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فلن

Root entry · 5 derived lemmas

This root primarily deals with the concept of a placeholder name or pronoun used to refer to an unspecified person or thing. It also covers its use in vocative contexts and as a general term for an unspecified entity.

Derived headwords

فُلَانname
  1. 1.
    a pronoun for a named personboth

    a pronoun for a named person

فُلَانًاname
  1. 1.
    so-and-so (accusative)both

    The accusative form of 'فلان', used when it functions as a direct object or in other accusative cases.

يَا فُلَاname
  1. 1.
    O so-and-soclassical

    A vocative form of 'فلان', where the final 'n' is dropped, not for elision (tarxim) but for a specific grammatical usage.

الفُلَانname
  1. 1.
    the definite form of fulānboth

    the definite form of fulān

الفُلَانَةname
  1. 1.
    the definite form of fulānahboth

    the definite form of fulānah

Parallel reading

فلان كناية عن اسم سمي به المحدث عنه، خاص غالب.
Fulan is a pronoun for a name that the speaker refers to, specific and predominant.
ويقال في النداء: يافل فتحذف منه الألف والنون لغير ترخيم، ولو كان ترخيما لقالوا يا فلا.
And in the vocative, it is said: 'Yafal', where the alif and nun are dropped from it, not for elision (tarxim), for if it were elision, they would say 'Ya Fula'.
وربما جاء ذلك في غير النداء ضرورة.
And sometimes that (dropping of the nun) occurs in non-vocative contexts out of necessity.
في لجة أمسك فلانا عن فل
In the midst of the tumult, hold back so-and-so from so-and-so.
واللجة: كثرة الاصوات، ومعناه أمسك فلانا عن فلان.
And 'al-lajjah' means a multitude of sounds, and its meaning here is 'hold back so-and-so from so-and-so'.
ويقال في غير الناس: الفلان والفلانة، بالالف واللام.
And it is said for entities other than people: 'al-fulan' and 'al-fulanah', with the definite article.