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q r ṭ

24 lemmas · 7 languages
soundAll three consonants are regular
Themes:bite·3scissors·3gnaw·2nibble·2cut·2
POS shape:noun·12verb·5name·5adj·2

This root is attested across 7 Semitic languages in our index. Each section below shows representative lemmas; attested means a Wiktionary editor explicitly tagged the root, inferredmeans we derived it mechanically from the word's consonantal skeleton.

Etymology treehow this root diverged from Proto-Semitic through the family

*q-r-ṭProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Canaanite
Hebrewקַרְטֶלק ר ט— cartel (group of businesses or nations that collude to fix prices)
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicקרטק ר ט— to gnaw, to nibble, to bite
Syriacܩܪܘܛܐܩ ܪ ܛ— scissors
Assyrian NAܩܵܪܹܛܩ ܪ ܛ— to gnaw, bite, nibble (also of hard breaking substances like fingernails, whole chewable seeds, cartilage, etc.)
Arabic
Arabicقَرْطَاجق ر ط— Carthage
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezቀሬጢንቀ ረ ጠ— Crete
Amharicቀረጠቀ ረ ጠ— To tax.

Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.

Imperial Aramaic

arc · 1 lemma

Classical Syriac

syc · 2 lemmas
  • qārōṭānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    scissors
    From the root ܩ ܪ ܛ, related to gnawing.
  • qarṭālānouninferredWiktionary ↗
    basket (especially one used for fruit)
    From Hittite 𒄑𒆳𒋫𒀀𒀠 (kurtal-, kartal-), from which also Hebrew אֲגַרְטָל (ʾagartal).

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

aii · 6 lemmas
  • qārēṭverbattestedWiktionary ↗
    to gnaw, bite, nibble (also of hard breaking substances like fingernails, whole chewable seeds, cartilage, etc.)
    From Aramaic קְרַט (qəraṭ); cognate to Arabic قَرَطَ (qaraṭa).
    ▸ 1 derivation
  • maqriṭverbattestedWiktionary ↗
    to cut (with scissors)
    Causitive of ܩܵܪܹܛ (qārēṭ, “to gnaw, bite”)
  • qurṭānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    mouthful, bite (of food)
    Of the noun pattern 1u23ā, from the verb ܩܵܪܹܛ (qārēṭ, “to bite”).
  • maqrṭānānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    one who cuts with scissors
    Active noun and tool noun of ܡܲܩܪܸܛ (maqriṭ).
  • qarṭōnānouninferredWiktionary ↗
    cardboard
    Borrowed from French carton.
  • qarṭaysānouninferredWiktionary ↗
    sheet of paper, paper
    Learned borrowing from Classical Syriac ܩܪܛܝܣܐ, from Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρτης (khắrtēs, “sheet of paper”); also borrowed into Arabic قُرْطَاس (qurṭās) and Hebrew כַּרְטִיס (kartís). Doublet of ܟܲܪܛܵܐ (karṭā, “card”).
    ▸ 3 derivations

Hebrew

he · 8 lemmas
  • kartélnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    cartel (group of businesses or nations that collude to fix prices)
    Borrowed from German Kartell, from French cartel.
  • káratenouninferredWiktionary ↗
    karate
    Borrowed from Japanese 空手(からて) (karate).
  • kartónnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    cardboard, carton
    Possibly from Yiddish קאַרטאָן (karton) or Russian карто́н (kartón). Ultimately from French carton, from Italian cartone.
  • krítiadjinferredWiktionary ↗
    Critical: important, significant, urgent.
    From English critical.
  • eykaryótnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    eukaryote
  • kro'átyanameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Croatia (a country on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe)
  • kro'átitnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Croatian (a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Croats)
  • eykaryotiadjinferredWiktionary ↗
    eukaryotic

Arabic

ar · 3 lemmas
  • qarṭājnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Carthage
    From French Carthage.
  • qīrāṭnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    carat
    From Ancient Greek κεράτιον (kerátion, “carob”).
  • qarṭājanameinferredWiktionary ↗
    alternative form of قَرْطَاج (qarṭāj)

Ge'ez

gez · 1 lemma

Amharic

am · 3 lemmas

Related rootsshare 2 of 3 consonants with q-r-ṭ

Compare two languages side-by-side

arc ↔ sycarc ↔ aiiarc ↔ hearc ↔ ararc ↔ gez