Arabic Similes
From Wikiquote
The following is a list of Similes in the Arabic language
- أبطأ من سلحفاة
- Literal meaning: Slower than a turtle.
- أبعد من الثريا
- Literal meaning: Farther than Pleiades.
- أتبع من الظل
- Literal meaning: Follows more than a shadow.
- أثقل من جبل
- Literal meaning: Heavier than a mountain
- أجبن من نعامة
- Literal meaning: More cowardly than an ostrich.
- أجود من حاتم
- Literal meaning: More generous than Hatim. (Hatim Al Ta'ee, a very generous man who lived in the pre-Islam era)
- أرق من النسيم
- Literal meaning: Smoother than a breeze.
- أزهى من طاووس
- Literal meaning: More arrogant than a peacock.
- أسبق من الأجل
- Literal meaning: Faster than death(fate).
- أسرع من البرق
- Literal meaning: Faster than lightning.
- أشأم من البسوس
- Literal meaning: More jinxed than Al-Bassoos. (Al-Bassos is a woman who caused a 40 year war between two Arab tribes)
- أشهر من نار على عَلَمِ
- Literal meaning: More famous than a fire on a pole.
- Notes: Nomads in the Arabian Desert used to put a wooden pole on the highest landmark around where they are camping for travelers to know that people live in that area. During the night they would wrap it with a rag like an upright torch and light it, in the dark this fire on the top of the pole is visible miles away.
- أصبر من حمار
- Literal meaning: More enduring than a donkey.
- أصفى من الدمعة
- Literal meaning: Purer than a tear.
- أصنع من دود القز
- Literal meaning: More skillful than a silk worm.
- أضيق من ثقب الإبرة
- Literal meaning: Tighter than a needle's eye.
- أطوع له من يمينه
- Literal meaning: He is more obedient to him than his own right hand.
- أطول من ليل الشتاء
- Literal meaning: Longer than the winter's night.
- أظلم من الليل
- Literal meaning: Darker than the night.
- أعدل من الميزان
- Literal meaning: More just than scales.
- أقسى من الحجر
- Literal meaning: Tougher than a stone.
- أكتم من الأرض
- Literal meaning: More discrete than the earth.
- Note: implying that the earth hides what's inside it.
- أكذب من سراب
- Literal meaning: Faker than a mirage.
- أمرّ من العلقم
- Literal meaning: More bitter than a'lqum (a very bitter desert plant).
- أشجى من حمامة
- Literal meaning: Has a better voice than a pigeon.
- آمن من حمام مكة
- Literal meaning: Safer than the pigeons of Makah
- Notes: hunting in Makah is forbidden in Islam, so no one will try to hunt them.
- أمنع من أنف الأسد
- Literal meaning: More secure than the nose of a lion.
- أيقظ من ذئب
- Literal meaning: More alert than a wolf.
- أكثر من الهم على القلب
- Literal meaning: More (in quantity) than misery in the heart.
- أدنى من حبل الوريد
- Literal meaning: Closer than the carotid artery (As close to a person as is humanly possible)
- أرخص من التمر في البصرة
- Literal meaning: Cheaper than dates (fruit) in Basra.
- أرفع من السماء
- أغدر من ذئب
- Literal meaning: More treacherous than a wolf.
- أغزل من امرئ القيس
- Literal meaning: more flirty than Imru' al-Qais. (An Arab poet famous for his love poems)
- أغشم من السيل
- Literal meaning: More ignorant than a flood
- أفسد من السوس
- Literal meaning: More corrupt then mites.
- أقبح من قرد
- Literal meaning: Uglier than a monkey.
- آكل من النار
- Literal meaning: Eats more than a fire.
- أيأس من غريق
- Literal meaning: More desperate than a drowning person.
- أفرغ من فؤاد أم موسى
- Literal meaning: Emptier that the heart of Moses' Mother
- أطمع من أشعب
- Literal meaning: More greedy than Asha'ab. (A very greedy man)
- أوهن من بيت العنكبوت
- Literal meaning: More vulnerable than a spider's web.
