Arabic word sheet
أَكَلَ
To eat
- Type
- verb
- Root
- ء ك ل
Meaning and usage
To eat
To take food, chew it and swallow it. Said of people and animals.
أَكَلَ سَامِي تُفَّاحَةً بَعْدَ الْغَدَاءِ
Sami ate an apple after lunch.
To eat away, to consume
By a figure of speech, said of whatever destroys or wears a thing away little by little: fire, rust, rubbing, expenses.
أَكَلَ الصَّدَأُ بَابَ الْحَدِيقَةِ
Rust ate away the garden gate.
To itch
Said of a part of the body that makes one want to scratch: it is the limb that "eats" the person.
أَكَلَتْهُ يَدُهُ بَعْدَ لَسْعَةِ الْبَعُوضَةِ
His hand itched after the mosquito bite.
Word family
What the root means ء ك ل
The root carries the idea of taking food, chewing it and swallowing it. From it come the words for eating, food, the eater, and by a figure of speech what gnaws at a thing or wears it away little by little.
eating; food
أَكْلٌ
food, something to eat
مَأْكَلٌ
eater
آكِلٌ
to be eaten away, to corrode
تَأَكَّلَ
Synonyms
to devour, to gulp down
اِلْتَهَمَ
Stronger: it means eating fast and greedily, swallowing everything down.
to take, to have (a meal, some food)
تَنَاوَلَ
Broader and more polite: it means taking a thing in hand, and from there having a meal, a drink or a medicine.