti

Hello, 

It is quite possible this has already been discussed and i have not found it in another thread, so apologies in advance....

Does anyone know of an online arabic-english (or french) dictionary that has arabic plurals, i.e. that if you search for an arabic plural it will tell you what it is, and what the singular is? 

I have a pocket e-dictionary and a pocket mawrid and neither of them have plurals, and all the dictionaries i have found on line dont have plurals either - and it makes it quite hard for studying!!
any help would be much appreciated!!

Thank you!!!!


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## Josh_

Unfortunately I don't.  This is also one of my beefs with Arabic online dictionaries as I sometimes encounter a plural word and am unsure of its root.  However, as I have gotten more familiar with word patterns and what types of words that might have a root letter that is not readily apparent (such as words containing a ي or و ) this happens less and less.  So as you get more familiar with words and patterns it should be easier to decipher the root.


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## spaghetti

Thanks for the reply Josh...Yeah it's true it gets easier, but I've already been studying for 2 years, and it's still a problem...Otherwise are there paperback dictionaries that have plurals ? 

Cheers,
Rose


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## Josh_

The Hans Wehr dictionary lists the plurals with the singular forms, but, of course, you need to know the root.


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## Andrew___

I hope this is not beyond the scope of this forum, but I would like to know if anyone has found an online *English --->  Arabic* dictionary which shows the harakaat in the Arabic script.

 I have searched the Sticky Resource thread but but no success, nor found one elsewhere.

If anyone knows of an online dictionary which does this, I would be much appreciated.

Andrew


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## TheArabicStudent

I just use Hans Wehr.  Since it spells the word out with the English alphabet that's enough info to know where the tashkeel go.


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## Anatoli

Me too (use Hans Wehr), but I don't carry the dictionary around to work.


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## Talib

Yeah, I was thinking Hans Wehr. Better to have a transcription so you can see more precisely and it doesn't have the limitations of trying to transcribe foreign sounds.

Though there is one online dictionary I use with harakat. Oddly I find while vowelled text is easy enough to read in print I have to strain to read it on a computer without increasing the font size.

Oh, and I have a pocket dictionary as well.


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## Anatoli

> Oddly I find while vowelled text is easy enough to read in print I have to strain to read it on a computer without increasing the font size.


I change the font to "Simplified Arabic" (in applications), at least it separates diacritics from the letters. Some people prefer "Traditional Arabic" font but I don't like it.

Anyway, back to the topic, I don't like the improvements or changes in the online dictionary or I don't understand them. They allow you to add words but there is no "language" option but "synonyms".


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## sara87

linguist786 said:


> Does anyone have an Arabic -> Urdu (& vice-versa) dictionary? Could anyone recommend one?


Arabic to Urdu and Urdu to Arabic dictionary - Online Arabic urdu dictionary more than 90000 Arabic urdu words meanings. Arabic Urdu dictionary helps to find Arabic translation of urdu words and urdu translation of Arabic word. You can also search urdu to Arabic by using urdu keyboard given at page. If you are unable to find your desired word's meaning then you can suggest us.

hamariweb.com/arabic-urdu-dictionary.aspx


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## Ali.h

To my knowledge both Hans wehr and Mawred al-ghariib are "modern" dictionaries, which do you guys prefer and why?

Also if you prefer another "modern" dictionary other than these two please do let me know.


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## Mahaodeh

You can't compare them, Al Mawrid is Arabic-English and Hans Wehr is English-Arabic (or German-Arabic, never really read it); so you would probably need both depending on which way you are translating.

Personally, I don't like either and prefer a dictionary based on the traditional way - it's easier to find the words if they are listed by root. Plus, I don't like two-language dictionaries, I generally use Lisaan Al Arab for Arabic and Merriem Webster or Collins for English.


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## Josh_

Al-Mawrid is strictly alphabetical and the Hans Wehr is a based on roots. Al-Mawrid is available in English --> Arabic and Arabic --> English, while the Hans Wehr is only Arabic --> English. So if you want to look up an English word to see its equivalent I would suggest Al-Mawrid and if you want to look up an Arabic word to see its equiivalent I would recommend the Hans Wehr, although one could use the Al-Mawrid Arabic --> English edition.

I really don't have a preference, but mainly use the Hans Wehr.

I think that two-language dictionaries are beneficial and a must for anyone wanting to understand another language (especially beginners) and how to translate it into another language, but I would also recommend a monolingual Arabic dictionary, as I believe it helps one (a non-native speaker) understand the language on a different level. At least this has been my experience.

