سنة

See also: سنه, سنت, and سنہ

Arabic

Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *šanat-, Compare Hebrew שָׁנָה.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sa.nah/

Noun

سَنَة • (sana) f (plural سَنَوَات (sanawāt) or سِنُون (sinūn) or سِنِين (sinīn))

year
Synonyms: عَام (ʕām), حَوْل (ḥawl)
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 29:14:
  وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا
  walaqad ʔarsalnā nūḥan ʔilā qawmihi falabiṯa fīhim ʔalfa sanatin ʔillā ḵamsīna ʕāman
  And verily we sent Noah (as Our messenger) unto his folk, and he continued with them for a thousand years save fifty years

Usage notes

According to Ibn Manzur, some speakers decline the nūn in سِنين, treating it as an irregular plural. Accordingly, the yā' does not change to wāw whence using this form.

Declension

Declension of noun سَنَة (sana)

Singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
Singular	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سَنَة sana	السَّنَة as-sana	سَنَة sanat
Nominative	سَنَةٌ sanatun	السَّنَةُ as-sanatu	سَنَةُ sanatu
Accusative	سَنَةً sanatan	السَّنَةَ as-sanata	سَنَةَ sanata
Genitive	سَنَةٍ sanatin	السَّنَةِ as-sanati	سَنَةِ sanati
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سَنَتَيْن sanatayn	السَّنَتَيْن as-sanatayn	سَنَتَيْ sanatay
Nominative	سَنَتَانِ sanatāni	السَّنَتَانِ as-sanatāni	سَنَتَا sanatā
Accusative	سَنَتَيْنِ sanatayni	السَّنَتَيْنِ as-sanatayni	سَنَتَيْ sanatay
Genitive	سَنَتَيْنِ sanatayni	السَّنَتَيْنِ as-sanatayni	سَنَتَيْ sanatay
Plural	sound feminine plural‎; sound masculine plural‎; basic broken plural triptote
Plural	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سَنَوَات‎; سِنِين sanawāt‎; sinīn	السَّنَوَات‎; السِّنِين as-sanawāt‎; as-sinīn	سَنَوَات‎; سِنِي‎; سِنِين sanawāt‎; sinī‎; sinīn
Nominative	سَنَوَاتٌ‎; سِنُونَ‎; سِنِينٌ sanawātun‎; sinūna‎; sinīnun	السَّنَوَاتُ‎; السِّنُونَ‎; السِّنِينُ as-sanawātu‎; as-sinūna‎; as-sinīnu	سَنَوَاتُ‎; سِنُو‎; سِنِينُ sanawātu‎; sinū‎; sinīnu
Accusative	سَنَوَاتٍ‎; سِنِينَ‎; سِنِينًا sanawātin‎; sinīna‎; sinīnan	السَّنَوَاتِ‎; السِّنِينَ as-sanawāti‎; as-sinīna	سَنَوَاتِ‎; سِنِي‎; سِنِينَ sanawāti‎; sinī‎; sinīna
Genitive	سَنَوَاتٍ‎; سِنِينَ‎; سِنِينٍ sanawātin‎; sinīna‎; sinīnin	السَّنَوَاتِ‎; السِّنِينَ‎; السِّنِينِ as-sanawāti‎; as-sinīna‎; as-sinīni	سَنَوَاتِ‎; سِنِي‎; سِنِينِ sanawāti‎; sinī‎; sinīni

Descendants

Egyptian Arabic: سنة (sána)
Gulf Arabic: سِنَة (sɪnə)
North Levantine Arabic: سنه (sini)
Maltese: sena
→ Afar: sanát
→ Azerbaijani: sənə
→ Bengali: সন (śon)
→ Harsusi: senet
→ Hindi: सन् (san)
→ Mehri: سنيت (senēt)
→ Soqotri: sanah
→ Tigre: ሰነት (sänät)
→ Ottoman Turkish: سنه
- Turkish: sene
→ Uzbek: sana

Etymology 2

Root
و س ن (w s n)
2 terms

Cognate with Hebrew שֵׁנָה (šēnā, “sleep, slumber”), Mehri شنيت (“sleep, slumber”) and Ugaritic 𐎌𐎐𐎚 (šnt).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /si.na/

Noun

سِنَة • (sina) f

drowsiness
Synonym: نُعَاس (nuʕās)
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 2:255:
  اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ
  Allah—there is no god except Him, the Living One, the All-sustainer. Neither drowsiness befalls Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that may intercede with Him except with His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they do not comprehend anything of His knowledge except what He wills. His seat embraces the heavens and the earth and He is not wearied by their preservation. And He is the All-exalted, the All-supreme.
slumber; nap
Synonym: قَيْلُولَة (qaylūla)

