Arabic trilateral roots

Arabic words are generally based on trilateral roots: three consonants, which define the underlying meaning of the word. Different long and short vowels, prefixes, and suffixes are added to that root to create the final desired inflection of meaning. These modifications follow patterns that reflect across roots.

The Arabic dictionary is organized around these three-letter roots. You look up the word based on the core meaning, not the prefix. That means that to look up a word, you need to know its root and what letter the root starts with — which may not be the first letter in the word!

One of the most well-known examples of this involves the word for human, “insân” (إنسان), which has the root N-S-Y (ن س ي). This root is shared by the verb “nisyâh” (نسى), which means “to forget”, suggesting that to be human is to be inherently forgetful.

This root, N-S-Y (ن س ي), is also shared with the verb “unsiyah,” which means “to relate, to love, be familiar with,” describing the social nature of humans.

What’s fascinating is how the meaning is encoded in the structure of the word, and how that structure is relational. Semitic roots are incredible, and tracking this pattern between Arabic and Hebrew is even more exciting.

Another example is the root R-H-M (ر ح م‎), which connects the word for a mother’s womb, “rahim” (رحم) to the word for loving mercy, rahma (رحمة ).

One more example is the root H-S-N (ح س ن) connects the word for beauty and perfection…