# ضعیف
## Kohistani Shina
### Noun

ضعیف (za'īf)
* scholar

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf, “weak, feeble”).

### Adjective

ضعیف • (zaʼif)
* weak, feeble, infirm, debilitated, deficient in force or physical strength
    Synonyms: درمانسز (dermansız), زبون (zebun), قوتسز (kuvvetsiz)
* slim, thin, meager, slender, lithe, skinny, having little body fat or flesh
    Synonyms: آریق (arık), جلیز (cılız), صیصقه (sıska), نارین (narin)
* emaciated, scrawny, gaunt, macilent, especially from hunger or disease

#### Derived terms

* ضعیفانه (zaʼifane, “pertaining to one who's weak”)
* ضعیفلاتمق (zaʼiflatmak, “to weaken”)
* ضعیفلامق (zaʼiflamak, “to become weak or thin”)
* ضعیفلانمق (zaʼiflanmak, “to become weak”)
* ضعیفلق (zaʼiflık, “debility, weakness”)
* ضعیفلو (zaʼiflı, “that includes weak individuals”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: zayıf
* → Armenian: զայիֆ (zayif)
* → Crimean Tatar: zayıf
* → Gagauz: zayıf
* → Romanian: zaif

### Further reading

* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “zayıf”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5442
* Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “ضعیف”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎, Vienna: F. Beck, page 307b
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “ضعیف”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 784
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Debilis”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎, Vienna, column 323
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “ضعیف”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 3044
* Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “zayıf”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “ضعیف”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1211

## Persian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf), from ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [za.ʔiːf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zä.ʔiːf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zä.ʔiːf]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [zä.jiːf]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [zä.jif]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [zæ.ʔiːf]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [zä.ʔif]
* Audio (Iran):(file)

### Adjective

ضعیف • (za'if) (comparative ضعیف‌تَر (za'if-tar), superlative ضعیف‌تَرین (za'if-tarin))
* weak, feeble
    Synonym: ناتوان (nâtavân)
    Antonym: قوی (qavi)
** c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume II, verse 3098:چون همه اوصاف و اجزا شد نحیف / خویشتن‌داری و صبرت شد ضعیفčon hame owsâf o ajzâ šod nahif / xištan-dâri o sabr-at šod za'ifSince all the functions and parts [of your body] are atrophied, your self-control and patience have become weak.
* thin, weakly
    Synonym: لاغر (lâğar)
* poor (of low quality), defective

#### Inflection

$^△$ Colloquial.

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian ضَعِیف (za'īf), borrowed from Arabic ضَعِيف (ḍaʕīf), from ضَعُفَ (ḍaʕufa).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /zə.(ʔ)iːf/
* Rhymes: -iːf
* Hyphenation: ضَ‧عِیف

### Adjective

ضَعِیف • (za'īf) (indeclinable, feminine ضَعِیفَہ (za'īfa), Hindi spelling ज़ईफ़)
* weak; feeble
* old (of a person)
* weak; slow (of mind; opinion etc.)
* (Islam) weak; unreliable (of a Hadith)

### Noun

ضَعِیف • (za'īf) m (formal plural ضُعَفا (zu'afā), feminine ضَعِیفَہ (za'īfa), Hindi spelling ज़ईफ़)
* a weak; old; poor (person or man)
* (in the plural) the old

#### Descendants

* → Ushojo: ضعیف (za'īf)
* → Yidgha: ضعیف (ze'īf)

### Further reading

* “ضعیف”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
* “ضعیف”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
* Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “ضعيف”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
* Platts, John T. (1884) “ضعيف”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 749
* S. W. Fallon (1879) “ضعیف”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
* John Shakespear (1834) “ضعیف”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC

## Ushojo
### Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf).

### Adjective

ضعیف (za'īf)
* old

## Yidgha
### Etymology

Borrowed from Urdu ضَعِیف (za'īf).

### Noun

ضعیف (ze'īf)
* poor