'Hadid': Arabic for iron embodies resilience - but also cruelty

The Arabic word for iron is hadid

The Arabic word for iron manages to retain all the dense, sturdy and sonorous properties of the metal – both phonetically and semantically.

Hadid is Arabic for iron. The word has been made an international one, courtesy of a certain pair of famous siblings and a prolific architect. But apart from being a family name, the word resonates on a metaphorical level and can denote the resolute, cruel and formidable.

Hadaed, ahdaa and hidad are plurals of hadid.

Haddad is a blacksmith and is also a common last name in the Levant. Sada al hadid is when iron rusts, due to conditions including humidity (rutuba).

When a person is stubborn, you could say aslab min al hadid, which literally translates to coarser than iron. Someone cruel or unfeeling could be said to have an iron heart – qalbuhu hadid.

Haaraba bil hadid wal nar is when someone fights with tenacity and weaponry. A firm disciplinarian may be said to have an iron hand, or yadun min al hadid. Daraba fi al hadid al bared is to strike a cold piece of iron, or in less symbolic terms, a wasted effort.

The 57th chapter of the Quran is called Al Hadid, which has 29 verses. It is part of the Al Musabbihat suras as it begins with the glorification of God.

Wrought iron is hadid mutawe. Cast iron is hadid alzahar. Iron ore is kham al hadid. A railway is sikkat alhadid. Ahma al hadid is to heat iron.

Al hadid bil hadid is a similar proverb to iron sharpens iron, meaning two people can change each other through interaction. Baida min al hadid, literally iron egg, usually refers to the medieval pointed helmets that soldiers would wear. Al sitara al hadidiyya is the iron curtain. Al qubba al hadidiyya is the iron dome.

Naqs min al hadid is said when a person has low iron in their blood, for which, they could take huboob hadid or iron pills.

Finally, for a saying that likens rusted iron to a docile mind.

Yasdaa al hadid iza lam yustakhdam, wa haza ma yahdoth lil aql iza la yufakir, which means iron rusts if it is not used, and that is what happens to the mind if it does not think.