Arabic word sheet
عَقَلَ
To use reason, be sensible
- Type
- verb
- Root
- ع ق ل
Meaning and usage
To use reason, be sensible
Said of a person who has good sense and uses it: they think, and hold back from doing what is not fitting.
عَقَلَ الْوَلَدُ بَعْدَ سَنَوَاتٍ.
The boy became sensible years later.
To understand
Said of someone who grasps a thing by thinking it over, after examining it well.
عَقَلَ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ.
The student understood the lesson.
To hobble (a camel)
Said of someone who ties a camel's folded foreleg with a rope so that it cannot wander off.
عَقَلَ الرَّاعِي الْجَمَلَ.
The shepherd hobbled the camel.
To hold back
Said of what restrains someone and keeps them from what they wanted.
عَقَلَ الْمَرَضُ الْجَارَ عَنِ السَّفَرِ.
Illness kept the neighbour from travelling.
Word family
What the root means ع ق ل
The root carries the idea of holding back, of tying. From it come the hobbling rope, holding someone back, and reason, seen as what keeps one from acting badly; hence also the sensible person and what is reasonable.
reason, mind; holding back
عَقْلٌ
hobbling rope
عِقَالٌ
sensible, intelligent
عَاقِلٌ
understood, reasonable
مَعْقُولٌ
to hold back, to detain
اِعْتَقَلَ
to become sensible, to act thoughtfully
تَعَقَّلَ
Synonyms
to understand
فَهِمَ
Said of catching the meaning of what one hears or reads, without the idea of judgement and self-restraint the headword carries.
to ponder, consider carefully
تَدَبَّرَ
Stresses going over a matter again and again to see where it leads, rather than the outcome, which is understanding it.
Opposites
to be ignorant, to act without sense
جَهِلَ
to be foolish
حَمُقَ