ضفدع

From the root ض ف د ع (ḍ-f-d-ʕ); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ṣ́Vpardiʿ-. Cognate to Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ (tz'fardéa), Aramaic עֻרְדְּעָנָא (ˁurdəˁānā), Classical Syriac ܐܘܪ̈ܕܥܐ (ˀurdˁā), and Ugaritic 𐎑𐎗𐎄𐎓 (ẓrdʿ). The senses of hunger and gas are onomatopoeic in origin, by comparison of croaking and ribbiting, to a stomach rumbling with hunger and to audible gas noises.

• IPA^(key): /dˤif.diʕ/, /dˤif.daʕ/, /dˤaf.daʕ/, /dˤuf.duʕ/, /dˤuf.daʕ/
  • (Egyptian) IPA^(key): /dˤif.daʕ/, /dˤuf.daʕ/
  • Gulf Arabic: (Kuwait) IPA^(key): /ðˤʊf.dəʕ/, (Qatar) IPA^(key): /ðˤəf.daʕ/

• Audio

  (file)

ضِفْدِع or ضِفْدَع or ضَفْدَع or ضُفْدُع or ضُفْدَع • (ḍifdiʕ or ḍifdaʕ or ḍafdaʕ or ḍufduʕ or ḍufdaʕ) m (plural ضَفَادِع (ḍafādiʕ))

1. frog
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 7:133:

     فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلطُّوفَانَ وَٱلْجَرَادَ وَٱلْقُمَّلَ وَٱلضَّفَادِعَ وَٱلدَّمَ آيَاتٍ مُفَصَّلَاتٍ فَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا وَكَانُوا قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ

     fa-ʔarsalnā ʕalayhimu ṭ-ṭūfāna wa-l-jarāda wa-l-qummala wa-ḍ-ḍafādiʕa wa-d-dama ʔāyātin mufaṣṣalātin fa-stakbarū wa-kānū qawman mujrimīna

     We caused to be sent upon them destruction abounding, locusts, lice, frogs, and the blood, as signs of proof discernibly clear, but they had considered themselves of greater importance and had been a people who caused wrongdoing to be encouraged.

2. (figurative, usually in the plural) the source of stomach rumbling, the sound of hunger
   • نَقَّتْ ضَفَادِعُ بَطْنِهِ

     naqqat ḍafādiʕu baṭnihi

     He was or became hungry.

     (literally, “The frogs of his belly croaked.”)

ضَفْدَعَ • (ḍafdaʕa) Iq, non-past يُضَفْدِعُ‎ (yuḍafdiʕu)

1. to have or abound with frogs
2. to shrink or contract; like the movement of a frog's abdomen when vocalizing
3. to audibly pass gas or flatulate

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “ضفدع”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “ضفدع”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, page 1795
• “Proto-Semitic root: *ṣ̂Vpardiʕ-; Number 2340” in Georgiy Starostin, Tower of Babel, Copyright 1998-2003 by S. Starostin.

From Arabic ضُفْدَع (ḍufdaʕ).

• IPA^(key): /dˤuf.daʕ/, [dˤʊf.daʕ]

ضفدع • (ḍufdaʕ) m (plural ضَفَادِع (ḍafādiʕ))

1. frog