كبر

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Arabic

Etymology 1

Root
ك ب ر (k b r)
11 terms

Inherited from Proto-Semitic *kabar- together with Hebrew כָּבַר (kāḇár, to be great, to become great; to be many, to multiply), Akkadian kabārum (to be or become thick) etc.

Pronunciation

  • kabura:(file)
  • IPA(key): /ka.bu.ra/
  • (Gulf Arabic) IPA(key): /ˈkɪbɐr/
  • (Hijazi Arabic) IPA(key): /ˈkibir/

Verb

كَبُرَ (kabura) I (non-past يَكْبُرُ (yakburu), verbal noun كِبَر (kibar) or كُبْر (kubr) or كَبَارَة (kabāra) or كُبَارَة (kubāra)) (stative)

  1. to be or become big
  2. to grow, to grow up
  3. to become famous
  4. to become too great (for something)
  5. to be too proud, to snub, to disdain
  6. to become too oppressive, to appear intolerable, to become too difficult, to become troublesome
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 6:35:
      وَإِن كَانَ كَبُرَ عَلَيْكَ إِعْرَاضُهُمْ فَإِنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتَ أَن تَبْتَغِيَ نَفَقًا فِي ٱلْأَرْضِ أَوْ سُلَّمًا فِي ٱلسَّمَاءِ فَتَأْتِيَهُم بِآيَةٍ
      waʔin kāna kabura ʕalayka ʔiʕrāḍuhum faʔini staṭaʕta ʔan tabtaḡiya nafaqan fī l-ʔarḍi ʔaw sullaman fī s-samāʔi fataʔtiyahum biʔāyatin
      And if their aversion is grievous unto thee, then, if thou canst, seek a way down into the earth or a ladder unto the sky that thou mayst bring unto them a portent (to convince them all)!
      Translates Pickthall
Conjugation

Noun

كُبْر (kubrm

  1. verbal noun of كَبُرَ (kabura) (form I)
Declension

Verb

كَبَرَ (kabara) I (non-past يَكْبُرُ (yakburu), verbal noun كَبْر (kabr))

  1. (stative, transitive) to be older than
    • 1949, Naguib Mahfouz, The beginning and the end, Dar El-Shorouk, page 6:
      يَكْبُرُ أَخَاهُ بِعَامَيْنِ
      yakburu ʾaḵāhu bi-ʿāmayni
      He is two years older than his brother
Conjugation

Noun

كَبْر (kabrm

  1. verbal noun of كَبَرَ (kabara) (form I)
Declension

Verb

كَبَّرَ (kabbara) II (non-past يُكَبِّرُ (yukabbiru), verbal noun تَكْبِير (takbīr))

  1. (transitive, causative) to enlarge, to make something bigger
  2. (intransitive) to say اَللّٰهُ أَكْبَر (allāhu ʔakbar, God is greatest)
Conjugation
Descendants
  • Maltese: kabbar

Noun

كُبَر (kubarpl (singular كُبْرَى (kubrā))

  1. great calamities
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 74:35:
      إِنَّهَا لَإِحْدَى الْكُبَرِ
      ʔinnahā laʔiḥdā al-kubari
      Lo! this is one of the greatest (portents)
      Translates Pickthall
Declension

Noun

كِبَر (kibarm

  1. greatness, largeness
  2. magnificence, majesty
  3. old age
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 2:266:
      أَيَوَدُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن تَكُونَ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ مِّن نَّخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَابٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ لَهُ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ وَأَصَابَهُ ٱلْكِبَرُ وَلَهُ ذُرِّيَّةٌ ضُعَفَآءُ فَأَصَابَهَآ إِعْصَارٌ فِيهِ نَارٌ فَٱحْتَرَقَتْ
      ʔayawaddu ʔaḥadukum ʔan takūna lahu jannatun min naḵīlin waʔaʕnābin tajrī min taḥtihā l-ʔanhāru lahu fīhā min kulli ṯ-ṯamarāti waʔaṣābahu l-kibaru walahu ḏurriyyatun ḍuʕafaʔāʔu faʔaṣābahaʔā ʔiʕṣārun fīhi nārun faḥtaraqat
      Would any of you like to have a garden of palm-trees and vines, with rivers flowing underneath it, with all kinds of fruit for him therein; and old age hath stricken him and he hath feeble offspring; and a fiery whirlwind striketh it and it is (all) consumed by fire.
      Translates Pickthall
Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ge'ez ክብር (kəbr), see كِبْرِيَاء (kibriyāʔ).

Noun

كِبْر (kibrm

  1. majesty, glory, highness
  2. pride, presumptuosity, superciliousness, haughtiness, greed for glory
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 40:56:
      إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُجَـٰدِلُونَ فِي ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ سُلْطَـٰنٍ أَتَىٰهُمْ إِن فِي صُدُورِهِمْ إِلَّا كِبْرٌ مَّا هُم بِبَـٰلِغِيهِ
      ʔinna llaḏīna yujādilūna fī ʔāyāti l-lahi biḡayri sulṭānin ʔatāhum ʔin fī ṣudūrihim ʔillā kibrun mā hum bibāliḡīhi
      Lo! those who wrangle concerning the revelations of Allah without a warrant having come unto them, there is naught else in their breasts save pride which they will never attain.
      Translates Pickthall
  3. leonine share, greatest deal, bulk
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 24:11:
      إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ جَآءُو بِٱلْإِفْكِ عُصْبَةٌ مِّنْكُمْ لَا تَحْسَبُوهُ شَرًّا لَّكُم بَلْ هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ لِكُلِّ ٱمْرِئٍ مِّنْهُم مَّا ٱكْتَسَبَ مِنَ ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلَّذِي تَوَلَّى كِبْرَهُ مِنْهُمْ لَهُ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
      ʔinna llaḏīna jaʔāʔū bi-l-ʔifki ʕuṣbatun minkum lā taḥsabūhu šarran lakum bal huwa ḵayrun lakum likulli mriʔin minhum mā ktasaba mina l-ʔiṯmi wallaḏī tawallā kibra-hū minhum la-hū ʕaḏābun ʕaẓīmun
      Lo! they who spread the slander are a gang among you. Deem it not a bad thing for you; nay, it is good for you. Unto every man of them (will be paid) that which he hath earned of the sin; and as for him among them who had the greater share therein, his will be an awful doom.
      Translates Pickthall
Declension
Descendants

