The phrase الطرق السيارة – Is there a mistake?

Reader and long-time Arabic learner Paul Ammann was recently in Morocco and came across a street sign that raised some grammar questions.

His first instinct was that there might be a grammar mistake. Let’s look at the sign we’re referring to:

We all remember those first Arabic lessons at the beginning of our Arabic learning journey, when the teacher explains how to join two nouns in Arabic: the إِضافةٌ-construction. But as it turns out, the first, obvious answer isn’t always the (only) correct one.

Together, we took a closer look at the construction and the word it is actually about, السَّيّارةُ.

Let’s start with why Paul stopped at the sign in the first place and what his initial ideas were.

A dissection of الطُّرُقُ السَّيّارَةُ

At first, Paul thought the Arabic phrase الطُّرُقُ السَّيّارَةُ on this sign was incorrect. Here is why:

• طُرُقٌ is the plural of طَرِيقٌ which means road, path, or street.
• سَيَّارةٌ is translated as car.
• Paul assumed it was supposed to be an إِضافةٌ-construction, like طُرُقُ السَّيّارةِ, meaning the roads of the car.
• That seemed more grammatically correct to him based on his understanding of Arabic. Many of us have learned that two ال following each other in a noun-noun construction does not work.

But then he talked to a local person who explained to him that السَّيّارَةُ here doesn’t refer to the car – rather, the local person said, “it’s a fixed expression in Arabic”, where السيّارة comes from سَيّار, meaning moving or circulating.

Paul suddenly remembered another expression he had learned in his previous years of Arabic studies: the Arabic word for planet, which is كَوْكَبٌ سَيّارٌ. An important factor that makes us call a celestial body a planet is the following: It must orbit a star. A planet travels in an elliptical path around a star, like the Sun in our solar system. So the adjective circulating, moving suddenly makes sense.

This helped him get on the right track.

1. In the phrase الطرق السيارة, the word السَّيَّارَةُ works as an adjective (نَعْتٌ).
2. It does not function as the second part of a إِضافةٌ-construction (الْمُضافُ إِلَيْهِ).

➤ Following this logic, الطرق السيارة is indeed also correct. But what does it mean?

When Paul returned, we discussed the photo, the construction, the words involved, and how the word “highway” is expressed in other Arab countries. We thought it might be helpful for others as well, so we wanted to share our findings.

The meaning of سَيَّار

Let’s first check the core meaning of the root: س-ي-ر

• The I-verb سارَ – يَسِيرُ is to move (on); to set out; to start; to move; to go. Hans Wehr and other dictionaries list many forms of the verbal noun (مَصْدَرٌ) such as or سَيْرٌ, or سَيْرُورةٌ, or مَسِيرٌ, or مَسِيرةٌ, or تَسْيَارٌ.
• The noun سَيَّارٌ – feminine سَيَارَةٌ – literally means always on the move; continually moving; circulating. It is a so-called derived noun (الْاِسْمُ الْمُشْتَقُّ).
• Looking at the underlying pattern فَعَّالٌ, we see that سَيَّارٌ is a so-called noun of exaggeration (صِيغةُ الْمُبالَغةِ).

• Thus, literally, سَيَّارَةٌ describes something that is characterized by frequent or continuous movement, or something designed for significant movement.
• This aligns perfectly with the function of an automobile.

Now we have all the ingredients we need to get to the literal meaning of الطرق السيارة.

➤ If we treat السيارة in its original adjectival sense – i.e., mobile or in constant motion, then the phrase الطُّرُقُ السَّيّارةُ literally means the continually moving roads or the circulating roads.

How السَّيَّارَةُ came to mean “car”

Interestingly, the word السَّيَّارَة already occurs in the Holy Qur’an, Sura 12:10 – Yusuf/Joseph (يوسف):

• Since سَيّارةٌ already had the meaning of caravan at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, and since the literal meaning of سَيّارةٌ is just something that is constantly moving, it is not a big step to apply سَيّارةٌ to cars centuries later.
• The German-Arabic dictionary Handwörterbuch der neu-arabischen und deutschen Sprache by Adolf Wahrmund was published in parts, with volumes appearing as early as 1870 and 1877. This was before the first practical automobile, invented by Karl Benz in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany. In this old dictionary, the word سَيَّارةٌ is translated as Reisegesellschaft (~ group of people travelling together).

Modern Standard Arabic terms:

• سَيَّارَةٌ is the established modern standard term for car; automobile.
• عَرَبةٌ is used for coach; carriage or cart, but also for car; vehicle.

Dialectal variations:

• عَرَبِيَّة: Frequently used in Egyptian, Levantine, and North African settings.
• كَرَهْبَة: Common in parts of North Africa.
• مَوْتَر: Used in Gulf regions to highlight the engine/motor aspect of the vehicle.

The word for “highway” in Arabic

What about the Arabic word for highway in Arabic? In many Arab countries, you will see the term طَرِيقٌ سَرِيعٌ (fast road). In the Maghreb, you often see طَرِيقٌ سَيَّارٌ.

I found an old dictionary that contains only words related to roads. The two main terms for highway/freeway are طَرِيقٌ سَرِيعٌ and طَرِيقٌ سَيَّارٌ. It is available on archive.org: