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What is the meaning of the name Hussein?
In Arabic most names have a meaning. They are usually adjectives. Some of them are diminutives, which are used to convey smallness.
Husayn (or Hussein) is a male Muslim name (اسْمٌ شَخْصِيٌّ). It is a diminutive of the name Hasan (حَسَنٌ) which means good, handsome, or beautiful. The meaning of حُسَيْنٌ, however, is different.
By its form, حُسَيْن is a diminutive (تَصْغِيرٌ) which means that it denotes something small – a young/little beauty. Diminutives are often difficult to translate because you don't find them in dictionaries.
The diminutive in Arabic
Forms like حُسَيْن are called diminutive, so called: تَصْغِير. Diminutives are used for Arabic names and are common in Arabic.
Some patterns and examples.
Pattern فُعَيْلٌ
Derived from a اِسْم that consists in total of three letters (here, as always, we don't mean 3 root letters)
| door | بابٌ | small door | بُوَيْبٌ |
| child | وَلَدٌ | small child | وُلَيْدٌ |
| river | نَهْرٌ | small river | نُهَيْرٌ |
Notice: Also adverbs of place or time follow this pattern: قَبْلَ – قُبَيْلَ (shortly before) and بَعْدَ – بُعَيْدَ (shortly after)
Pattern فُعَيْلِلٌ
When the original noun consists in total of four letters (again, we don't mean 4 root letters!)
| friend | صاحِبٌ | small friend | صُوَيْحِبٌ |
Feminine nouns
They have a ة and follow the rules of number 2.
If the original noun is feminine but does not have a ة, the diminutive will take a ة (e.g. market)
| drop | نُقْطةٌ | droplet | نُقْيَطةٌ |
| market | سُوقٌ | small market | سُوَيْقةٌ |
Pattern فُعَيِّلٌ
This pattern is used when the original اِسْم is of this form: The second letter of the اِسْم is followed by a long vowel.
| book | كِتابٌ | small book | كُتَيِّبٌ |
| small | صَغِيرٌ | tiny | صُغَيِّرٌ |
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Picture credit: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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