This paper is aimed at discussing the ways in which the suffix -at functions in nouns in Modern Standard Arabic in creating derivative forms as well as (much less frequently) inflectional forms. Descriptions of the formal aspects of these transformations are accompanied by descriptions of new meanings obtained by them.

The existing studies (I quote them later in this paper) focus mainly on the category of gender and the suffix -at is discussed as one of the feminine morphemes. Some word formation functions of the category of gender or the suffix -at are also listed there, but without any detailed discussion of semantic transformations, hence the topic of this article.

Examples of analyzed lexemes come from the cited studies, from Hans Wehr’s Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic and the online dictionary Al-maany.com.

In Afro-Asiatic languages, the consonantal morpheme t has been the marker of feminine grammatical gender since ancient times. It can stand alone or it can be a part of the suffix -at. In Arabic, it appears primarily as a component of the suffix -at. Only in very few words does t appear alone, for example in بِنْتٌ bint “girl” or أُخْتٌ ʾuḫt “sister.” The latter is currently not productive and even gives way to the forms with the suffix -at, e.g. بِنْتٌ bint is replaced by ابِنْةَ ibna (with the same meaning). Thus, the suffix -at is not the only one, but it is the most common morpheme to indicate grammatical feminine gender. On the other hand, in inflection the suffix -at appears in some plural forms of nouns, but only to a very limited extent.

The suffix -at occurs in nominal parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals. This paper is limited to nouns.

Lexemes with the suffix -at (both feminine and plural) are triptotes, that is, there are three separate markers for three cases (these are: for nominative – u vowel, for genitive – i vowel, and for accusative – a vowel), followed by the marker of indefiniteness n (so-called nunation), when they are indefinite.