If you’re learner of Arabic, chances are you know the word يشرب yashrab ‘to drink’, even if you’re just a beginner. But there are some facts about this word you might not be aware of. Let’s a explore a bit, but first the basics.

The basics about yashrab

The present tense form of this verb (in the هو huwa form) is يَشْرَب yashrab, while the past tense form is شَرِبَ shariba. Here’s an example of a present tense sentence:

And here’s the same sentence in the past tense:

If you’re more advanced, you may have learned about the maṣdar (verbal noun). The maṣdar of this verb is شُرْب shurb, illustrated in the following sentence:

More than just drinking

In English the word drink is basically reserved for beverages. But in Arabic, the term yashrab is used a bit more broadly. For one thing, it is generally the verb one uses when talking about eating soup (حِساء), even when you’re eating it out of a bowl and with a spoon (مِلْعَقة):

The second extended sense of yashrab is in the sense of smoking (a tobacco product). In this sense it is always used with an object:

Without an object, one would use the word يُدَخِّن yudakhkhin:

Cognates in English and Spanish

Words related to yashrab have been borrowed into some Western languages. One such case is the English word sherbet. Note that in British English, this refers to a type of beverage, which makes sense considering the meaning of the Arabic source word. The American sense of the word as a frozen dessert (elsewhere called sorbet) is a later development.

As for sorbet, that also comes from an Arabic word related to yashrab. The difference is that English has borrowed this word via French.

If you speak Spanish, you might know that jarabe means ‘syrup’. This comes from the Arabic word شَراب sharaab, which also means ‘syrup’.

Related words in Arabic

There are some related words in Arabic word noting.

First of all, the Arabic word for mustache is شارِب shaarib, literally ‘drinker’. Perhaps it’s called that because it gets into whatever you’re drinking and “drinks along with you.” That’s my guess, anyway. Here’s an example sentence:

Second, there’s a word that looks related, but probably isn’t. That is the word شورْبة shurba ‘soup’. From what I can tell, by looking up the Turkish cognate in a Turkish etymological dictionary, this word ultimately comes from Persian. In Arabic it is also spelled like a loanword, because otherwise we would never expect for that letter و waaw to show up. (The practice of spelling some short vowels in loanwords as if they were long is discussed in chapter 12 of my book Bite-Size Arabic). This is a very common word for ‘soup’. For example, ‘lentil soup’ is usually called شورْبة عَدْس shurbat ʕads. The native Arabic word for ‘soup’ or ‘broth’ is حِساء ḥisaa’, which we saw above.

Well, that’s all I have to say about yashrab for the moment. Bon appétit !