By the way, I am only familiar with the name Al-Mawrid. I have never heard it called Al-Mawrid Al-Ghariib. That seems like an... ahem... _strange_ name for a dictionary (pun intended). I don't think it is called that.


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## Serafín33

Al-Mawrid is Arabic<->English, it goes both ways. As Mahaodeh (EDIT: and Josh) said, the Arabic->English is organized western-style, not by the root system.

Hans Wehr is only Arabic->English/German, and the vocabulary is listed with the traditional method, by root. The entries are _a lot _more detailed than in Al-Mawrid, and it's the reason why it has overall better prestige.

If you want a good English->Arabic dictionary I recommend you the Concise Oxford English-Arabic dictionary. The entries present much more detail than Al-Mawrid (or pretty much any other English->Arabic dictionary), differentiating among several semantic differences in each English word.

Mahaodeh is also right in that ultimately, the ideal is to use an Arabic-Arabic dictionary. But as for the not-so-advanced students of us...


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## clevermizo

Al-Mawrid is not very useful for learners of Arabic because it doesn't list the things they often need: the present tense forms and maSaadir of verbs (especially of the form فعل), plurals of nouns, etc. It may be because I'm non-native, but I don't mind the strict alphabetical order and it usually helps me find a word quickly if the root isn't obvious to me. 

Hans Wehr is an excellent bilingual dictionary, but is only unidirectional. 

Bilingual dictionaries are not really comparable to monolingual dictionaries, and I prefer using both for different reasons. If I want to know what a word means, I usually use a monolingual dictionary these days unless I still can't figure it out. However, if I want to know _how to say something_ I don't really have much choice other than to use a bilingual dictionary. I usually use some combination of dictionaries, Google and the WR forum when this comes up.


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## AbdulJabbar

Al-Mawrid al-qariib is the pocket-sized version of the full al-mawrid. 
As a novice Arabic speaker, my only issue with the Hans Wehr is that it contains many definitions and forms no longer in common use (always the situation with dictionaries), making it good for translating poetry and literature, but frustrating when you have a homework assignment due. 
Does anyone know if there is an MSA dictionary of just common current usage? I understand how difficult that would be with such a polyglossic language...


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## Ali.h

Does anyone know of a good Arabic-Farsi dictionary?


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## Finland

Hello!



Ali.h said:


> Does anyone know of a good Arabic-Farsi dictionary?


 
I really like فرهنگ معاصر عربی به فارسی by Azartash Azarnoush. It is the Farsi translation and adaptation of the famous Hans Wehr dictionary. I bought mine in Tehran a few years ago.

HTH
S


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## Ali.h

Many thanks


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## Nadia_Taliba

Mahaodeh,

If you don't mind could I have the details of this dictionary I am trying to purchase it but need to know the author, publisher, date it was published etc

Shukran


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## Serafín33

As for Al-Mawrid (it's the one you're asking for, right? you didn't specify which dictionary...), well, there are _many _editions. The latest one is from 2007, but there's one from 2001, from 2000, from 1997, from 1994, 1990, 1988...

The title of the book is:
المورد: قاموس عربي - انكليزي
Al-Mawrid: Qāmūs ‘Arabī - Inkilīzī
Al-Mawrid: Arabic - English Dictionary

The 2007 edition is the 21st edition. It contains 1355 pages.

The author is:
روحي البعلبكي
Rūḥī Al-Baʻlabakkī
Ruhi Balabakki

The Publisher is:
دار العلم للملايين
Dār al-‘Ilm li-l-Malāyīn
Dar el Ilm Lilmalayin (here's their website)


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## Nadia_Taliba

shukran Neqitan.

Sorry I meant the Lisanul Arab dictionary she mentioned. If anyone has its details please post.

Shukran


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## Serafín33

Oh. I certainly don't know about لسان العرب, other than it comes in more than 10 tomes or so (13 or 16 parts, I think), pretty big!

After some Googling, the author is معمد ابن مكرم ابن منظور, Muḥammad Ibn Mukarram Ibn Manẓūr, better known as "(Muhammad) Ibn Manzur".

The publisher in the Arab world seems to be دار الكتب العلمية, Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, officially "Dar Al-Kotob Al-ilmiyah" (and here's their website), but there really is more than one publisher.


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## Nadia_Taliba

shukran jazilan!!


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## Ali.h

Does anyone know of a website (besides wikipedia) or even a book that one can purchase that gives if not detailed then basic information of the classical Arabic dictionaries and their authors?

