حرف

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See also: خرف, خرق, حرق, and خ ر ق

Arabic

Etymology 1.1

Root
ح ر ف (ḥ r f)
11 terms

Cognate to Aramaic חָרַף (ḥarap, to scrape, sharpen, to grind), Classical Syriac ܚܪܰܦ (ḥrap̄, to blend, to scrape together), Classical Syriac ܚܰܪܦܐ (ḥarp̄a, blade, sword), Ge'ez ሐረፈ (ḥäräfä, to crush, to grind, to tear off the top).

Pronunciation

Verb

حَرَفَ (ḥarafa) I (non-past يَحْرِفُ (yaḥrifu), verbal noun حَرْف (ḥarf))

  1. to turn to the opposite side
  2. to trade, to do business
  3. to trim, to snip
Conjugation

Etymology 1.2

Pronunciation

Verb

حَرَّفَ (ḥarrafa) II (non-past يُحَرِّفُ (yuḥarrifu), verbal noun تَحْرِيف (taḥrīf))

  1. to slant, to incline
  2. to bend down, up, or back, to turn down, up, or back
  3. to deflect
  4. to distort, to corrupt, to falsify, to misconstrue, to pervert, to twist
    • 7th century CE, Jamīʿ at-Tirmiḏiyy, section 47:
      فَمَا جَاءُوا بِهِ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ فَهُوَ حَقٌّ وَلَكِنَّهُمْ يُحَرِّفُونَ وَيَزِيدُونَ
      famā jāʔū bihi ʕalā wajhihi fahuwa ḥaqqun walakinnahum yuḥarrifūna wayazīdūna
      Whatever they came with is right, as it is – however they distort and augment.
Conjugation

Etymology 1.3

Pronunciation

Noun

حَرْف (ḥarfm (plural حِرَف (ḥiraf))

  1. cutting edge, sharp edge
  2. border, brink, edge, rim
Declension

Adjective

حَرْف (ḥarf)

  1. (obsolete, poetic, of a she-camel) hardy, strong and/or lean and/or swift
    • a. 625, الأعشى al-ʾaʿšā, edited by Geyer, Rudolf, Zwei Gedichte von Al-ʾAʿšâ (Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Philosophisch-historische Klasse; 149/6)‎, volume Mâ Bukâʾu, Wien: In Kommission bei Carl Gerold’s Sohn, published 1905, page 102:
      وَشِمِلَّةٍ حَرْفٍ كَأَنَّ قُتُودَهَا … جَلَّلْتُهَا (var. لَبَسْتُهَا) جَوْنَ السَّرَاةِ خَفَيْدَدًا
      wašimillatin ḥarfin kaʔanna qutūdahā … jallaltuhā (var. labastuhā) jawna s-sarāti ḵafaydadan
      Some hardy she-camel the saddle-woods of which I applied like upon a black-backed ostrich
Declension

Etymology 1.4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

Noun

حِرَف (ḥirafpl

  1. plural of حِرْفَة (ḥirfa)

Etymology 2.1

Verbal noun of the verb above, the result of turning the tongue or stylus or limb to the side. The meaning “word” is a semantic loan from Medieval Latin terminus, spawned in the environment of philosophy text translation (see Praetorius 1909).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ħarf/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

حَرْف (ḥarfm (plural حُرُوف (ḥurūf) or أَحْرُف (ʔaḥruf))

  1. verbal noun of حَرَفَ (ḥarafa) (form I)
  2. letter (of the alphabet), piece of type
    حَرْفًا بِحَرْفٍḥarfan bi-ḥarfinword for word
  3. consonant
  4. (grammar) particle
  5. (obsolete) word
Declension
Descendants

Etymology 2.2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

Noun

حِرَف (ḥirafpl

  1. plural of حَرْف (ḥarf)

Etymology

Arabic Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ar

An Aramaic borrowing, Aramaic חורפה / חורפא / ࡇࡅࡓࡐࡀ / ܚܘܪܦܐ (ḥurpā, sharp edge) corresponds to the Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf, sharp edge) and acquired the transferred meanings of “pungency” and “pungent” food, which applies to cress because of its marked mustardy or radish-like, slightly pungent to peppery taste and smell, compare also the adjective likely borrowed from Aramaic into Arabic حِرِّيف (ḥirrīf, pungent); perhaps also merged Akkadian 𒄷𒌨𒁍 (ḫurpu, crop collected early, unripe produce), hence the meaning of bitter or unpleasant tasting plants, rather related to the root خ ر ف (ḵ-r-f).

Pronunciation

Noun

حُرْف (ḥurfm

  1. cress (Lepidium sativum, a garden vegetable)
  2. bitter-cress (Cardamine, some of which are eatable, some of medicinal use)
  3. water-cress (Nasturtium officinale, eatable and of medicinal use)
    • 1025, ابن سينا [Avicenna], القانون في الطب [Canon Medicinae]:
      قال ديسقويدس أجود ما رأينا من شجرة الحرف ما يكون بأرض بابل، وقوته شبيهة بقوة الخردل وبزر الفجل، وقيل الخردل وبزر الجرجير المجتمعين، وورقه ينقص في أفعاله عنه لرطوبته فإذا يبس قارب مشاكلته وكاد يلحقه. […] الأفعال والخواص: مسخن محلل منضج مع تليين ينشف قيح الجرب.
      Dioscurides said that the best what we have seen of the water-cress is the one on the earth of Babel, and its power is similar to that of the mustard and the seeds of the radish, and, it is said, mustard and rocket seeds can be blended with it, but its leaves fall behind the whole of the plant in their effects by reason of their moisture, but when dried, they are similar to it and almost catch up with it. Its properties: It is heatening, laxative, maturative with some laxivity and absorbs the pus in the scab.
Declension
Descendants

References

  • ḥrp”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
  • Freytag, Georg (1830) “حرف”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 367–368
  • Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “حرف”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, pages 410–411
  • Praetorius, Franz (1909) “Ḥarfun = Terminus”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, volume 63, pages 504–505

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

Noun

حرف (harf) (plural حرفلر (harfler) or حروف (huruf))

  1. letter
    • 1928 November 3, T.C. Resmî Gazete, law number 1353:
      شیمدی‌یه قادار توركجه‌یی یازمق ایچین قوللانیلان عرب حرفلری یرینه لاتین اساسندن آلنان و مربوط جدولده شكللری كوستریلن حرفلر (تورك حرفلری) عنوان و حقوقی ایله قبول لیدلمشدر.
      Şimdiye kadar Türkçeyi yazmak için kullanılan Arab harfleri yerine Latin esasından alınan ve merbut cetvelde şekilleri gösterilen harfler (Türk harfleri) unvan ve hukuku ile kabul edilmiştir.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

Further reading

Persian

Persian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fa

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

Pronunciation

Readings
Classical reading? harf
Dari reading? harf
Iranian reading? harf
Tajik reading? harf

Noun

Dari حرف
Iranian Persian
Tajik ҳарф

حَرْف (harf) (plural حرف‌ها (harf-hâ) or حروف (horuf))

  1. letter
  2. speech, talk
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic حِرَف (ḥiraf).

Pronunciation

Readings
Classical reading? hiraf
Dari reading? hiraf
Iranian reading? heraf
Tajik reading? hiraf

Noun

حِرَف (heraf)

  1. (archaic) plural of حرفه

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

Pronunciation

Noun

حرف (ḥarfm (plural حروف (ḥurūf))

  1. letter (of the alphabet)