Definition
A book or electronic resource that lists the words of a language (typically in alphabetical order) and gives their meaning, or gives the equivalent words in a different language.
| Arabic | مُعْجَم |
| Translitertion | Muʿjam |
| Pronunciation |
Grammatical Information
- Part of Speech: Noun (اسم – Ism)
- Gender: Masculine (مُذَكَّر – Mudhakkar)
- Number: Singular (مُفْرَد – Mufrad)
Example Sentences
| Arabic | Transliteration | English Translation | Pronunciation |
| أَبْحَثُ عَنْ كَلِمَةٍ فِي الْمُعْجَم | Abḥathu ʿan kalimatin fī al-muʿjam | I am looking for a word in the dictionary. | |
| هَذَا مُعْجَمٌ عَرَبِيٌّ – إِنْجْلِيزِيٌّ | Hādhā muʿjamun ʿarabiyyun – injlīziyyun | This is an Arabic-English dictionary. | |
| اشْتَرَيْتُ مُعْجَماً جَدِيداً | Ishtaraytu muʿjaman jadīdan | I bought a new dictionary. | |
Related Words and Phrases
- Synonym (مُرَادِف): قَامُوس (Qāmūs): Very common synonym; originally meaning “ocean,” implying a vast sea of words.
- Words from the Same Root:
- أَعْجَمِيّ (aʿjamiyy): Non-Arab or foreign.
- عَجَمَة (ʿajamah): Lack of clarity in speech or a foreign accent.
- أَعْجَمَ (aʿjama): To provide diacritics (dots) to letters to remove ambiguity.
Cultural Context
In Arabic linguistic history, the dictionary (مُعْجَم) is a symbol of the immense effort to preserve the purity of the language. The term Muʿjam actually comes from a root meaning “to clarify” or “to remove vagueness.” Historically, the most famous dictionary is the Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ, which became so popular that the word Qāmūs is now used interchangeably with Muʿjam to mean “dictionary.”