How to say "lesson" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaninglesson
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
darsדרס
درس
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
shi'urشِيئُور
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
د-ر-سHebrew root
ד-ר-שSame root already met in this app's 'study' and 'school' entries (دَرَسَ/דרש, د-ر-س): a dars is simply 'a study session', the noun form of the verb. Hebrew דרש drifted to 'expound, seek out' (think מדרש), so the everyday school-words no longer overlap even though the root is identical.
Related Hebrew word:דרשdarashدَارَاش
Learn it
In a phrase
an Arabic language lesson
Plural
broken plural CuCūC, like شهود/فروق.
The root family
د-ر-سד-ר-ש· studying
Traditionally compared with Hebrew ד-ר-ש "seek out, expound": the ש↔س match is regular, and madrasa lines up beautifully with מדרשה. Some linguists note that Arabic darasa originally meant "to efface, to thresh" and suspect the study sense grew under Aramaic influence — from the world of the בית מדרש itself. One warning: darasa sounds like Hebrew דרס, but he studied the book, he didn't run it over.
- دَرَسَ darasahe studiedדָּרַשׁhe sought, expounded
- دَرْس darslessonדְּרָשָׁהsermon, homily
- مَدْرَسَة madrasaschoolמִדְרָשָׁהseminary, academy
- مُدَرِّس mudarristeacher, instructor
- دِرَاسَة dirāsastudy, studiesמִדְרָשׁmidrash — study as exposition