ضعیف

See also: ضعيف

Kohistani Shina

Noun

ضعیف (za'īf)

1. scholar

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf, “weak, feeble”).

Adjective

ضعیف • (zaʼif)

1. weak, feeble, infirm, debilitated, deficient in force or physical strength

   Synonyms: درمانسز (dermansız), زبون (zebun), قوتسز (kuvvetsiz)

2. slim, thin, meager, slender, lithe, skinny, having little body fat or flesh

   Synonyms: آریق (arık), جلیز (cılız), صیصقه (sıska), نارین (narin)

3. emaciated, scrawny, gaunt, macilent, especially from hunger or disease

Derived terms

• ضعیفانه (zaʼifane, “pertaining to one who's weak”)
• ضعیفلاتمق (zaʼiflatmak, “to weaken”)
• ضعیفلامق (zaʼiflamak, “to become weak or thin”)
• ضعیفلانمق (zaʼiflanmak, “to become weak”)
• ضعیفلق (zaʼiflık, “debility, weakness”)
• ضعیفلو (zaʼiflı, “that includes weak individuals”)

 

Descendants

• Turkish: zayıf
• → Armenian: զայիֆ (zayif)
• → Crimean Tatar: zayıf
• → Gagauz: zayıf
• → Romanian: zaif

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “zayıf”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5442
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “ضعیف”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎^[1], Vienna: F. Beck, page 307b
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “ضعیف”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 784
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Debilis”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 323
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “ضعیف”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 3044
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “zayıf”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “ضعیف”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1211

Persian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa)

Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf)bor.

Persian ضَعِیف

Borrowed from Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf), from ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [za.ʔiːf]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zä.ʔiːf]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zä.ʔiːf]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [zä.jiːf]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [zä.jif]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zæ.ʔiːf]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [zä.ʔif]

Readings
Classical reading?	za'īf
Dari reading?	za'īf
Iranian reading?	za'if
Tajik reading?	zaʾif

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

Adjective

Dari	ضعیف
Iranian Persian
Tajik	заъиф

ضعیف • (za'if) (comparative ضعیف‌تَر (za'if-tar), superlative ضعیف‌تَرین (za'if-tarin))

1. weak, feeble

   Synonym: ناتوان (nâtavân)

   Antonym: قوی (qavi)

   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume II, verse 3098:

     چون همه اوصاف و اجزا شد نحیف / خویشتن‌داری و صبرت شد ضعیف

     čon hame owsâf o ajzâ šod nahif / xištan-dâri o sabr-at šod za'if

     Since all the functions and parts [of your body] are atrophied, your self-control and patience have become weak.

2. thin, weakly

   Synonym: لاغر (lâğar)

3. poor (of low quality), defective

Inflection

Enclitic-attached forms of ضعیف (za'if)

Basic forms of ضعیف (za'if) bare ضعیف (za'if) ezâfe ضعیف (za'if-e) marked indefinite or relative definite ضعیفی (za'if-i)     Predicative forms of ضعیف (za'if) singular plural 1st person (“I am, we are”) ضعیفم (za'ifam) ضعیفیم (za'ifim) 2nd person (“you are”) ضعیفی (za'ifi) ضعیفید (za'ifid) ضعیفین △ (za'ifin) 3rd person (“he/she/it is, they are”) ضعیف است (za'if ast) ضعیفه △ (za'ife) ضعیفند (za'ifand) ضعیفن △ (za'ifan) △ Colloquial.

Urdu

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa)

Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf)bor.

Classical Persian ضَعِیف (za'īf)bor.

Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf)

Borrowed from Classical Persian ضَعِیف (za'īf), borrowed from Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf), from ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /zə.(ʔ)iːf/
• Rhymes: -iːf
• Hyphenation: ضَ‧عِیف

Adjective

ضَعِیف • (za'īf) (indeclinable, feminine ضَعِیفَہ (za'īfa), Hindi spelling ज़ईफ़)

1. weak; feeble
2. old (of a person)
3. weak; slow (of mind; opinion etc.)
4. (Islam) weak; unreliable (of a Hadith)

Noun

ضَعِیف • (za'īf) m (formal plural ضُعَفا (zu'afā), feminine ضَعِیفَہ (za'īfa), Hindi spelling ज़ईफ़)

1. a weak; old; poor (person or man)

Declension

Declension of ضعیف
	singular	plural
direct	ضَعِیف (za'īf)	ضَعِیف (za'īf)
oblique	ضَعِیف (za'īf)	ضَعِیفوں (za'īfõ)
vocative	ضَعِیف (za'īf)	ضَعِیفو (za'īfo)

Descendants

• → Ushojo: ضعیف (za'īf)
• → Yidgha: ضعیف (ze'īf)

Further reading

More information

• “ضعیف”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “ضعیف”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “ضعيف”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “ضعيف”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 749
• S. W. Fallon (1879) “ضعیف”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
• John Shakespear (1834) “ضعیف”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC

Ushojo

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa)

Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf)bor.

Classical Persian ضَعِیف (za'īf)bor.

Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf)bor.

Ushojo ضعیف

Borrowed from Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf).

Adjective

ضعیف (za'īf)

1. old

Yidgha

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa)

Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf)bor.

Classical Persian ضَعِیف (za'īf)bor.

Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf)bor.

Yidgha ضعیف

Borrowed from Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf).

Noun

ضعیف (ze'īf)

1. poor