Sources
Where our words come from.
Fasih has thousands of Arabic words. We checked every one in trusted sources before we added it. Here they are.
How we check a word
Wiktionary
A free dictionary that anyone can read. It shows each Arabic word with its vowel marks, its root and its plural.
We checked the spelling of every new word here. We also used it to check most roots and plurals.
The Quranic Arabic Corpus
Made at the University of Leeds by Kais Dukes. It lists every word in the Quran with its root and its vowel marks.
We used it to check roots and vowels, most of all for words that Wiktionary does not give a root for. We also checked our newest words against it. When the two sources did not agree on a root, we looked closer, and we left the word out if we could not be sure.
Lane's Lexicon
A large dictionary of classical Arabic, written by Edward William Lane in the 1800s. It lists each word under its root.
When Wiktionary and the Quranic Arabic Corpus did not name a word's root, we looked for it here. If Lane's did not have the word either, we left the word out.
Text provided by Perseus Digital Library, with funding from The U.S. Department of Education and The Max Planck Society.
Arabic news: the Leipzig Corpora Collection
A large set of real sentences, made at Leipzig University in Germany. We used 300,000 sentences from Arabic news in 2020.
It shows how often each word is used in writing, so we know which words to show you first.
Film and TV: the OpenSubtitles word list
A list of Arabic words counted from film and TV subtitles, made by Hermit Dave.
It shows which words people use when they talk, not just the words in the news.
Two word books
In October 2026 we added thousands of new words. Two books helped us choose them:
- Collins Arabic 3000 Words and Phrases (HarperCollins, 2019). Everyday words, like the ones for your home, your food and your body.
- Mastering Arabic Vocabulary by Nadia R. Sirhan (Routledge, 2018). Words for the news, work, study, faith and feelings, listed by root.
The books told us which words to teach. They were not where we checked a word. We checked every word in Wiktionary, and we compared its root with the Quranic Arabic Corpus and with Nadia Sirhan's book. We did not copy anything from either book.
Arabic dictionaries
Our first words were written from three well-known Arabic dictionaries:
- معجم اللغة العربية المعاصرة, the Dictionary of Contemporary Arabic, by Ahmed Mukhtar Omar (2008)
- المعجم الوسيط, Al-Mu'jam al-Wasit, by the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo
- لسان العرب, Lisan al-Arab, by Ibn Manzur
What we write
We write the meanings and the example sentences ourselves, in simple English and Arabic. We do not copy them from these sources.
A few examples are famous Arabic sayings. The app tells you when one is.
Found a mistake?
Please tell us. Email thecreativejnd@gmail.com with the word and what is wrong, and we will fix it.