Declension

Declension of noun سِنَة (sina)

Singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
Singular	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سِنَة sina	السِّنَة as-sina	سِنَة sinat
Nominative	سِنَةٌ sinatun	السِّنَةُ as-sinatu	سِنَةُ sinatu
Accusative	سِنَةً sinatan	السِّنَةَ as-sinata	سِنَةَ sinata
Genitive	سِنَةٍ sinatin	السِّنَةِ as-sinati	سِنَةِ sinati

Etymology 3

Root
س ن ن (s n n)
7 terms

Compare سَنَّ (sanna, “to establish (a law, custom, etc.)”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sun.na/

Noun

سُنَّة • (sunna) f (plural سُنَن (sunan))

(countable) a usual, recurrent, continual, determinable, or constant thing
1. (countable) a common, habitual, popularized, or enforced practice; a custom, convention, or ritual; a social norm or standard
  Synonyms: عُرْف (ʕurf), عَادَة (ʕāda), تَقْلِيد (taqlīd)
  - a. 1002, Ibn Jinnī, الخصائص:
    وهذا عادة للعرب مألوفة وسنة مسلوكة: إذا أعطوا شيئًا من شيء حكمًا ما قابلوا ذلك بأن يعطوا المأخوذ منه حكمًا من أحكام صاحبه عمارة لبينهما وتتميمًا للشبه الجامع لهما. وعليه باب ما لا ينصرف ألا تراهم لما شبهوا الاسم بالفعل فلم يصرفوه؛ كذلك شبهوا الفعل بالاسم فأعربوه
    This is a familiar Arab custom and a recurrent practice. For when they judged a part of some thing to be such-and-such, they also qualified the thing itself from which a part has been taken as having some attribute of the part so as to balance the whole and the part and to formulate their commonly shared similarities. And on this, nunation (or the lack thereof) was modeled. Do you not see how they sometimes likened the noun to the verb and thus did not nunate it and other times likened the verb to the noun and thus suffixed it in the manner of nouns?
2. (uncountable) the conduct, habits, behavior, or mannerisms of a person (viewed collectively)
3. (countable) a determinate or predetermined universal law (either normative or historical)
  سُنَنُ الْكَوْنِ وَٱلتَّارِيخِ
  sunanu al-kawni wat-tārīḵi
  the [determinative] laws of history and the universe
  - 609–632 CE, Qur'an, section 33:
    لَئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ وَالْمُرْجِفُونَ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ لَنُغْرِيَنَّكَ بِهِمْ ثُمَّ لا يُجَاوِرُونَكَ فِيهَا إِلاَّ قَلِيلا / مَلْعُونِينَ أَيْنَمَا ثُقِفُوا أُخِذُوا وَقُتِّلُوا تَقْتِيلا / سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ فِي الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلُ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلا
    If the dissimulators, those whose hearts are diseased, and the [demoralizing] scaremongers in Medina do not stop, We shall [first] incite you against them, and then they shall never neighbor you in it but [very] rarely. / Cursed [are they] wherever they are espied—they shall be captured and slaughtered! / [Such was] the Law of Allah for those who perished in the past, and you shall never find any alteration in the Law of Allah.
(uncountable, Islam) the body of narratives attributed to Islamic religious figures (viewed collectively)
(countable, Islam) a religiously canonized tradition or practice
Antonyms: بِدْعَة (bidʕa, “an uncanonical or heterodox innovation; a heterodoxy; an newly introduced deviation or degeneration”), زَنْدَقَة (zandaqa, “a heresy”)
1. (uncountable, Islam, see usage notes) the set of canonical traditions whence orthodoxy and orthopraxy are derived (viewed collectively)
  Hypernym: شَرِيعَة (šarīʕa, “the set of religious ordinances”)
2. (uncountable, Islam, approving, see usage notes) adherence to the religious traditions, traditionalism; orthodoxy and orthopraxy
  Antonyms: بِدْعَة (bidʕa, “heterodoxy; heteropraxy”), زَنْدَقَة (zandaqa, “misbelief, heresy”)
3. (countable, Islam) a traditional religious practice for which there is a divine reward but for whose omission there is no punishment, a commendable supererogatory act often done as an expression of faith, a religious work of supererogation
  Coordinate term: فَرْض (farḍ)
(Islam, see usage notes) the Sunni sect or the adherents thereof (viewed collectively); Sunnism
مَا أَبْرَزُ الِاخْتِلَافَاتِ الْفِقْهِيَّةِ بَيْنَ السُّنَّةِ وَالشِّيعَة؟
What are the major jurisprudential differences between Sunnites and Shiites?
(countable, obsolete) an image, a form, an appearance, a look
- c. 1200, يحيى بن محمد بن أحمد بن العوام [yaḥyā ibn muḥammad ibn ʔaḥmad ibn al-ʕawwām], edited by José Antonio Banqueri, كتاب الفلاحة [Book on Agriculture], volume 1, Madrid: Imprenta Real, published 1802^IA, Cap. 7, Art. 54, pages 403–404:
  أما العليق فمعروف وأما الورد الجبلي وورد الكلب وهو المعروف عند أهل الطب بالنسرين قال أبو حنيفة الورد الجبلي يشبه الورد ويشبه ذلك بعض سنة العليق وثمره شبيه العنب الدليك وهو أحمر يشبه البسر إلا أن طرفه محدود وفي داخله شبه الصوف ونواره نوار الورد أبيض يشوبه حمرة
  In what concerns the bramble, it is well known, and in what concerns the mountain-rose and the dog-rose, it is well-known among the physicians as nisrīn; Abū Ḥanīfa said the mountain-rose resembles the rose, and this resembles a bit the image of the bramble, and the fruit is similar to the dust-vine; it is red and resembles the unripe date, except that its tip is pointed, and in its inner there is a kind of wool, and its blossom is that of a white rose with an admixture of red.

