كتب

From the root ك ت ب‎ (k-t-b). From Proto-West Semitic *katab-, but the sense "to write" has long been considered a borrowing from another Central Semitic language, perhaps denominally from كِتَاب‎ (kitāb).

• IPA^(key): /ka.ta.ba/

• Audio

  (file)

كَتَبَ • (kataba) I, non-past يَكْتُبُ‎‎ (yaktubu) (transitive)

1. to mark (symbols, shapes, graphs, glyphs, letters, and the like) on a surface, to write, to inscribe
   1. to draw (figures)

      Synonyms: رَسَمَ‎ (rasama, “to draw (a shape or a letter)”), خَطَّ‎ (ḵaṭṭa, “to handwrite”)

      Hyponym: حَبَرَ‎ (ḥabara, “to ink”)

   2. to cut (figures)

      Synonym: نَقَشَ‎ (naqaša, “to inscribe by carving, to engrave, to etch”)

2. to produce or generate by writing
   1. to write up, to compose, to draw up, to draft

      Synonyms: أَنْشَأَ‎ (ʔanšaʔa, “to compose”), سَطَرَ‎ (saṭara, “to line; to write”)

      Hyponyms: أَلَّفَ‎ (ʔallafa, “to author”), صَنَّف‎ (ṣannaf, “to compile; to compose”), نَظَمَ‎ (naẓama, “to compose (rhyming and metrical verse)”)

   2. to set down figures with a typewriter or a keyboard, to typewrite or keyboard, to type
3. to put down in writing, to write down; to record; to register; to track

   Synonym: سَجَّلَ‎ (sajjala, “to record, to register; to account for”)

   Hyponyms: أَحْصَى‎ (ʔaḥṣā, “to record or enumerate in writing or otherwise”), أَرَّخَ‎ (ʔarraḵa, “to chronicle, to historize”)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 4:81:

     ‏وَٱللَّهُ يَكْتُبُ مَا يُبَيِّتُونَ فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ‎

     wa-llahu yaktubu mā yubayyitūna faʔaʕriḍ ʕanhum wa-tawakkal ʕalā llahi

     But God records what they scheme by night; so turn away from them and rely upon Allah.

   1. to write down (an event, such as a destiny or a fatality); to destine or predestine; to foreordain

      Synonym: قَدَّرَ‎ (qaddara)

      • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 9:51:

        ‏قُل لَنْ يُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا‎

        qul lan yuṣībanā ʔillā mā kataba llahu lanā

        Say "Never will we be struck except by what Allah has decreed for us..."

   2. to write down (an ordinance, a law, a commandment, or the like); to prescribe
      • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 5:32:

        ‏مِنْ أَجْلِ ذٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا‎

        min ʔajli ḏālika katabnā ʕalā banī ʔisrāʔīla ʔannahu man qatala nafsan biḡayri nafsin ʔaw fasādin fī l-ʔarḍi fakaʔannamā qatala n-nāsa jamīʕan wa-man ʔaḥyāhā fakaʔannamā ʔaḥyā n-nāsa jamīʕan

        Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land; it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one: it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.

   3. to bequeath
      • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 5:21:

        ‏يَا قَوْمِ ٱدْخُلُوا ٱلْأَرْضَ ٱلْمُقَدَّسَةَ ٱلَّتِي كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَى أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ‎

        yā qawmi dḵulū l-ʔarḍa l-muqaddasata llatī kataba l-lahu lakum wa-lā tartaddū ʕalā ʔadbārikum fatanqalibū ḵāsirīna

        O my people, enter the Holy Land that Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back and become losers.

كَتْب • (katb) m

1. verbal noun of كَتَبَ (kataba)

Form-II causative of كَتَبَ‎ (kataba, “to write”).

• IPA^(key): /kat.ta.ba/

كَتَّبَ • (kattaba) II, non-past يُكَتِّبُ‎‎ (yukattibu)

1. (transitive, causative) to cause to write, to make someone write
2. to deploy in squadrons

• IPA^(key): /ku.tub/

كُتُب • (kutub) m pl

1. plural of كِتَاب‎ (kitāb)

• → Basque: kutun, gutun

• IPA^(key): /ki.taːb/

كِتٰب • (kitāb) m (plural كُتُب (kutub))

1. Classical Arabic spelling of كِتَاب‎ (kitāb)

• Wehr, Hans (1979), “كتب”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
• Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, page 248

From Arabic كَتَبَ‎ (kataba).

كتب • (katab) (perfect, imperfect يكتب‎ (yiktib), verb form I)

1. to write

• Hinds, Martin; Badawi, El-Said (1986), “كتب”, in A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic‎, Beirut: Librairie du Liban, page 733

From Arabic كَتَبَ‎ (kataba).

• IPA^(key): /ktab/

كتب • (ktab) (form I, non-past يكتُب‎ (yiktub) or يكتَب‎ (yiktab))

1. to write

   ‏كتب تلميدي مقال زوين على الحروب الأهلية اللي داز بيها المغرب فالماضي.‎‎

   ktab talmīdi maqāl zwīn ʕla l-ḥurūb el-ʔayliyya lli dāz bīha l-maḡrib f-el-māḍi

   My student wrote an essay about the civil wars that took place in Morocco in the past

2. to destine or predestine

   ‏كتب له الله جوج دراري.‎‎

   ktab lu llāh jūj drāri.

   God predestined him two kids

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

From Arabic كَتَبَ‎ (kataba).

• IPA^(key): /ka.tab/, [ˈka.tab]

• Audio (al-Lidd)

  (file)

كتب • (katab) (form I, present بكتب‎ (boktob), active participle كاتب‎ (kāteb))

1. to write

   ‏كتبت لأهلي.‎‎

   katabt la-ʔahli.

   I wrote to my parents.

   ‏اكتبلي ايّاه على ورقة.‎‎

   uktubli yyāh ʕala waraʔa.

   Write it down for me on [a sheet of] paper.