معصم
“معصم” (маасим) — the wrist in Arabic. Noun, level B1. The wrist is where the hand bends: maʿasim. The watch lives exactly here, on the rise of the arm. In a live sentence: “الساعة الجديدة على معصمه” — The new watch is on his wrist. Written with the characters م, ع, ص, م. A word from the everyday Arabic course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Arabic | معصم |
| Read in Latin letters | маасим |
| Translation | the wrist |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
The wrist is where the hand bends: maʿasim. The watch lives exactly here, on the rise of the arm
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.
- الساعة الجديدة على معصمهас-сааʿа аль-джадида ʿаля маасимихThe new watch is on his wrist
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 “the wrist” in Arabic?
«معصم», read “маасим”. In a live sentence: “الساعة الجديدة على معصمه” — The new watch is on his wrist. Noun, level B1; written with the characters م, ع, ص, م.
How is “معصم” written in Latin letters?
маасим. 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 wrist is where the hand bends: maʿasim. The watch lives exactly here, on the rise of the arm. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.