لكن

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لكن^¹

/laː.kin.na/

Where it comes from

Uncertain. Bravmann proposes an origin in إِلَّا كَانَ (ʔillā kāna, “except that [it/he] were”), but does not provide a convincing explanation for the contraction of the ā or for the suspicious similarity to أَنْ (ʔan) and أَنَّ (ʔanna) in the alternation of the ending.

conjunction لٰكِنَّ · lākinna · لٰكِنَّنِي · لٰكِنَّنَا

but, however

لكن^²

/laː.kin/

conjunction لٰكِنْ · lākin

but, however
but, rather لَمْ يُسَافِرِ الطُّلَابُ لٰكِنْ وَكِيلُهُمْ
Similar: بَلْ
but not, after an affirmative.

لكن^³

noun لَكَن · lakan · لُكُون · أَلْكَان · اللَّكَن

alternative alternative form of لَقَن (laqan, “basin, bowl”)

In English

but although
yours possessive pronoun, plural
nevertheless in spite of what preceded

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Cite this

MLA

"لكن." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%84%D9%83%D9%86. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

لكن. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%84%D9%83%D9%86

Chicago

"لكن." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%84%D9%83%D9%86.

BibTeX

@misc{micwyn_2026,
  title = {لكن},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%84%D9%83%D9%86},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}

لكن