ليه
م
مأ
م
Arabic Letter م
[The twenty-fourth letter of the alphabet; called مِيمٌ. It is one of the letters termed مَجْهُورَة, or vocal, and of those termed شَفَهِيَّة or labial: it is a letter of augmentation.]
[As a numeral, it denotes forty.]
Supplement:
مَ / مِ / مُ / مّ
مَ for the interrogative مَا immediately following a prep.: see مَا in the Ṣ, Ḳ; and إِلَى last sentence.
مِ for مِنْ: see an ex., from a poet, voce رُبَّ.
مُ ٱللّٰهِ, &c.: see أَيْمُنُ ٱللّٰهِ.
مّ for أُمّ: see the latter.
مَا
مَا when following كُلّ or إِنَّ or أَيْنَ or أَىّ, if having the signification of الَّذِى, is written separately. (El-Ḥareeree, in De Sacy's Anthol. Gram. Ar., p. 67 of the Ar. text.)
مَا added to certain adverbial nouns is not merely redundant, but gives to them a conditional and general signification; as in أَيْنَمَا Wherever; and حَيْثُمَا Wherever, and whenever;, &c.: see Ḳur, ii. 143, 145, &c.: and see De Sacy's Gram., i. 537 and 538.
مَا While; as in مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا: and as much as; see Ḳur, lxiv. 16.
بِمَا Because بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ Because they did transgress; or for that they did transgress. (Ḳur.)
إِنَّكَ مَا وَخَيْرًا, for مَعَ خَيْرٍ. See خَيْرٌ.
مَا is also added to a noun to denote the littleness of that which is signified by the noun; as in أَرَبٌ مَّا Some little want. (IAth in TA, art. ارب.)
مَا in أَمَّا and إِمَّا (of which latter إِمَّا لَا is an instance) I have mentioned in arts. أَمَّا and إِمَّا.
بَالِغًا مَا بَلَغَ: see بَلَغَ.
مَا أَنْتَ [What art thou?] means what are thy qualities, or attributes? (Ḥar, p. 155.) مَا رَبُّ العَالَمِينَ, in the Ḳur, xxvi. 22, means أَىٌّ شَىْءٍ هُوَ. (Jel.) See also an ex. voce فَىّ.
مَا لَكَ signifies أَىُّ شَىْءٍ ثَبَتَ لَكَ (IbrD) and may be rendered What aileth thee?
شَىْءٌ مَّا Some particular thing: something. (See إِيهِ.) Also, Any particular thing? (IbrD.) See an ex. cited voce صَبَاحٌ.
فَتًى مَّا فُلَانٌ An excellent youth is such a one. (IbrD.) See Kull, p. 336. See also Bḍ, middle p. 42.
مَا is sometimes put for مَا دَامَ, مَا دَامُوا, and the like; i. e. As long as: see an ex. voce كَاظَّ, and التُّرْكُ, and جَلَّ.
الشَّكْلُ إِلَى الطُّولِ مَا هُوَ The form inclines somewhat to length; agreeably with a rendering voce عُقْرٌ: see De Sacy's Gr., sec. ed., i. 543 and 539: see also شَىْءٌ مَّا above: in the Ḳur xxxviii. 23, ما is redundant, (Bḍ,) denoting vagueness and wonder, (Ksh, Bḍ,) or a corroborative of fewness: (Jel:) it means somewhat whether great or little in degree or importance.
مَا, the negative particle, followed by a pret., often requires the latter to be rendered in English by the preterperfect: ex. مَا رَأَيْتُهُ مُذْ يَوْمَان I have not seen him for two days. See De Sacy's Anthol. Gram. Ar., p. 253.