Quranic root
شحح
sh · ḥ · ḥ
The root centers on withholding, especially withholding intensified by acquisitive desire or covetous attachment.
From this principle of guarded possession and eager withholding, the language extends to possessive contention, jealousy, courage as protective restraint, and persistent or vigorous application. It also yields descriptions of things that give little or resist yielding.
- Maqāyīs · row 2574
- Mufradāt · row 750
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
شُحّ
shuḥḥ
- Part of speech
- Noun · Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 5 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Habitual stinginess or avarice: withholding coupled with acquisitive desire.
Used as a noun for an entrenched disposition of withholding, and in related adjective usage for those characterized by it.
- Mufradāt · row 750
- Lane · entry 37956
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:128word 20
“(by) greed”
Quran 59:9word 27
“(from) stinginess”
Quran 64:16word 12
“(from the) greediness”
Grudgingly withholding wealth, spoils, benefit, or aid from others; being possessively reluctant to give or assist.
In أَشِحَّةً عَلَى الْخَيْرِ and أَشِحَّةً عَلَيْكُمْ, the plural adjective describes people who withhold material good or assistance from others.
- Mufradāt · row 750
- Lane · entry 37956
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:19word 1
“Miserly”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:128ٱلشُّحَّ ۚ(by) greed
- 33:19أَشِحَّةًMiserly
- 33:19أَشِحَّةًmiserly
- 59:9شُحَّ(from) stinginess
- 64:16شُحَّ(from the) greediness
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 16 Classical meanings
شَحَّ
To be or become niggardly, tenacious, stingy, penurious, or avaricious; to be covetous or greedily desirous.
It may be construed with بِـ for being niggardly of something and with عَلَى for being niggardly toward someone or, in some usages, of something. Some descriptions distinguish it from بخل by extending it to things generally and to wealth as well as beneficence.
- Lane · entry 37950
شَاحَّ
To act niggardly or tenaciously with another over something, or to be possessively tenacious of someone.
The verbal noun مُشَاحَّةٌ is also used for reciprocal withholding, including in the making of peace.
- Lane · entry 37951
تَشَاحَّ
To contend possessively or compete over an affair, each party fearing that it will become unattainable; to press one another in seeking water.
Used for reciprocal struggle over an object or undertaking, including two people vying for a matter or pressing toward water.
- Lane · entry 37952
شِحّة
A state of tenacious attachment or reluctance to relinquish one's condition.
In the expression أَوْصَى فِي صِحَّتِهِ وَشِحَّتِهِ, it denotes the state in which a person is tenacious of, or reluctant to leave, his condition.
- Lane · entry 37954
شِحاح / شحائح
Scant in yield or resistant to giving out: said of camels that yield little milk, wood that gives little or no fire, water that is small in quantity, and land that does not readily flow with water. Small watercourses are also described by this term when they are made to flow by only a skinful of water.
The land application is reported with opposite drainage descriptions: land requiring much rain to flow, and, in another usage, land flowing with very little rain.
- Lane · entry 37956
شَحْشَحٌ
Evil in disposition.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
Very jealous.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
Courageous.
This usage is explained as protective strength: one who guards what lies behind him.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
One who applies himself persistently and assiduously to a task; by extension, penetrating, sharp, vigorous, or effective in speech or travel.
Applied to an orator or preacher as eloquent, powerful, or skilful, and to a camel-driver who urges camels by singing. The expression for a forceful preacher is also explained through the camel's vigorous, impure roaring.
- Lane · entry 37957
- Mufradāt · row 750
شَحْشَحٌ
A raven or crow that croaks frequently.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
Light or agile, applied to an ass.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
Swift in flight, applied to a قَطَاة.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
Tall or long, and strong.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَحٌ
Wide, applied to a desert in which stopping places are far apart and there is no herbage.
- Lane · entry 37957
شَحْشَاحٌ
A woman resembling a man in strength, exertion, or energy.
This is a specialized application of the adjective to a woman characterized by unusually forceful strength or exertion.
- Lane · entry 37959
مُشَحْشَحٌ
Niggardly, tenacious, stingy, penurious, or avaricious; possessing little or no good.
- Lane · entry 37961
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The single Quran form group combines the noun شُحّ with related adjective/plural occurrences أَشِحَّةً; the headword is normalized to the noun while the public label preserves both parts of speech.
The land application of شِحاح is reported with opposite drainage behaviors; both are retained as reported Classical usages.