Arabic word sheet
بِئْسَ
What a bad…!
- Type
- verb
- Root
- ب ء س
Meaning and usage
What a bad…!
A set word that voices thorough blame of the person or thing named right after it: 'what a bad companion that one is!'. It almost always keeps the same form.
بِئْسَ الطَّعَامُ طَعَامُ هَذَا الْمَطْعَمِ.
What bad food this restaurant's food is!
How bad is what…
Followed by the little word meaning 'what', it blames an act: 'how bad is what you did'.
بِئْسَ مَا فَعَلَ الْوَلَدُ بِكِتَابِهِ.
How bad is what the boy did to his book!
Word family
What the root means ب ء س
The basic verbs of the root speak of hardness in a fight and, on the other side, of distress and want. The word of blame comes from the verb 'to meet with distress', frozen into a formula of disapproval; misery, the wretched person and hardship belong to the same idea.
misery, distress
بُؤْسٌ
wretched, destitute
بَائِسٌ
hardness in fight, valour
بَأْسٌ
hardship, adversity
بَأْسَاءُ
to be saddened
اِبْتَأَسَ
Synonyms
to be bad
An ordinary verb with a full set of forms that can also voice blame, whereas the headword is a frozen formula.
Opposites
what an excellent…!
نِعْمَ