If you are confused about exactly what I am looking for, then let me give you you an example, let us take the classcial work called "lisan al-arab", I am looking for a website or even a book that would provide me with information about the author of lisan al-arab and how the book is arranged etc.. 

Even if you have a link that is only in Arabic please provide me with it so I can save it and use it in the future when I can fully understand Arabic.


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## WadiH

Do you have access to a large university library?  If so, I would recommend the Encyclopedia of Islam.


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## Ghabi

There's also the book _Arabic Lexicography_ by J.A. Haywood.


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## Ali.h

Many thanks


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## Lone_Wolf

Lisan Al 'Arab is ONE of the Classical Arabic Lexicons that is used in *The Dictionary of the Holy Qur'an* by Abdul Mannan Omar. The other classical lexicons used for the compilation of this dictionary are Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, Al Mufradat Fi Gharibul Qur'an and Taj Al Arus. Not only does it list the authors and development of these classical lexicons but it also goes a whole lot more into classical lexicons in general as well as general (yet very helpful) information about the Arabic Language.

I hope you find this helpful.


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## Lone_Wolf

Hello all,

I have a quick question to ask about monolingual dictionaries and lexicons. I've already used the search function to see if this particular question was asked here before and I haven't come across any threads which addressed this particular question.

Anyway, the monolingual dictionaries and lexicons. *Which* register are they written in, Literary or Colloquial? 

I realize that this may sound like a strange question, but I thought that since some Arabs aren't as good in MSA/Literary Arabic as others and yet they wish to know the root meaning of a word, then HOW would THEY go about looking up root definitions in a Monolingual Lexicon or Dictionary?


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## Masjeen

It written in Literary


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## Mahaodeh

Lone_Wolf said:


> Anyway, the monolingual dictionaries and lexicons. *Which* register are they written in, Literary or Colloquial?



Let me ask you a question, what difference would it make? If they are looking for roots then they have to return to the root of the word whether it was fus7a or colloquial!

If you are asking whether they can understand what is written in the entry, then they would. They may not be 'good' in fus7a, but that does not mean they don't understand it. I'm not so good in fus7a, but I understand it much better than anything written in colloquial - I always have a hard time reading colloquial but I can read fus7a and understand it perfectly. I generally use the Lisaan and I never found any difficulty in finding or understanding what I look for.


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## lianghh

I really don't understand why there aren't any decent dictionaries for Arabic learners. 
I am learning Chinese, and one would think this is pretty exotic, but in fact there are numerous dictionaries without annoying ads that are also really nicely designed with useful tools, such as saving vocabulary lists and example sentences... etc etc.

Why not for Arabic?


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## MarcB

http://www.firdaous.com/en/0023.htm
Not perfect but useful.


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## cherine

Welcome to the forum, Lianghh 

Have you checked the WordReference Arabic dictionary? It has compound forms, sample sentences and links to the forum threads that have discussed the word you're looking for. (example)
It's still growing, but I hope you'll find it useful


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## lianghh

It's a mobile formattable website which is nice but without pronunciation guide or short vowels, it's just as useless as any other dictionary to me :/


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## abu l-bisse

Hello together, 

Vol. 1 of Peter Behnstedt's Word Atlas of Arabic Dialects just appeared in print (Brill, US$ 297).  I am sure, a lot of people here on the list are interested in it.  This is the description of the publisher:

"The Wortatlas der arabischen Dialekte / Word Atlas of Arabic Dialects (WAD) intends to provide an unprecedented survey of the lexical richness and diversity of the Arabic dialects as spoken from Uzbekistan to Mauretania and Nigeria, from Malta to Sudan, and including the Ki-Nubi Creole as spoken in Uganda and Kenya. The multilingual word atlas will consist of three volumes in total with some 500 onomasiological maps in full colour. Each map presents a topic or notion and its equivalents in Arabic as collected from the dialectological literature (dictionaries, grammars, text collections, ethnographic reports, etc.), from the editors’ own field work, from questionnaires filled out by native speakers or by experts for a certain dialect region, and also from the internet. Polyglot legends in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian accompany the maps to facilitate further access. Each map is followed by a commentary in German, providing more details about the sources and the individual forms, and discussing semantic and etymological issues. All quotations are in their original language. The maps mainly show lexical types, detailed and concrete forms are given in the commentaries. An introduction is provided in both German and English and an index of all lexemes in the atlas will be available. The first volume Band I: Mensch, Natur, Fauna und Flora / Volume 1: Mankind, Nature, Fauna and Flora will contain subjects such as ‘family members’, ‘professions’, ‘human qualities’. The second volume will deal with material culture (‘house’, ‘utensils’, ‘food’, ‘clothing’, ‘vehicles’, etc.) and the third and final volume will focus on verbs, adjectives and function words. The atlas will be indispensable for everyone interested in the modern spoken Arabic language, as well as for dialectologists and for semanticists."


