ماعز
“ماعز” (мааʿиз) — a goat in Arabic. Noun, level A2. The long aa in the middle is heard at once: "maa-ʿiz", not "maaiz". Goat cheese and milk are the same words as the cow's. The word is feminine, though she-goat and he-goat share one name. In a live sentence: “ماعز صغيرة تأكل العشب في الحقل” — A small goat eats grass in the field. Written with the characters م, ا, ع, ز. A word from the everyday Arabic course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Arabic | ماعز |
| Read in Latin letters | мааʿиз |
| Translation | a goat |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
The long aa in the middle is heard at once: "maa-ʿiz", not "maaiz". Goat cheese and milk are the same words as the cow's. The word is feminine, though she-goat and he-goat share one name
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.
- ماعز صغيرة تأكل العشب في الحقلмааʿиз сагиира таʿкуль аль-ушб фи аль-хаульA small goat eats grass in the field
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 goat” in Arabic?
«ماعز», read “мааʿиз”. In a live sentence: “ماعز صغيرة تأكل العشب في الحقل” — A small goat eats grass in the field. Noun, level A2; written with the characters م, ا, ع, ز.
How is “ماعز” written in Latin letters?
мааʿиз. 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?
The long aa in the middle is heard at once: "maa-ʿiz", not "maaiz". Goat cheese and milk are the same words as the cow's. The word is feminine, though she-goat and he-goat share one name. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.