نُكَتَةٌ

Full Definition

نُكَتَةٌ A point; a dot; a speck; a minute spot; i. q. نُقْطَةٌ: pl. نُكَتٌ, agreeably with analogy, and نِكَاتٌ, deviating from analogy, and, accord. to some, نُكَاتٌ, in which the ا is said to be added لِلْإِشْبَاعِ, or to render the sound of the fet-hah full, like رُخَالٌ the last of these pls. has been heard [from the classical Arabs]; or it is vulgar.
2 نُكْتَةٌ [A small spot, or mark,] resembling dirt upon a mirror: نُكْتَةٌ سَوْدَاءُ A small [black] mark, like a spot, or dot, resembling dirt upon a mirror or a sword or the like
3 نُكْتَةٌ [A spot in the eye;] what resembles a وَقْرَة in the eye.
4 [ نَكْتٌ seems to be a quasi-pl. of نُكْتَةٌ, like as نَقْطٌ is said to be of نُقْطَةٌ, and to signify Any small spots, or specks, in a thing, differing therefrom in colour. Such I suppose to be meant by the words in the L, كلّ نَقْطٍ فى شىء خالف لونه نَكْتٌ.]

def.2 نُكْتَةٌ A nice, subtile, subtilely excogitated, quaint, facetious, or witty, saying, expression, or allusion, (لَطِيفَة) that makes an impression upon the heart; from النَّكْتُ [the striking the ground with a stick &c., so as to make a mark, or marks, upon it with its extremity]: also, a question educed by reflection, [بِالتَّفَكُّرِ, as the passage here translated is given in the Kull, p. 362, but in the TA بالنقل, which is an evident mistake, as might be shown by many authorities,] which makes an impression upon the heart, on hearing or considering which one generally makes marks upon the ground with the finger or the like: a nice, or subtile, saying, expression, or allusion, that requires one to reflect, and [induces one] to make marks upon the ground with a stick or the like: [a nice, subtile, abstruse, or mystical, point, or allusion: the point of a saying or sentence, especially one that is difficult to be understood: a conceit expressed in words difficult to be understood: a quaint conceit: a point of wit: a facetious saying or allusion: pl., generally, نُكَتٌ].
2 جَاءَ بِنُكْتَهٍ [He uttered a nice, or subtile, saying, expression, or allusion, &c.].

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