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## xyzt44

Are there any good bilingual English/Arabic dictionaries with a CD component that pronounces a lot of the arabic words?


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## Josh_

No paper dictionary that I am aware of has an accompanying CD with pronunciation.  For that you would probably need to get an electronic dictionary.  I know there are several out there that include pronunciations, some by actual human voices, not computer-generated voices. There's a company out there called "Atlas" that makes such dictionaries.

Or you could consider getting some kind of Arabic learning software, such as the "Rosetta Stone" or "Modern Standard Arabic Verb Clinic."


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## Muwahid

Many people are opposed to Google Translate, and although it has a hard time translating sentences it does have a built in dictionary, what's better is it has a listening device, to hear the word pronounced. It's a computer generated voice so it's not perfect but it will illustrate for the most part where the vowel marks would be.

I put in a random word and listened to it's pronunciation See here.


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## katelynnlindsey

Take a look at Forvo. It's a website that has a pronunciation for every word in every language that has been submitted so far. It's a wonderful resource, and allows all users to contribute their own pronunciations - you can see the differences in dialects across the middle east and across different meanings. It's great!


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## hungryplanets00

Do any of you know a good English-Arabic dictionary that has plenty of usage examples in Arabic? My problem with many Arabic dictionaries is that they don't clearly explain the differences between possible translations of a given English word. 

The Oxford Spanish Dictionary is an example-filled resource that makes translation more accurate. It is my frame of reference.


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## Muwahid

If the Oxford dictionaries are where you are comfortable then you may be interested in *The Concise Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage* Which is English-Arabic, and gives plenty of example sentences. However transliterations are not present but vowel marks are. Once you get use to the Arabic script if not already, it shouldn't be a problem.


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## cherine

How about the WordReference dictionary?  It still needs some work and waiting for development, but there are already some sample sentences, and it's linked to the forum (or more precisely: the forum is linked to it  ) which means that if the word you're looking up has been discussed in the forum, you get a direct link to it at the bottom of the dictionary page.


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## PauloBR

Hi!

Please, does anyone know the *Al Mawred Talking Dictionary* (www digital-future ca/node/1842)? Is it good?

Do you have suggestions of other dictionaries (in CD ROM), french <-> arabic OR english <-> arabic?
(I know, there are online dictionaries, like WordReference or Sakhr, but I'd like to study offline)

Thanks.


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## nearbeer

Thank you for your time. During my commute to work I have been listening to Pimsleur's Easter Arabic pt. 1; while I can understand mostly what is being taught, I feel that I need a good dictionary to accompany the audio CDs. What is your recommendation for a dictionary that will have a pronunciation guide to assist me as I learn? I appreciate your time in helping me.

Shuqran,

Adam


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## clevermizo

Pimsleur's "Eastern Arabic" series is based on the Damascene dialect of Syrian Arabic. The best dictionary available for this dialect is:_ A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic_ (*ISBN-10:* 1589011058), Karl Stowasser/Moukhtar Ani. It can readily be found on most sites for online booksellers though it's occasionally difficult to find in regular bookstores.

It's an excellent learner's dictionary because it provides example sentences for nearly all of the entries, and the introduction includes a brief overview of pronunciation, etc.

Its drawback is that it is unidirectional English > Arabic. The Arabic > English component was not completed at the time due to the passing of one of the directors of the program at Georgetown. To date this has not been completed.


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## jmt356

I get the sense that the Hans Wehr is considered the authoritative Arabic-English dictionary (which is somewhat surprising to me as I would not have expected such a dictionary to be published by a publisher I have not heard of--Spoken Language Services in the case of the Hans Wehr). 

Is anyone aware of a dictionary such as the Hans Wehr that is bidirectional? Also, is anybody aware of an electronic version of the Hans Wehr, either as an epub, ebook or software application (like Babylon offers)?

I get the sense that if you get the Hans Wehr, the 3rd edition should be avoided because it uses 5.5 point print that is too small to read and the print quality (printed in India) is poor. Has anybody found any issues with the 4th edition (5.4 x 1.6 x 8.7 inches)?


