# حرف
## Arabic
### Etymology 1.1

Cognate to Aramaic חָרַף (ḥarap, “to scrape, sharpen, to grind”), Classical Syriac ܚܪܰܦ (ḥrap̄, “to blend, to scrape together”), Classical Syriac ܚܰܪܦܐ (ḥarp̄a, “blade, sword”), Ge'ez ሐረፈ (ḥäräfä, “to crush, to grind, to tear off the top”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħa.ra.fa/

#### Verb

حَرَفَ • (ḥarafa) I (non-past يَحْرِفُ (yaḥrifu), verbal noun حَرْف (ḥarf))
* to turn to the opposite side
* to trade, to do business
* to trim, to snip

##### Conjugation
### Etymology 1.2
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħar.ra.fa/

#### Verb

حَرَّفَ • (ḥarrafa) II (non-past يُحَرِّفُ (yuḥarrifu), verbal noun تَحْرِيف (taḥrīf))
* to slant, to incline
* to bend down, up, or back, to turn down, up, or back
* to deflect
* to distort, to corrupt, to falsify, to misconstrue, to pervert, to twist
** 7th century CE, Jamīʿ at-Tirmiḏiyy, section 47:فَمَا جَاءُوا بِهِ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ فَهُوَ حَقٌّ وَلَكِنَّهُمْ يُحَرِّفُونَ وَيَزِيدُونَfamā jāʔū bihi ʕalā wajhihi fahuwa ḥaqqun walakinnahum yuḥarrifūna wayazīdūnaWhatever they came with is right, as it is – however they distort and augment.

##### Conjugation
### Etymology 1.3
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħarf/

#### Noun

حَرْف • (ḥarf) m (plural حِرَف (ḥiraf))
* cutting edge, sharp edge
* border, brink, edge, rim

##### Declension
#### Adjective

حَرْف • (ḥarf)
* (obsolete, poetic, of a she-camel) hardy, strong and/or lean and/or swift
** a. 625, الأعشى al-ʾaʿšā, edited by Geyer, Rudolf, Zwei Gedichte von Al-ʾAʿšâ (Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Philosophisch-historische Klasse; 149/6)‎, volume Mâ Bukâʾu, Wien: In Kommission bei Carl Gerold’s Sohn, published 1905, page 102:وَشِمِلَّةٍ حَرْفٍ كَأَنَّ قُتُودَهَا … جَلَّلْتُهَا (var. لَبَسْتُهَا) جَوْنَ السَّرَاةِ خَفَيْدَدًاwašimillatin ḥarfin kaʔanna qutūdahā … jallaltuhā (var. labastuhā) jawna s-sarāti ḵafaydadanSome hardy she-camel the saddle-woods of which I applied like upon a black-backed ostrich

##### Declension
### Etymology 1.4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħi.raf/

#### Noun

حِرَف • (ḥiraf) pl
* plural of حِرْفَة (ḥirfa)

### Etymology 2.1

Verbal noun of the verb above, the result of turning the tongue or stylus or limb to the side. The meaning “word” is a semantic loan from Medieval Latin terminus, spawned in the environment of philosophy text translation (see Praetorius 1909).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħarf/
* Audio:(file)

#### Noun

حَرْف • (ḥarf) m (plural حُرُوف (ḥurūf) or أَحْرُف (ʔaḥruf))
* verbal noun of حَرَفَ (ḥarafa) (form I)
* letter (of the alphabet), piece of type
    حَرْفًا بِحَرْفٍ ― ḥarfan bi-ḥarfin ― word for word
* consonant
* (grammar) particle
* (obsolete) word

##### Related terms

* حَرْفِيّ (ḥarfiyy)

##### Descendants

* Gulf Arabic: حرف (ḥarf)
* South Levantine Arabic: حرف (ḥarf)
* → Azerbaijani: hərf
* → Bashkir: хәреф (xəref)
* → Bengali: হরফ (hôrôf)
* → Gujarati: હરફ (haraph)
* → Hausa: har̃àfī
** → Nupe: harànfi
** → Yoruba: háràfí
* → Hindustani:
    Hindi: हर्फ़ (harf)
    Urdu: حَرْف (harf)
* → Kabardian: хьэрыф (ḥɛrəf)
* → Kyrgyz: арип (arip)
* → Malay: huruf
    Indonesian: huruf
* → Minangkabau: uruf
* → Ottoman Turkish: حرف (harf)
** Turkish: harf
** → Albanian: harf
* → Persian: حرف (harf)
* → Punjabi: حرف (ḥrf) / ਹਰਫ਼ (haraf)
* → Swahili: herufi
* → Sindhi: حرف (harfu)
* → Tatar: хәреф (xäref)
* → Turkmen: harp
* → Uyghur: ھەرپ (herp)
* → Uzbek: harf

### Etymology 2.2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħi.raf/

#### Noun

حِرَف • (ḥiraf) pl
* plural of حَرْف (ḥarf)

