ألف

From Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤐 (ʾlp).

• IPA^(key): /ʔa.lif/

• Audio:

  (file)

أَلِف • (ʔalif) f (plural أَلِفَات (ʔalifāt))

1. Name of the first letter of the Arabic alphabet (ا / ‍ا).

• أَلِف مَمْدُودَة (ʔalif mamdūda, “elongated alif (آ)”)
• أَلِف مَهْمُوزَة (ʔalif mahmūza, “hamzated alif (أ or إ or ٱ)”)
• أَلِف مَقْصُورَة (ʔalif maqṣūra, “limited alif (ى)”)
• أَلِف خَنْجَرِيَّة (ʔalif ḵanjariyya, “dagger alif (ـٰ)”)

• → Azerbaijani: əlif
• → Classical Persian: اَلِف (alif)
  • Iranian Persian: اَلِف (alef)
  • Tajik: алиф (alif)
• → Swahili: alifu
• → Uzbek: alif

From Proto-Semitic *ʔalp-.

أَلْف • (ʔalf) m (dual أَلْفَانِ (ʔalfāni), plural آلَاف (ʔālāf) or أُلُوف (ʔulūf))

1. thousand

   أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ (ʔalfu laylatin walaylatun) — One thousand and one nights (lit. "a thousand nights and a night")

• أَلْف (ʔalf) is a noun. When used with a corresponding noun, it governs that noun in the genitive singular, e.g. أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ (ʔalfu laylatin, “one thousand nights”). When used as part of larger numbers (2,000, 20,000, etc.), it behaves as a normal masculine noun, e.g. أَلْفَانِ (ʔalfāni, “two thousand”), خَمْسَةُ آلَافٍ (ḵamsatu ʔālāfin, “five thousand”), عِشْرُونَ أَلْفًا (ʕišrūna ʔalfan, “twenty thousand”).

• أَلْفِيَّة (ʔalfiyya)

• Maltese: elf
• Moroccan Arabic: ألف (ʔalf)
• → Afar: álfi
• → Mabaan: alp
• → Swahili: elfu

From Proto-Semitic *ʔalap- (“to be familiar with”). From the root ء ل ف (ʔ l f). Compare Hebrew אילף (iléf, “to tame, to train”).

أَلِفَ • (ʔalifa) I (non-past يَأْلَفُ (yaʔlafu), verbal noun أَلْف (ʔalf) or إِلْف (ʔilf))

1. to be or become familiar with, to become accustomed, to share the yoke, to be or become amicable or tame
   • 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 2, Madrid: Imprenta Real, published 1802^IA, Cap. 27, Art. 21, pages 284–285:

     وقيل أنه إذا طليت خلايا من داخلها بعصارة ورقه ألفها النحل وأنجلبت إليها وقيل من ترنجان نوع بري نقول ضد ذلك وهو إذا طرح مع النحلة أحرجها.

     And it is said (about the lemon-balm Melissa officinalis) that when one daubs beehives from the inner with an extract pressed from its leaves then the bees approve of it and are attracted to them and it is said of the lemon-balm’s wild form, the dead-nettle (Lamium flexuosum), that one has to say against that that when it is advanced to a bee it drives it out.

أَلْف • (ʔalf) m

1. verbal noun of أَلِف (ʔalif) (form I)

From Proto-Semitic *ʔallip- (“to tame, to domesticate; to familiarize, to instruct; to unite, to join”). From the root ء ل ف (ʔ l f).

أَلَّفَ • (ʔallafa) II (non-past يُؤَلِّفُ (yuʔallifu), verbal noun تَأْلِيف (taʔlīf))

1. to unite, join, combine, put together
2. to unite with the rest of the subjugated animals of man, to make familiar, to accustom, to tame
3. to compile, compose, be the author of (a book)

   كَانَ الشَّاعِرُ يُحِبُّ أَن يُأَلِّفَ قَصَائِدَهُ فِي الطَّبِيعَةِ.

   kāna š-šāʕiru yuḥibbu ʔan yuʔallifa qaṣāʔidahu fī ṭ-ṭabīʕati.

   The poet loved to compose his poems in nature.

4. to form

   الْأَوْلَوِيَّةُ تَبْقَى لِٱنْتِخَابِ رَئِيسٍ جَدِيدٍ لِلْبِلَادِ وَتَأْلِيفِ حُكُومَةٍ جَدِيدَةٍ.

   al-ʔawlawiyyatu tabqā lintiḵābi raʔīsin jadīdin lilbilādi wataʔlīfi ḥukūmatin jadīdatin.

   The priority remains to elect a new president for the country and form a new government.

ألف (form IV)

1. أُلْفِ (ʔulfi) /ʔul.fi/: first-person singular non-past active jussive of أَلْفَى (ʔalfā)
2. أُلْفَ (ʔulfa) /ʔul.fa/: first-person singular non-past passive jussive of أَلْفَى (ʔalfā)
3. أَلْفِ (ʔalfi) /ʔal.fi/: second-person masculine singular imperative of أَلْفَى (ʔalfā)

From Arabic أَلْف (ʔalf).

ألف • (ʔalf) m (dual ألفين (ʔalfēn), plural آلاف (ʔalāf), paucal تلاف (talāf))

1. thousand

From Arabic أَلْف (ʔalf).

• IPA^(key): /ʔalf/

• Audio:

  (file)

ألف • (ʔalf) m (dual ألفَيْن (ʔalfayn) or ألفِين (ʔalfīn), plural آلاف (ʔālāf))

1. thousand

From Arabic أَلَّفَ (ʔallafa).

• IPA^(key): /ʔal.laf/, [ˈʔal.laf]

• Audio (al-Lidd):

  (file)

ألّف • (ʔallaf) II (present بألّف (biʔallef))

1. to author, to compose
2. (figurative, by extension) to invent or come up with (a story)

From Arabic أَلْف (ʔalf).

• IPA^(key): /ʔalf/, [ˈʔalf]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

ألف • (ʔalf) m (dual ألفين (ʔalfēn), plural آلاف (ʔālāf) or ألوف (ʔulūf))

1. thousand