شفقة
“شفقة” (шафка) — pity in Arabic. Noun, level B1, topic — people and family. Pity, compassion: shafqa. From it "compassionate"; here one pities not from above but alongside. In a live sentence: “أخذ القطة من شفقة” — He took the kitten out of pity. Written with the characters ش, ف, ق, ة. One of 195 words in the set “people and family” in the Arabic course.
In short
| Written in Arabic | شفقة |
| Read in Latin letters | шафка |
| Translation | pity |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Pity, compassion: shafqa. From it "compassionate"; here one pities not from above but alongside
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.
- أخذ القطة من شفقةахаза аль-гитта мин шафкаHe took the kitten out of pity
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- صديقсадийкfriendThe emphatic s at the start. A woman friend is sadiiqa, and the plural is asdiqaa
- عائلةʿааʾиляfamilyFrom ʿaaʾila — a clan: family in the wide sense, with grandparents and cousins. The hamza in the middle sits on an alif
- أمуммmomThe shadda mm is long. Ummi — "my mom" — is also said to an older woman from respect
- أبабdadThe affectionate form is baa — baa, the syllable babies babble everywhere. The formal ab lives in documents
- طفلтифльchildThe t is emphatic. Two children are tiflaan: the dual with -aan on the end, as in ithnaan
- بائعбааиʿsellerFrom the verb "to sell", with the ayn in the middle — that squeezed throat. The seller woman is baaʾiʿa, and at the market it is her in nine cases out of ten
- زبونзабуунbuyerThe same word means "customer": in a cafe, a taxi, a shop they are all zabuun. The long uu in the middle stretches
- إنسانинсаанhumanA human in general, any of the people. The plural is unaas: "people" and "folk" are one word for every case
- رجلраджульmanIt is written on men’s room doors exactly so — rajul. Both "a man" and "a husband": one word holds both roles
- امرأةимрааwomanIn writing a hamza sits inside: im-ra-ʾa. It stands on the ladies’ room doors too, and the pluralnisaaʾ looks nothing like the singular
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “pity” in Arabic?
Pity, compassion: shafqa. From it "compassionate"; here one pities not from above but alongside
- How do you say “buyer” in Arabic?
The same word means "customer": in a cafe, a taxi, a shop they are all zabuun. The long uu in the middle stretches
- How do you say “mom” in Arabic?
The shadda mm is long. Ummi — "my mom" — is also said to an older woman from respect
- How do you say “woman” in Arabic?
In writing a hamza sits inside: im-ra-ʾa. It stands on the ladies’ room doors too, and the pluralnisaaʾ looks nothing like the singular
- How do you say “seller” in Arabic?
From the verb "to sell", with the ayn in the middle — that squeezed throat. The seller woman is baaʾiʿa, and at the market it is her in nine cases out of ten
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 “pity” in Arabic?
«شفقة», read “шафка”. In a live sentence: “أخذ القطة من شفقة” — He took the kitten out of pity. Noun, level B1, from the set “people and family”; written with the characters ش, ف, ق, ة.
How is “شفقة” written in Latin letters?
шафка. 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?
Pity, compassion: shafqa. From it "compassionate"; here one pities not from above but alongside. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.