كتب

Arabic

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Semitic *katab-, but the sense "to write" has long been considered a borrowing from another Central Semitic language, perhaps denominally from كِتَاب (kitāb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ta.ba/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

كَتَبَ • (kataba) I, non-past يَكْتُبُ‎ (yaktubu) (transitive)

1. to mark (symbols, shapes, graphs, glyphs, letters, and the like) on a surface, to write, to inscribe
   1. to draw (figures)

      Synonyms: رَسَمَ (rasama, “to draw (a shape or a letter)”), خَطَّ (ḵaṭṭa, “to handwrite”)

      Hyponym: حَبَرَ (ḥabara, “to ink”)

   2. to cut (figures)

      Synonym: نَقَشَ (naqaša, “to inscribe by carving, to engrave, to etch”)

2. to produce or generate by writing
   1. to write up, to compose, to draw up, to draft

      Synonyms: أَنْشَأَ (ʔanšaʔa, “to compose”), سَطَرَ (saṭara, “to line; to write”)

      Hyponyms: أَلَّفَ (ʔallafa, “to author”), صَنَّف (ṣannaf, “to compile; to compose”), نَظَمَ (naẓama, “to compose (rhyming and metrical verse)”)

   2. to set down figures with a typewriter or a keyboard, to typewrite or keyboard, to type
3. to put down in writing, to write down; to record; to register; to track

   Synonym: سَجَّلَ (sajjala, “to record, to register; to account for”)

   Hyponyms: أَحْصَى (ʔaḥṣā, “to record or enumerate in writing or otherwise”), أَرَّخَ (ʔarraḵa, “to chronicle, to historize”)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 4:81:

     وَٱللَّهُ يَكْتُبُ مَا يُبَيِّتُونَ فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ

     wa-llahu yaktubu mā yubayyitūna faʔaʕriḍ ʕanhum wa-tawakkal ʕalā llahi

     But God records what they scheme by night; so turn away from them and rely upon Allah.

   1. to write down (an event, such as a destiny or a fatality); to destine or predestine; to foreordain

      Synonym: قَدَّرَ (qaddara)

      • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 9:51:

        قُل لَنْ يُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا

        qul lan yuṣībanā ʔillā mā kataba llahu lanā

        Say "Never will we be struck except by what Allah has decreed for us..."

   2. to write down (an ordinance, a law, a commandment, or the like); to prescribe
      • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 5:32:

        مِنْ أَجْلِ ذٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا

        min ʔajli ḏālika katabnā ʕalā banī ʔisrāʔīla ʔannahu man qatala nafsan biḡayri nafsin ʔaw fasādin fī l-ʔarḍi fakaʔannamā qatala n-nāsa jamīʕan wa-man ʔaḥyāhā fakaʔannamā ʔaḥyā n-nāsa jamīʕan

        Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land; it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one: it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.

   3. to bequeath
      • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 5:21:

        يَا قَوْمِ ٱدْخُلُوا ٱلْأَرْضَ ٱلْمُقَدَّسَةَ ٱلَّتِي كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَى أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ

        yā qawmi dḵulū l-ʔarḍa l-muqaddasata llatī kataba l-lahu lakum wa-lā tartaddū ʕalā ʔadbārikum fatanqalibū ḵāsirīna

        O my people, enter the Holy Land that Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back and become losers.

Conjugation

Descendants

• > Cypriot Arabic: kitep (inherited)

Noun

كَتْب • (katb) m

1. verbal noun of كَتَبَ (kataba)

Declension

Etymology 2

Form-II causative of كَتَبَ (kataba, “to write”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kat.ta.ba/

Verb

كَتَّبَ • (kattaba) II, non-past يُكَتِّبُ‎ (yukattibu)

1. (transitive, causative) to cause to write, to make someone write
2. to deploy in squadrons

Conjugation

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.tub/

Noun

كُتُب • (kutub) m pl

1. plural of كِتَاب (kitāb)

Descendants

• → Basque: kutun, gutun

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki.taːb/

Noun

كِتٰب • (kitāb) m (plural كُتُب (kutub))

1. Classical Arabic spelling of كِتَاب (kitāb)

Declension

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “كتب”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
• Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, page 248

Egyptian Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic كَتَبَ (kataba).

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Verb

كتب • (katab) I (non-past يكتب (yiktib))

1. to write

Conjugation

References

• Hinds, Martin, Badawi, El-Said (1986) “كتب”, in A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic‎, Beirut: Librairie du Liban, page 733

Iraqi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic كتب.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki.tab/

Verb

كتب (kitab) I (non-past يكتب (yiktib))

1. to write

Conjugation

actp-pm=كاتبين
actp-pmtr=kātbīn
actp-sf=كاتبة
actp-sftr=kātbe
actp-sm=كاتب
actp-smtr=kātib

Moroccan Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic كَتَبَ (kataba).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ktab/

Verb

كتب • (ktab) I (non-past يكتُب (yiktub) or يكتَب (yiktab))

1. to write

   كتب تلميدي مقال زوين على الحروب الأهلية اللي داز بيها المغرب فالماضي.

   ktab talmīdi maqāl zwīn ʕla l-ḥurūb el-ʔayliyya lli dāz bīha l-maḡrib f-el-māḍi

   My student wrote an essay about the civil wars that took place in Morocco in the past

2. to destine or predestine

   كتب له الله جوج دراري.

   ktab lu llāh jūj drāri.

   God predestined him two kids

Conjugation

1=ك
2=ت
3=ب
4=k
5=t
6=b

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

1=ك
2=ت
3=ب
4=k
5=t
6=b

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic كَتَبَ (kataba).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.tab/,

• Audio (al-Lidd)

  (file)

Verb

كتب • (katab) I (present بكتب (boktob), active participle كاتب (kāteb))

1. to write

   كتبت لأهلي.

   katabt la-ʔahli.

   I wrote to my parents.

   اكتبلي ايّاه على ورقة.

   uktubli yyāh ʕala waraʔa.

   Write it down for me on paper.

Conjugation