حرفة
“حرفة” (хирфа) — a craft in Arabic. Noun, level B1. From harafa, "to earn by a trade": a craft is "a skill that feeds". The carpenter, the baker and the tailor of the first lesson each have their hirfa — and in Arab families the craft passes from father to son. In a live sentence: “حرفة النجار تنتقل من الأب للابن” — The carpenter's craft passes from father to son. Written with the characters ح, ر, ف, ة.
In short
| Written in Arabic | حرفة |
| Read in Latin letters | хирфа |
| Translation | a craft |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
From harafa, "to earn by a trade": a craft is "a skill that feeds". The carpenter, the baker and the tailor of the first lesson each have their hirfa — and in Arab families the craft passes from father to son
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.
- حرفة النجار تنتقل من الأب للابنхирфат ан-наджжаар тантахиль мин аль-аб ли-ль-ибнThe carpenter's craft passes from father to son
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 “a craft” in Arabic?
«حرفة», read “хирфа”. In a live sentence: “حرفة النجار تنتقل من الأب للابن” — The carpenter's craft passes from father to son. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ح, ر, ف, ة.
How is “حرفة” written in Latin letters?
хирфа. 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?
From harafa, "to earn by a trade": a craft is "a skill that feeds". The carpenter, the baker and the tailor of the first lesson each have their hirfa — and in Arab families the craft passes from father to son. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.