Usage notes

In the sense of “religious traditions”, the term is almost always approving, as it also implies adherence to the said traditions, hence orthodoxy in general. As such, it has come to be a common self-designation for diverse groups, and so it is never used to refer to ideological and sectarian rivals in polemics.
In the sense of “Sunnism”, the term is also usually an approving denomination, though it is also used neutrally to single out those sects that employ other terms as their self-designations, such as شِيعَة (šīʕa). Compare the meanings of catholic and orthodox in English, the latter of which is found in the names of several Christian denominations and churches.
While سُنَّة (sunna) is used to signify both “normative teachings recorded in hadiths” and “recommended practices”, this does not mean that hadiths are never interpreted as commandments and hard obligations. In fact, this is very often the case. In the same way, the fact that سُنَّة (sunna) also refers to the “Sunni sect” does not mean that other sects with different names do not have “a Sunnah” (that is, a religious canon).

Declension

Declension of noun سُنَّة (sunna)

Singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
Singular	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سُنَّة sunna	السُّنَّة as-sunna	سُنَّة sunnat
Nominative	سُنَّةٌ sunnatun	السُّنَّةُ as-sunnatu	سُنَّةُ sunnatu
Accusative	سُنَّةً sunnatan	السُّنَّةَ as-sunnata	سُنَّةَ sunnata
Genitive	سُنَّةٍ sunnatin	السُّنَّةِ as-sunnati	سُنَّةِ sunnati
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سُنَّتَيْن sunnatayn	السُّنَّتَيْن as-sunnatayn	سُنَّتَيْ sunnatay
Nominative	سُنَّتَانِ sunnatāni	السُّنَّتَانِ as-sunnatāni	سُنَّتَا sunnatā
Accusative	سُنَّتَيْنِ sunnatayni	السُّنَّتَيْنِ as-sunnatayni	سُنَّتَيْ sunnatay
Genitive	سُنَّتَيْنِ sunnatayni	السُّنَّتَيْنِ as-sunnatayni	سُنَّتَيْ sunnatay
Plural	basic broken plural triptote
Plural	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سُنَن sunan	السُّنَن as-sunan	سُنَن sunan
Nominative	سُنَنٌ sunanun	السُّنَنُ as-sunanu	سُنَنُ sunanu
Accusative	سُنَنًا sunanan	السُّنَنَ as-sunana	سُنَنَ sunana
Genitive	سُنَنٍ sunanin	السُّنَنِ as-sunani	سُنَنِ sunani

Derived terms

السُّنَّة (as-sunna, “the Sunna”)
أَهْل السُّنَّة (ʔahl as-sunna, “Sunni Islam, the Sunni”)
سُنِّيّ (sunniyy, “Sunni”)

Descendants

→ Azerbaijani: sünnət
→ Ottoman Turkish: سنت (sünnet)
- Turkish: sünnet
→ Persian: سنت (sonnat)
→ Uzbek: sunnat

References

Wehr, Hans (1979) “سن”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Egyptian Arabic

Alternative forms

سنه (sána)

Etymology

From Arabic سَنَة (sana, “year”).

Noun

سنة • (sána) f, pl سنين (sínīn) سنوات (sánawāt)

year

Synonyms

عام (ʕām)

Derived terms

مسانية (mísaniyya)
سنوى (sánawi)
سنوية (sánawiyya)
سن (sinn)

References

Spiro, Socrates (1895). An Arabic-English vocabulary of the colloquial Arabic of Egypt, containing the vernacular idioms and expressions, slang phrases, etc., etc., used by the native Egyptians Cairo: Al-Mokattam Printing Office.