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## fdb

quddusaliquddus said:


> What would be the best classical Arabic dictionary?



Believe it or not, there is no adequate complete bilingual dictionary of Classical Arabic into any other language. Even the mediaeval monolingual dictionaries like _Lisānu l-ʻarab_ really only cover the language of the Qur’ān and of jāhilī poetry and are not of much use for reading authors of the Abbasid period. Your best bet is actually to use Wehr in the first instance, and then search around for the words you cannot find there in Lane, Dozy, Blachère and Ullmann.


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## MarcB

Lane's Lexicon:
http://www.laneslexicon.co.uk/


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## jmt356

Can anybody recommend an online Arabic-English dictionary that shows the جمع of the noun searched for?

I have been using المعاني, but it does not show the plurals (see, e.g., http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&word=جائزة&lang_name=English&type_word=2&dspl=0) for جائزة; no mention of the جمع form جوائز.


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## Sujon

Hello all,

Some paper-based dictionaries arrange the entries according to the roots, others do it by the first letter of the word. So, for example, if one tries to find the meaning of the word "Muslim", s/he has to look into S-L-M in the first type of dictionary, but has to look into MSLM in the second type.

Could someone briefly discuss the of advantages / disadvantages of each type, assuming that the reader is a non-Arab interested in learning Classical Arabic ?

Thanks.


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## jack_1313

Normally, the system of arranging words by root is more beneficial. It allows us to easily see the semantic relationship between words derived from the same root. This is helpful for a number of reasons. For example, it helps new students develop more versatile reading skills more quickly because it is easier to remember the general meaning of a root than remember ten derivatives of it. It helps advanced readers to fully understand the meaning and connotations of words.

The bad side is that, firstly, we need a reasonably good grasp of grammar to this system – we need to be able to recognize patterns, spot hidden letters, and break down words. Secondly, it is occasionally impossible to determine what the root letters of a word are. For example: اتسع or ثقة. In the first case, the root is و س ع but could easily be ت س ع. In the second case, the root is و ث ق but could easily be ث ق ق or ث ق ي. In these cases, the reader needs to check a number of possibilities before the correct combination can be found.

The main benefit of the system of arranging words by all their letters is that new students, who don’t understand much grammar, can use it. I think al-Mawrid is the only serious dictionary that employs this system, but I haven’t used it enough to comment on it. I imagine that a great section of it must be taken up by the letters ا and م.

By the way, Han Wehr, Lane's Lexicon, J. G. Hava, and Steingass can now be searched digitally (by root) online at http://www.ejtaal.net/m/aa/#HW=127,LL=1_401,LS=2,HA=91,SG=230. The tool can also be downloaded. Needless to say, this is great development for scholars of the language.

A comparison of different dictionaries can be found at http://muslimmatters.org/2010/03/06/arabic-dictionaries-and-resources-for-students/.


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## Sujon

Thank you very much for your summary. It seems that a serious student should possess both types of dictionay!!


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## ajamiyya عجمية

Back when dictionaries were being penned and systems were fluid, Aljawhari put together a dictionary arranged by the roots, only he inverted them; (you look for f a l under l a f, for instance.)


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## fdb

Most of the classical Arabic dictionaries are arranged by the last radical (the rhyme letter), which is actually very useful if you are reading poetry (where the rare words most commonly occur in the rhyme). In modern printed editions of these dictionaries, however, they have been rearranged according to the first radical.


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## akhooha

Many of you may already be aware of it, but a couple of days ago I ran across an excellent on-line source that allows for word search in 13 dictionaries all on one site:
-Hans Wehr;-Lane's Lexicon + supplement;-Steingass;-Brill;-A Dictionary and Glossary of the Koran by  John Penrice;-Hava;-Vocabulary Of The Holy Quran by Dr  Abdullah Abbas Nadwi;-Verbal Idoms of the Quraan by Mustansir  Mir;-Dictionary Of The Holy Quran, by Malik Ghulam Farid, M.A; -UrduQaamoos ul Waheed; -Urdu Mufraadaat Alfaaz al Qur'an by ar Raghib; -Urdu Mukhtaar us Sihah; and -Urdu al Munjid.
You can <<"hide">> the dictionaries you don't need so that the page will load faster (although it loads pretty fast with all the sources) and you can search by root using either Arabic letters or Roman equivalents.
The site is:
http://ejtaal.net/m/hw  (or you can use http://ejtaal.net/aa/#)


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## Finland

Wow, this is really amazing! Thank you for sharing!

