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alféizar

windowsill; the bottom of a window opening, where you can leanparte baja del hueco de una ventana, donde se apoya uno

Comes from Arabic

الحَيِّز

al-ḥayyiz

“the space, the opening”«el espacio, el hueco»

Arabic today says

عَتَبَة النَّافِذَة

ʿatabat an-nāfidha

Root

ح ي ز

ḥ-y-z

The article

Spanish kept the Arabic article al- glued to the word.

The story

Arabic ḥ became f in Spanish (as in alfombra). The origin in ḥayyiz "space" is the accepted one, though the final -r is not fully explained.La ḥ árabe dio f en castellano (como en alfombra). El origen en ḥayyiz «espacio» es el aceptado, aunque la -r final no se explica del todo.

In a sentence

Dejó la maceta en el alféizar.

She left the flowerpot on the windowsill.

وَضَعَ أَصِيصَ الزَّرْعِ عَلَى عَتَبَةِ النَّافِذَة.