Elative (gradation)

In Semitic linguistics, the elative is a stage of gradation in Arabic that can be used both for a global maximum (see superlative) and for comparison (see comparative). The Arabic elative has a special inflection similar to that of color adjectives, though differing in certain details. To form an elative, the consonants of the adjective's root are placed in the context "aCCaC" in the masculine singular, "CuCCā" in the feminine singular, and most commonly "CuCaC" in the plural. So the adjective "kabīr" كبير "large, great" is changed to "akbar" أكبر (as in takbir) in the masculine singular elative, and to "kubrā" كبرى in the feminine singular elative. For the plural, "kubar" would be expected, but separate masculine plural "akābir" أكابر and feminine plural "kubrayāt" كبريات are found as irregular forms. In modern Arabic, the feminine and plural forms of the elative are rarely used, except when the elative word is prefixed with the definite article.