# نسوة / نسوان / نساء



## greg from vancouver

Could someone please explain the usage rules for the following three variations:
نسوة ونسوان ونساء

Are they interchangeable?  I have only encountered the latter in my studies.

Thanks,
Greg​


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## WadiH

I think نسوان is more colloquial than the other two.  نسوة seems to be applied to small groups of specific women, whereas نساء refers to larger numbers or to women in general.  So in other words, نسوة is جمع قلّة and نساء is جمع كثرة.  That's how I understand these words, but I could be wrong.


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## Mahaodeh

I checked a few dictionaries, they don't seem to say what the difference is (نسوان is also included so I would think that it's not just colloquial); but I do agree with Wadi Hanifa, that's how I understand it too. (نساء is more women than نسوة).


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## Josh_

I believe نسوان is considered vulgar in some areas, so it should probably be avoided. I'm fairly certain it is considered vulgar in Egypt and possibly in Syria as well.  I am not totally sure about Syria, and am basing my guess on an Arabic professor from Syria I had who took offense at the usage of the word and said it should be avoided.


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## cute angel

all these words are the same in meaning but they are different .First these words are the plural of woman امرأة in Arabic.نسوة and نساء are used in standard Arabic but نسوان used in dialects like in Syria .

I don't agree with you brother Josh this word is not vulgar no it's not .Yeah sometimes it's but in a special speech.

Also I do agree that نسوة is a number of women which is less than نساء because نساء is vast than نسوة .


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## clevermizo

Josh_ said:


> I believe نسوان is considered vulgar in some areas, so it should probably be avoided. I'm fairly certain it is considered vulgar in Egypt and possibly in Syria as well.  I am not totally sure about Syria, and am basing my guess on an Arabic professor from Syria I had who took offense at the usage of the word and said it should be avoided.



Really? In my Syrian Arabic course, نسوان is given as the normal plural of the singular مرة (colloquial for امرأة).


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, نسوان is by no means vulgar.  It is the ordinary, everyday word for "women."


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## cherine

In Egypt, it is an offensive word that you would better not used in front of women  (except in lower classes).

The colloquial word for "women" is settaat سِتَّات .


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## SofiaB

What about these singular words for woman خانم امراة سيدة  مراة  ?
I have heard مراة  is also offensive in Egypt.


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## clevermizo

In the Levant, to my knowledge مرة _mara_ is just the regular word for _woman_. It can also mean _wife_ (_marti _my wife - I even heard this on a plane once). It is not a term of any special respect  - but it is just a regular, unoffensive word. خانم, ست, مادام are all various terms of respect for women. I don't think they are in equal distribution all over the Levant and some dialects prefer certain words. I think خانم is originally of Persian origin.

I have a memory of this coming up in a thread sometime in the last year.


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## Mahaodeh

Both مرة and نسوان exist in classical Arabic, nowadays it is only used in colloquial. In Iraq too they are not vulgar; no particular respect but not rude, vulgar or disrespectful. I've noticed that in the Gulf States (at least in UAE) they don't really use نسوان and tend to use حريم instead. I don't know whether they find it vulgar or not though.


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## Ander

cute angel said:


> First these words are the plural of woman امرأة in Arabic.نسوة and نساء are used in standard Arabic but نسوان used in dialects like in Syria .


These words must actually be the plural of the feminine of insaan, or of a similar word with the same root. I'm just wondering.


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## Josh_

SofiaB said:


> What about these singular words for woman خانم امراة سيدة مراة ?
> I have heard مراة is also offensive in Egypt.


Yes, the word pronounced as 'mara' is offensive, but miraat-, always used in construction -- miraati, miraatu, is the common way to say the wife of someone and is not offensive.


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## sinan gul

I don't think مرة existed in Classical Arabic. How was it pronounced? مَرَة? I know إمْرَأَة existed, of course. And I have never seen نِسْوان used in Modern Standard Arabic. I tried using it once and I was told that I was mixing slang with MSA. I said something like النسوان اللواتي (the women who). Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the guy I was talking to was referring to my use of اللواتي, because I think the MSA plural of التي is اللاتي, not اللواتي.


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## WadiH

مرة is just مرأة with the hamza elided.


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## Hemza

In Morocco (as well as Mauritania) there is:
مراة (woman, everywhere)
نسوية (woman, in the South but less common that مراة)
عيالات (women everywhere)
نسوان/نساوين (women, in the South)


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## fenakhay

There is also نسا and مراوات.


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## Ali Smith

I always thought the singular of نسوان, نسوة, and نساء was امرأة, and that the همزة الوصل dropped out when ال was attached, but today someone told me you don't have to drop it; you can simply say _al-'imra'ah _instead of _al-mar'ah_. In fact, he told me you should avoid the latter because in colloquial Arabic it means "the soup".

cherine: Really? What does نسوان mean in the Egyptian dialect, if I may ask?


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## cherine

Ali Smith said:


> I always thought the singular of نسوان, نسوة, and نساء was امرأة


If I remember correctly, there are some words that are used in the plural and that ليس لها مفرد من جنسها and this is one of them. So the singular امرأة is just based on the meaning not the root of the word. Just like we don't have a plural of امرأة from its root (unless there's one that I've never heard of).


> and that the همزة الوصل dropped out when ال was attached


المرأة is woman, like the French "la femme". But this is not a plural either.


> , but today someone told me you don't have to drop it; you can simply say _al-'imra'ah _instead of _al-mar'ah_. In fact, he told me you should avoid the latter because in colloquial Arabic it means "the soup".


Maybe he was trying to be funny. You don't need to take that seriously. And I don't remember encountering الامرأة anywhere before.


> cherine: Really? What does نسوان mean in the Egyptian dialect, if I may ask?


Really what?
نسوان is women, but it's not an elegant word. In the cities, It's mostly used by people of lower social class and/or lower education level. It's fine in Upper Egypt and maybe rural areas, if I'm not mistaken. The expression a3det neswan قعدة نسوان usually mean a group of women gossiping, not just women talking together.


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## elroy

Ali Smith said:


> he told me you should avoid the latter because in colloquial Arabic it means "the soup".


 The colloquial word is _maraʾa_, not _marʾa_.  Not only is there an extra vowel, but “a” sound is different.  There is no possibility of confusion.  (It also doesn’t mean “soup,” but that’s tangential.)


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## Ali Smith

greg from vancouver said:


> نسوة ونسوان ونساء​Are they interchangeable?​


In Classical Arabic (and perhaps MSA as well) they are completely interchangeable, for they mean exactly the same thing: women. They are all plurals of the same word: امرأة ‘woman’. In fact, these are the only plurals of this word; there is no fourth plural.


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