Arabic word sheet
مَثَلٌ
Likeness, comparison
- Type
- noun
- Root
- م ث ل
Meaning and usage
Likeness, comparison
What is said of one thing to make another, similar thing understood; the example or image used to describe a case.
شَرَحَ الْمُعَلِّمُ الدَّرْسَ بِمَثَلٍ بَسِيطٍ.
The teacher explained the lesson with a simple comparison.
Proverb, saying
A short sentence known to all, quoted because it fits the situation at hand.
حَفِظَتْ لَيْلَى مَثَلًا قَدِيمًا.
Layla learned an old proverb by heart.
Example, model
A person or a case held up to others, to be imitated or to be taken as a lesson.
صَارَ رَامِي مَثَلًا فِي الصَّبْرِ.
Rami became a model of patience.
The like, the equal
What resembles a thing or equals it. In this sense the word is less common than its close relative meaning “like”.
Plural
أَمْثَالٌ
Word family
What the root means م ث ل
The root carries the idea of likeness: one thing that equals another or serves as its image. From it come “like, similar”, “a model, a pattern”, “to quote a proverb”, “to follow an order as one follows a pattern”; another branch means “to stand upright”.
like, similar
model, pattern
مِثَالٌ
equal, match
مَثِيلٌ
to quote (a proverb, a verse)
تَمَثَّلَ
to follow, to comply with (an order)
اِمْتَثَلَ
to stand upright
مَثَلَ
Synonyms
likeness, a similar thing
شَبَهٌ
Speaks only of resemblance; it has neither the sense of proverb nor that of an example to follow.
a lesson, a warning
عِبْرَةٌ
Narrower: only the lesson one draws from what happened to others.