What a great pity, though, that it seems to be impossible to make searches for English words. You don't happen to know a site where one could search Hans Wehr in English?

S


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## إسكندراني

Wow. Thank you


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## SnapleJax

This is a really great question.  Did you ever find an answer?  I am also looking for an online dictionary that lists plurals.  I'm traveling and I left my copy of Hans Wehr at home!


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## figgles

Try freearabicdictionary dot com. I can't post links (yet), so you'll have to enter it into your address bar yourself. I found it to be a pretty cool little site. The owner could use a bit of motivation though.


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## fdb

Wehr's dictionary is on line here:
http://ejtaal.net


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## analeeh

aratools.com will probably help. The English-Arabic side is still experimental but you can find plurals. Also if you are familiar with broken plural patterns and just need to know which of a couple of possibilities it is you can look for them in the Arabic side.


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## akhooha

jmt356 said:


> Can anybody recommend an online Arabic-English dictionary that shows the جمع of the noun searched for?
> 
> I have been using المعاني, but it does not show the plurals (see, e.g., http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&word=جائزة&lang_name=English&type_word=2&dspl=0) for جائزة; no mention of the جمع form جوائز.



I'm puzzled --- I was able to find the plural form of جائزة on   المعاني .
Look at definitions #2 and #3 on this link:http://www.almaany.com/home.php?lan...cat_group=1&lang_name=عربي&type_word=0&dspl=0
http://www.almaany.com/home.php?lan...cat_group=1&lang_name=عربي&type_word=0&dspl=0
P.S. Now I see why ---- when you get to almaany.com, be sure to click on "معجم عربي عربي" on the top right side of the page.  Once you've done that, then enter the Arabic word you're searching for.

If you don't click on "معجم عربي عربي" , then by default you'll get English/Arabic search results that will not give you as much information as the Arabic/Arabic search will.

Here, use this link to take you to "معجم عربي عربي":

http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&lang_name=عربي&cat_group=1


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## dannypdarc13

Hello, everybody!


I have a little question: I would like to know which is the largest monolingual dictionary of Modern Standard Arabic (not Classical Arabic nor Quranic Arabic). So far, I have just heard of dictionaries like Lisan al-Arab, Mukhtar al-Sihah, al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, etc, but they seem to be quite outdated. I would also like you to help me out finding a good Arabic-English-Arabic dictionary.

PS: As an aspiring hyperpolyglot, I would like to learn nine languages, and to me it is essential to find excellent learning resources.


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## Arabic_Police_999

Hmm, if you mean a dictionary containing all the words
I hardly ever believe such a one truly exists
Arabic is based generally on tri-letter roots, and there are thousandths of formulas that can be applied to form new meaning
There are around 67 formulas to create verbs from the root
It's better to spend time learning roots and formulas
Hmm, its true that we generally don't speak as old times,
But the only difference is that the marker case is not generally used in MSA
But what are those marker case are used for is not archaic


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## إسكندراني

Monolingual or English-Arabic?
In any case to learn any language you'll need more than a dictionary.


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## dannypdarc13

Oh, I would just like to know which is the largest monolingual dictionary of Modern Standard Arabic out there, no matter if it is alphabetically organised or by root. For more clarity, I would love to know which is the Arabic equivalent of the 20-Volume Oxford English Dictionary or the Diccionario de la lengua española.


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## muhammad2012

dannypdarc13 said:


> which is the Arabic equivalent of the 20-Volume Oxford English Dictionary or the Diccionario de la lengua española.


_Tāj al-ʿArūs_ (تاج العروس) (the most comprehensive dictionary of the Arabic language)
12000 roots (120,000 words) (more than 200,000 definition)

Lisan al-Arab (the most well-known dictionary of the Arabic language)
9000 roots (80,000 words) (160,000 definitions)
.............
modern dictionaries
معجم الوسيط  30,000 words(مجمع اللغة العربية)
معجم اللغة العربية المعاصرة  32,000 words(أحمد مختار عبد الحميد عمر)
معجم الغني 30,000 words (عبد الغني أبو العزم)
المحيط  40,000 words (أديب اللخمي)
معجم الرائد 50,000 words ( جبران مسعود)


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## إسكندراني

The largest modern dictionary may well be
المعجم الكبير  - مجمع القاهرة


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## Moseley

Hans-Wehr dictionary?

Also I wouldn't say learn EVERY Arabic root is essential to learning the language it would be akin to an English speaker wanting to know the whole of the English language which nobody really does. This will stagnate your chance of being a hyperpolyglot as you'll have obsolete Arabic terms to try and remember.


