Arabic word sheet
بَرِيءٌ
Innocent
- Type
- adjective
- Root
- ب ر ء
Meaning and usage
Innocent
Not having done the wrong one is blamed for, clear of a fault or an offence. Said above all of someone wrongly accused.
أَثْبَتَ الْمُحَامِي أَنَّ الرَّجُلَ بَرِيءٌ.
The lawyer proved that the man was innocent.
Clear of, quit of
Having nothing more to do with a thing or a person and bearing no responsibility for it: released from a debt, a claim, a commitment, or dissociating oneself from someone.
الشَّرِيكُ بَرِيءٌ مِنْ خَسَارَةِ الشَّرِكَةِ.
The partner bears no responsibility for the company’s loss.
Guileless, artless modern usage
Today also said of what has no hidden motive and no cunning: a child, a look, a smile, a question.
اِبْتَسَمَتِ الطِّفْلَةُ اِبْتِسَامَةً بَرِيئَةً.
The little girl gave an artless smile.
Plural
أَبْرِيَاءُ / بُرَآءُ
Word family
What the root means ب ر ء
The basic verb means to be clear of a thing, free from it: an illness one recovers from, a fault, a debt, a charge. The innocent person is the one clear of all blame; from the same idea come “recovery”, “innocence”, “to discharge someone”, “to clear someone” and “to dissociate oneself”.
to be clear of; to recover
بَرِئَ
innocence; discharge
بَرَاءَةٌ
recovery
بُرْءٌ
to release from a debt; to cure
أَبْرَأَ
to clear, to exonerate
بَرَّأَ
to dissociate oneself, to disown
تَبَرَّأَ
Synonyms
free of, empty of
خَلِيٌّ
It matches only the sense “clear of something”; more broadly it says one is empty or free of a thing, a worry for instance, and it does not mean innocent.
Opposites
guilty, criminal
مُجْرِمٌ