### Etymology

An Aramaic borrowing, Aramaic חורפה / חורפא / ࡇࡅࡓࡐࡀ / ܚܘܪܦܐ (ḥurpā, “sharp edge”) corresponds to the Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf, “sharp edge”) and acquired the transferred meanings of “pungency” and “pungent” food, which applies to cress because of its marked mustardy or radish-like, slightly pungent to peppery taste and smell, compare also the adjective likely borrowed from Aramaic into Arabic حِرِّيف (ḥirrīf, “pungent”); perhaps also merged Akkadian 𒄷𒌨𒁍 (ḫurpu, “crop collected early, unripe produce”), hence the meaning of bitter or unpleasant tasting plants, rather related to the root خ ر ف (ḵ r f).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħurf/

#### Noun

حُرْف • (ḥurf) m
* cress (Lepidium sativum, a garden vegetable)
* bitter-cress (Cardamine, some of which are eatable, some of medicinal use)
* water-cress (Nasturtium officinale, eatable and of medicinal use)
** 1025, ابن سينا [Avicenna], القانون في الطب [Canon Medicinae]:قال ديسقويدس أجود ما رأينا من شجرة الحرف ما يكون بأرض بابل، وقوته شبيهة بقوة الخردل وبزر الفجل، وقيل الخردل وبزر الجرجير المجتمعين، وورقه ينقص في أفعاله عنه لرطوبته فإذا يبس قارب مشاكلته وكاد يلحقه. […] الأفعال والخواص: مسخن محلل منضج مع تليين ينشف قيح الجرب.Dioscurides said that the best what we have seen of the water-cress is the one on the earth of Babel, and its power is similar to that of the mustard and the seeds of the radish, and, it is said, mustard and rocket seeds can be blended with it, but its leaves fall behind the whole of the plant in their effects by reason of their moisture, but when dried, they are similar to it and almost catch up with it. […] Its properties: It is heatening, laxative, maturative with some laxivity and absorbs the pus in the scab.

##### Descendants

* → Old Catalan: algorfa, algorfe

### References

* “ḥrp”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
* Freytag, Georg (1830) “حرف”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 367–368
* Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “حرف”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎ (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C$^{ie}$, pages 410–411
* Praetorius, Franz (1909) “Ḥarf$^{un}$ = Terminus”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎, volume 63, pages 504–505

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

From Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

### Noun

حرف • (harf) (plural حرفلر (harfler) or حروف (huruf))
* letter
** 1928 November 3, T.C. Resmî Gazete, law number 1353:
    شیمدی‌یه قادار توركجه‌یی یازمق ایچین قوللانیلان عرب حرفلری یرینه لاتین اساسندن آلنان و مربوط جدولده شكللری كوستریلن حرفلر (تورك حرفلری) عنوان و حقوقی ایله قبول لیدلمشدر.Şimdiye kadar Türkçeyi yazmak için kullanılan Arab harfleri yerine Latin esasından alınan ve merbut cetvelde şekilleri gösterilen harfler (Türk harfleri) unvan ve hukuku ile kabul edilmiştir.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: harf
* → Albanian: harf

### Further reading

* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “حرف”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 502

## Persian
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [haɾf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [häɾf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [häɾf]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [ʔäɾf]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [ʔäɾf]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [hæɹf]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [häɾf]
* Rhymes: -arf

#### Noun

حَرْف • (harf) (plural حرف‌ها (harf-hâ) or حروف (horuf))
* letter
** c. 1250, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, دیوان شمس [Divān-i Shams-i Tabrīzī]:ز حرف عین چشم او ز ظرف جیم گوش اوze harf-e 'eyn čašm-e u ze zarf-e jim guš-e uHer eye, from the letter of ʿayn [the Arabic letter ع, connective عـ]; her ear, from the vessel of jīm [the Arabic letter ج]
* speech, talk
** c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume IV, verse 2725:چگونه گفت اندر روی شاه این چنین گستاخ آن حرف تباه؟čegune goft andar ru-ye šah in čonin gostâx ân harf-e tebâh?How durst he say those vain words so impudently in the face of the king?

##### Derived terms

* حرف اضافه (harf-e ezâfe)
* حرف انداختن (harf andâxtan)
* حرف ربط (harf-e rabt)
* حرف زدن (harf zadan)
* پرحرف (por-harf)
* کم‌حرف (kam-harf)

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic حِرَف (ḥiraf).

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [hi.ɾaf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [hɪ.ɾäf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [hɪ.ɾäf]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [ʔɪ.ɾäf]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [ʔi.ɾäf]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [he.ɹæf]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [hi.ɾäf]

#### Noun

حِرَف • (heraf)
* (archaic) plural of حرفه

## Punjabi
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian حَرْف (harf), from Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

### Pronunciation

* (formal) IPA: /ˈɦəɾ.fə̆/
* (colloquial) IPA: /ˈɦə.ɾə.fə̆/
* (rustic) IPA: /ˈɦə.ɾə.pʰə̆/

### Noun

حَرْف • (ḥarf) m (Gurmukhi spelling ਹਰਫ਼)
* letter (of the alphabet), character
    Synonym: اکھر (akkhar)

### References

Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “حرف”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz

## South Levantine Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic حَرْف (ḥarf).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħarf/, [ħɑrˤf]
* Audio (Ramallah):(file)

### Noun

حرف • (ḥarf) m (plural حروف (ḥurūf))
* letter (of the alphabet)