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## Bakr

إسكندراني said:


> The largest modern dictionary may well be
> المعجم الكبير  - مجمع القاهرة


لم يصدر منه سوى خمسة أجزاء وربما ستة على مدى أعوام، كل جزء لحرف، معجم غير كامل !ـ


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## fdb

dannypdarc13 said:


> For more clarity, I would love to know which is the Arabic equivalent of the 20-Volume Oxford English Dictionary or the Diccionario de la lengua española.



If you are looking for a comprehensive critical/historical dictionary of  Arabic, you will be disappointed. There are however two ongoing  projects:

“Dictionaire arabe-français-anglais”, begun by  Blachère, now covers the first seven letters of the alphabet (classical  and modern written Arabic)

Wörterbuch der klassischen arabischen Sprache, by Ullmann, covers the letters ك and ل  only (classical language only; the words are glossed in German and English).


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## Moseley

Is Taj Al Arus a good book to learn Arabic root words? Is it on par with Lisan-Al-Arab?


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## OsamaAbdullah

Hi
Both are great dictionaries but Lisan Al Arab is widely used.
But I don't recommend learning Arabic root words from a dictionary, I am a translator not a teacher but this is what I believe, language should be learned by practice and interaction in addition to learning the culture.
I hope my answer was helpful


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## Moseley

It was helpful  I was just using it as a reference guide. Which is more extensive out of the two?


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## OsamaAbdullah

Lisan Al Arab I think is more extensive, I recommend you wait for someone else to share his opinion about which one is more extensive.

I did some research and here is what I found:
Taj El Arous by Mortada El Zobaydi And Al Moheet المحيط By Fairuz Al Abadi are the most extensive and contain words way more than Lisan El Arab.
For a a foreigner learning Arabic they recommend معجم المجمع اللغوي بالقاهرة المطول or The Prolonged Dictionary by the Linguistic committee in Cairo which should be containing new and modern Arabic words idioms and expressions.


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## Moseley

Thanks Osama, shookran


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## Spasmarod

Hi all,

Does anyone know if there are any really good online dictionaries for Arabic learners? (as opposed to Arabic speakers learning English - seems to be a good few of these, for example on word reference)

I have tried a few (including almost all of the ones linked to in the resources post on this forum), but none of them seems to be much good for an elementary learner's purposes.

It may also be that I'm still getting used to searching for 'dictionary' forms of verbs. 

Thanks


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## AndyRoo

Hi,

http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-en/ is very comprehensive.

You might also consider the new Oxford dictionary: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/arabic which costs about GBP 10 a year. They have a free trial.


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## Spasmarod

Nice one, that Oxford one looks like the business - probably worth the money.

Thanks a lot.


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## rickymut

Hi, Friends:

I am learning Arabic. I am surprised to find the very disappointing fact that there is no Arabic-English dictionary which gives the sentence examples in arabic. Most of them just give the corresponding english words as the definition without the further sentence examples in arabic. I don't care about the definitions in Arabic or in English, just in sentences or in corresponding english words. I do care about the sentences given as the examples so that I can learn to mimic and to write the correct sentences in Arabic. Without the sentence examples there, it seems to me that I can't see those words through clearly. My question is: where can I find one dictionary which give me at least one sentence example in Arabic for each meaning of the word I look for on it. It would be better that the sentence examples are put in both Arabic and English as my arabic is not good enough to know all the araic sentences. Thanks a lot!


Best Regards

Mark


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## Qittat Ulthar

Dear Mark, try the Oxford Arabic Dictionary: www.oxforddictionaries.com/arabic , it has example sentences for most Arabic and English words with translations in the other language, see here for the 'feelings' sense of heart:

_قَلْب مَكْسور
a broken heart
قَلْب من ذَهَبٍ
a heart of gold
قَلْبُهُ أَبْيَضُ \ أَسْوَدُ
he has a good/bad character
قَلْباً وَقالَباً
with heart and soul 
.....etc_


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## Mazhara

VerbAce-Pro (VerbAce-Pro.exe). VerbAce-Pro is a high-end Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionary and translation software.


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## gino ginelli

Hello everyone,

As a beginner that has just learned to read Arabic, I'm now looking for a dictionary that has English words with the MSA equivalent. I know there are plenty of dictionaries on Amazon, but I'm looking for one with the vowels (or tashkilat) to help me with the pronunciation.

Can anyone recommend anything?

Many thanks!


