حتى

العربية · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

حتى

Where it comes from

* Traditionally, Arabic grammarians link it to the root ح ت ت (ḥ t t) in the senses of "to scrape or rub off", "to remove or destroy", "to end something", "to drive back or repel"; hence the meaning of an end-limit, the ending barrier or the point that holds back. Such a derivation would be highly irregular.

* Some classical dialects attest the word as عَتَّى (ʕattā), which is closer to the usual Semitic form found in Ugaritic 𐎓𐎄 (ʿd), Hebrew עַד (ʿaḏ), Aramaic עַד (ʿaḏ), and Akkadian 𒀀𒁲 (adi). If this is related, it could be connected with the root ع ت ي (ʕ t y), meaning "to be excessive", "to push the limits or be at the threshold", "to be extremely old or at the extreme end of life".

* Al-Jallad proposes an etymology from حَدّ (ḥadd, “limit”) + a conjunction *tay, as seen in مَتَى (matā, “when”, literally “what + *tay”) and North Levantine Arabic تَـ (ta-).

preposition حَتَّى · ḥattā

until, as far as, to the point of, even up to أَكَلْتُ ٱلسَّمَكَةَ حَتَّى رَأْسِهَا

conjunction حَتَّى · ḥattā

until
Similar: إِلَى أَنْ
in order to, so that
Similar: كَيْ, لِ, لِأَنْ, لِكَيْ, مِنْ أَجْلِ أَنْ, لِأَجْلِ أَنْ
even خَرَجَ النَّاسُ حَتَّى ٱلْأَطْفَالُ.

adverb حَتَّى · ḥattā

even, even this, including, even if
finally, until finally
rare unless, only if

In English

down from one end to another
even implying extreme example
till until
until up to the time of
in order to as a means of achieving the specified aim
so that in order to

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"حتى." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%89. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

حتى. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%89

Chicago

"حتى." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%89.

BibTeX

@misc{micwyn_2026,
  title = {حتى},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%89},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}