بدون وصفة
“بدون وصفة” (бидуун висфа) — over the counter in Arabic. Phrase, level A2. Biduun is "without": the noun after it stands bare, no article, just like "without prescription". The pharmacy shelves with such medicines are by the till. In a live sentence: “هذا الدواء بدون وصفة” — This medicine is over the counter. Written with the characters ب, د, و, ن, و, ص, ف, ة. A word from the everyday Arabic course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Arabic | بدون وصفة |
| Read in Latin letters | бидуун висфа |
| Translation | over the counter |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Biduun is "without": the noun after it stands bare, no article, just like "without prescription". The pharmacy shelves with such medicines are by the till
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- هذا الدواء بدون وصفةхаза ад-даваа бидуун висфаThis medicine is over the counter
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “over the counter” in Arabic?
«بدون وصفة», read “бидуун висфа”. In a live sentence: “هذا الدواء بدون وصفة” — This medicine is over the counter. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters ب, د, و, ن, و, ص, ف, ة.
How is “بدون وصفة” written in Latin letters?
бидуун висфа. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Biduun is "without": the noun after it stands bare, no article, just like "without prescription". The pharmacy shelves with such medicines are by the till. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.