كتب

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).

• IPA^(key): /ka.ta.ba/

• Audio:

  (file)

كَتَبَ • (kataba) I (non-past يَكْتُبُ (yaktubu), verbal noun كِتَابَة (kitāba) or كَتْب (katb) or كِتَاب (kitāb)) (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.

• > Cypriot Arabic: kitep (inherited)

كَتْب • (katb) m

1. verbal noun of كَتَبَ (kataba)

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

• IPA^(key): /kat.ta.ba/

كَتَّبَ • (kattaba) II (non-past يُكَتِّبُ (yukattibu), verbal noun تَكْتِيب (taktīb))

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

• IPA^(key): /ku.tub/

كُتُب • (kutub) m pl

1. plural of كِتَاب (kitāb)

• → Basque: kutun, gutun

• IPA^(key): /ki.taːb/

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

1. Classical Arabic spelling of كِتَاب (kitāb)

• 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

From Arabic كَتَبَ (kataba).

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

كتب • (katab) I (non-past يكتب (yiktib), verbal noun كتابة (kitāba) or كتب (katb) or كتبان (katabān))

1. to write

ap=كاتب
ap-tr=kātib
pp=مكتوب
pp-tr=maktūb
vn=
vn-tr=

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

From Arabic كتب.

• IPA^(key): /ki.tab/

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

1. to write

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

From Arabic كَتَبَ (kataba).

• IPA^(key): /ktab/

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

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.

From Arabic كَتَبَ (kataba).

• IPA^(key): /ka.tab/,

• Audio (al-Lidd):

  (file)

كتب • (katab) I (present بكتب (bikteb, buktob), 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.