Grammar term · I'rab · i'rab
عَلَامَة ظَاهِرَة
'alama zahira
Apparent (zahira) marker
I'rab · i'rabI'rab marker (alama)core term30,181+ in the Qur'an
In one line
An apparent marker — the case-vowel you can see and hear on the word's last letter.
Classical definition
العَلَامَةُ الظَّاهِرَةُ حَرَكَةُ إِعْرَابٍ تَظْهَرُ عَلَى آخِرِ الكَلِمَةِ لَفْظًا مِنْ غَيْرِ مَانِعٍ.
“The apparent marker is a case-vowel that shows on the end of the word in speech, with nothing preventing it.”
(بتصرف من الألفية)
Key words in the Arabic
تَظْهَرُit shows, appears
مِنْ غَيْرِ مَانِعٍwith nothing preventing it
Understand it
Most i'rab is visible: الْحَمْدُ shows its damma plainly. The term earns its keep as one half of a pair — apparent versus estimated. When an analysis says مَرْفُوعٌ وَعَلَامَتُهُ الضَّمَّةُ الظَّاهِرَةُ, it records that the ending is doing its work in the open.
How to spot it
Recognition test
You can point at the vowel: written, pronounced, and changing with the word's job — zahira.
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