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Arabic Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ar
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Proper noun

كُبَّر (kubbarf

  1. Kubbar, an uninhabited island in the Bay of Kuwait
Declension

Etymology 4

Arabic Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ar

From Classical Syriac ܩܦܪ (qappar, qappār, caper-bush) or Classical Syriac ܟܦܪ (kappar, kappār), considered from Ancient Greek κάππαρις (kápparis) of uncertain likely Asian origin.
For the variation aā in Aramaisms, compare سُكَّر (sukkar), سُكَّار (sukkār, bolt-lock) and قُنْبَر (qunbar), قُنْبَار (qunbār), كُنْبَار (kunbār, coir).

Alternative forms

Noun

كَبَر (kabarm

  1. caper (Capparis gen. and especially Capparis spinosa, as well as the edible buds from it)
    Synonyms: شَفَلَّح (šafallaḥ), عِتْر (ʕitr), لَصَف (laṣaf)
Declension
Descendants

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Ge'ez ከበሮ (käbäro, drum, timbrel).

Noun

كَبَر (kabarm (plural كِبَار (kibār) or أَكْبَار (ʔakbār))

  1. (obsolete) drum, timbrel
Declension

References

  • Ahrens, Karl (1930) “Christliches im Qoran. Eine Nachlese”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German), volume 84, page 23
  • Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 1087–1088
  • Freytag, Georg (1837) “كبر”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 3–4
  • Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “كبر”, 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 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, page 853
  • Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 322–331
  • Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 56
  • Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “كبر”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, pages 1081–1083
  • Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (2020) “كبر”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart (in German), 6th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 781

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Persian گبر (gabr, Zoroastrian; infidel), itself from Aramaic 𐡂𐡁𐡓𐡀 (gbrʾ /⁠gaḇrā⁠/, man; person). Doublet of كاور (gâvur, gâvor, infidel, kafir).

Noun

كبر (gebr) (definite accusative كبری (gebri), plural كبرلر (gebrler, gebirler))

  1. Zoroastrian, Guebre, a follower of Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta
    Synonyms: آتش‌پرست (âteş-perest), زردشتی (zerdüştî), مجوسی (mecûsî)
Derived terms
  • كبرلك (gebrlik, gebirlik, quality or religion of a Guebre)
Descendants

Further reading

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic كِبْر (kibr, majesty, glory; pride, haughtiness), itself from Ge'ez ክብር (kəbr).

Noun

كبر (kibr or kibir) (definite accusative كبری (kibri, kibiri), plural كبرلر (kibrler, kibirler))

  1. pride, haughtiness, conceit, arrogance, superciliousness, presumptuousness, an unreasonable overestimation of one's own superiority
    Synonym: غرور (gurur)
Derived terms
Descendants

Further reading

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Arabic كِبَر (kibar, greatness, largeness; old age).

Noun

كبر (kiber) (definite accusative كبری (kiberi), plural كبرلر (kiberler))

  1. greatness, largeness, bigness, the state, condition, or quality of being great, large, or big
    Synonym: بیوكلك (büyüklük)
  2. old age, senescence, agedness, oldness, the state, condition or quality of being old or aged
Descendants

Further reading

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

كبر (keber) (definite accusative كبری (keberi), plural كبرلر (keberler))

  1. Alternative spelling of كبره (kebere, caper)

Further reading

South Levantine Arabic

Root
ك ب ر
3 terms

Etymology

From Arabic كَبَّرَ (kabbara).

Pronunciation

Verb

كبّر (kabbar) II (present بكبّر (bikabber))

  1. to enlarge
  2. (by extension) to exaggerate
    Synonym: بالغ (bālaḡ)

Conjugation

    Conjugation of كبّر (kabbar)
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
past m كبّرت (kabbart) كبّرت (kabbart) كبّر (kabbar) كبّرنا (kabbarna) كبّرتو (kabbartu) كبّرو (kabbaru)
f كبّرتي (kabbarti) كبّرت (kabbarat)
present m بكبّر (bakabber) بتكبّر (bitkabber) بكبّر (bikabber) منكبّر (minkabber) بتكبّرو (bitkabbru) بكبّرو (bikabbru)
f بتكبّري (bitkabbri) بتكبّر (bitkabber)
subjunctive m اكبّر (akabber) تكبّر (tkabber) يكبّر (ykabber) نكبّر (nkabber) تكبّرو (tkabbru) يكبّرو (ykabbru)
f تكبّري (tkabbri) تكبّر (tkabber)
imperative m كبّر (kabber) كبّرو (kabbru)
f كبّري (kabbri)