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## Jamal31

Check out Al-Maany


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## Heterochromic

Hello/ Salam 'Alaikum
I am a student of Classical and Modern Standard Arabic(Fusha) looking for an easy-to-use online dictionary that translates both English-Arabic and Arabic-English. You may also recommend seperate English-Arabic and Arabic-English dictionaries. I have recently downloaded Al-Maany Arabic-English dictionary which is decent but it does not have everything I want. I need dictionaries that shows the plural forms of nouns as well as showing the vowel for present tense verbs. A good physical dictionary that accomplishes what I'm looking for is the Hans-Wehr dictionary. 

Thank you/Shukran in advance.


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## Interprete

Hello,

I have looked around and have not found any thread dealing with this.

I often feel unsatisfied when looking up words in dictionaries such as Al Maany (online) in their monolingual version, because oftentimes the definition of a given word is not a detailed explanation of what the word means, but rather simply a list of other words that are more or less closely synonymous. And I also often find out from native speakers that those synonyms as given by al Maany are actually used quite differently and are only vaguely related, and certainly not interchangeable. This probably does not bother native speakers, but it is a significant hindrance to foreign learners like myself, because you end up with a vague idea of what the word means, but with no clear picture of its subtler nuances.

Are there dictionaries in Arabic that give comprehensive, precise and specific definitions (i.e. not two or three loose synonyms, but whole sentences describing what the word means in its finest nuances, like what you would find in a typical English or French dictionary for example)?
All I know is al-Maany and Lisan al-Arab, which both seem to suffer from this same disadvantage. I'd be willing to buy hard copies if such works are not available online, because they would spare me so much time and many errors.

Thanks!


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## WannaBFluent

I would recommend this:
Lisaan.net - Largest Classical Arabic Dictionaries - معاجم لسان نت

But there might be better options.


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## Mahaodeh

Interprete said:


> All I know is al-Maany and Lisan al-Arab, which both seem to suffer from this same disadvantage.



Actually both of them do give full descriptions, if you know where to look. I know that the paper copy of Lisan Al-Arab is a little more comprehensive than the online ones I've seen, but I do understand your frustration. Sometimes the author just assumes that you can get the nuances and does not describe them enough or give any examples.

Unfortunately I don't know of any. When I'm not satisfied I usually check out more than one dictionary and read through the whole root because it usually helps. I also sometimes try books like الفروق اللغوية for more detailed nuances. The latter are rarely comprehensive though and you don't always find what you want in them.


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## Interprete

To give an example of my problem. Recently I looked up the verb اتأد and it says:

اتّأد الشّخص

تأنّى وتمهّل
OK so then I have to look up those two words, so I look up تأنى and it says:


تأنَّى فلانٌ : تمهَّل ، تروّى ، لم يتسرّع أو يندفع ، تأخّر وأبطأ قدّم أفكاره متأنِّيًا
OK so اتأد is both تأنى AND تمهل yet تأنى is at least in part defined by تمهل which is part of it according to the dictionary.

And when I look up تمهل it says :


تَمَهَّلَ فِي عَمَلِهِ : عَمِلَهُ بِتُؤَدَةٍ وَرِفْقٍ ، لَمْ يُعَجِّلْ فِيهِ

So it brings me back to square one with تؤدة

That's the problem I often getting to, with those dictionaries jumping from near-synonym to near-synonym instead of giving the exact definition right away.
If I look up the word circumspection (one of the many possible translations I guess) in an English dictionary, it says:


> *circumspection*
> _noun_
> The exercise of good judgment or common sense in practical matters:


It doesn't give near-synonyms, it explains what it is. I wish I could find something similar for Arabic. Unless the Arabic approach is completely different and I can't benefit from it because I simply don't understand how to use an Arabic dictionary effectively?


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## Bazi

Dear forum members,

When reading arabic, I often come across what then seems to be a idiomatic phrase or even just a collocation. Now I wonder if there is something like an online dictionary, that could provide me with confirmation for my assumptions. I know there is reverso.com, which sometimes does really help, and there is the forum, but I am looking for something like this: Deutscher Wortschatz / Leipzig Corpora Collection
It's a german online dictionary, that provides collocations, opposites, synonyms and phraseological idioms related to any given word. Even as a natural speaker, I often find it very useful when for instance, trying to rephrase something in a more idiomatic way or even just looking for a synonym.

Now, I might assume that my search might not end up being successful, since it seems to me, the arabic language doesn't get the attention it deserves. I hope, I am wrong.

Any help?


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