Arabic word sheet
اِسْتَوَى
To be equal, to be alike
- Type
- verb
- Root
- س و ي
Meaning and usage
To be equal, to be alike
Said of two or more things or people that have the same worth, measure or rank, none surpassing the other.
اِسْتَوَى الْفَرِيقَانِ فِي النَّتِيجَةِ.
The two teams were level on the score.
To become straight, level
Said of ground that becomes flat or of a crooked thing that straightens.
اِسْتَوَى الطَّرِيقُ بَعْدَ الْجَبَلِ.
The road levelled out after the mountain.
To settle, to sit firmly
To take one's place firmly on a mount or a seat, or to straighten up into a sitting or standing position.
اِسْتَوَتْ سَلْمَى جَالِسَةً عَلَى الْمَقْعَدِ.
Salma settled herself, sitting on the seat.
To reach full growth
Said of a young man who comes to the end of his growth, in full strength of body and mind.
اِسْتَوَى الشَّابُّ وَصَارَ رَجُلًا.
The young man reached full growth and became a man.
To be cooked through
Said of food that has finished cooking.
اِسْتَوَى اللَّحْمُ فِي الْفُرْنِ.
The meat cooked through in the oven.
Word family
What the root means س و ي
The root carries the idea of equality and evenness: what matches something else, with no dip or bump, no more and no less. From it come “equal, the same”, “to level, to make equal”, “to be worth as much as”, “to be equal to one another”, “well-formed” and “being straight, level”.
to level, to make equal
سَوَّى
to be worth as much as, to equal
سَاوَى
to be equal to one another
تَسَاوَى
equal, the same
well-formed, sound
سَوِيٌّ
being straight, level, equal
اِسْتِوَاءٌ
Synonyms
to resemble each other
تَمَاثَلَ
Says that two things are of the same nature or look; the headword says they are equal in measure or rank, even when different in nature.
to be straight, balanced
اِعْتَدَلَ
Matches only the sense of becoming straight; it adds the idea of balance, of a middle point.
to be straight, to straighten
اِسْتَقَامَ
Said of what is straight along its length, like a stick or a path, not of two things equal to each other.
Opposites
to differ
to be crooked
اِعْوَجَّ