تَنِس
tanismasculine
Tennis in Arabic is expressed as تَنِس (tanis), تِنِس or كُرَةُ المَضْرِب.
Meaning: sport played by two or four players with strung racquets (noun)
Ways to say it
| Arabic | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| تَنِس | tanis | masculine |
| تِنِس | tinis | masculine |
| كُرَةُ المَضْرِب | kuratu l-maḍrib | feminine |
The word refers to the sport played by two or four players using strung racquets.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase كُرَةُ المَضْرِب literally means 'racket ball'.
Which one should you use?
The transliterated form تَنِس is used to refer to the sport itself, while the descriptive phrase كُرَةُ المَضْرِب is a more formal or traditional way to refer to the game.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Egyptian Arabic, tennis is commonly referred to as kurat el-tanis.
How does it change in a sentence?
The transliterated form تَنِس is treated as a masculine noun, whereas the phrase كُرَةُ المَضْرِب is a feminine noun phrase.
How do you pronounce it?
tanis
Did you know?
- The root of the word المَضْرِب comes from the Arabic verb ضَرَبَ, which means 'to hit', 'to strike' or even 'to multiply' in mathematics.
- While تَنِس is a loanword, the formal term كُرَةُ المَضْرِب shares its second word, المَضْرِب, with the Arabic word for a hammer or a mallet.
- In some regions, the word مَضْرِب used in the formal phrase for tennis is the exact same word used for a 'bat' in baseball or cricket.
Example sentences for Arabic are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “tennis” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
