Quranic root
شطر
sh · ṭ · r
The root has two principal orientations: division into a half or portion, and distance or facing toward a side or direction.
The division branch yields meanings of halving, sharing, partial portions, and paired halves. The distance-and-facing branch yields remoteness, estrangement, and the directional use of شَطْرٌ for the side or direction toward which one turns.
- Maqāyīs · row 2639
- Mufradāt · row 766
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
شَطْرٌ
shaṭrun
- Part of speech
- Noun · directional use
- 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.
The direction, side, or quarter toward which one turns or aims.
In the supplied Quran occurrences, it appears in the construction of turning the face toward the Sacred Mosque, including شَطْرَهُ, “toward/in its direction.”
- Lane · entry 38545
- Mufradāt · row 766
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:144word 12
“towards the direction”
Quran 2:144word 20
“(in) its direction”
Quran 2:149word 6
“(in the) direction”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:144شَطْرَtowards the direction
- 2:144شَطْرَهُۥ ۗ(in) its direction
- 2:149شَطْرَ(in the) direction
- 2:150شَطْرَ(in the) direction
- 2:150شَطْرَهُۥ(in) its direction
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 26 Classical meanings
شَطَرَ
To halve or divide something into two halves.
A transitive Form I verb; its verbal noun is شَطْرٌ.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَرَ
To milk one half of an animal’s teats and leave the other half unmilked.
Used of a she-camel, ewe, or goat; the relevant half may consist of a pair of teats or, for a smaller animal, one teat.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَرَ / شَطُرَ
Of a ewe or goat, to have one teat dried up or one teat longer than the other.
An intransitive animal-related use describing unequal or impaired teats.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَرَ بَصَرُهُ
To divide one’s gaze between two persons or objects.
The construction describes looking toward one person and another at the same time.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَرَ شَطْرَهُ
To repair or betake oneself in the direction of someone or something.
A verbal directional construction distinct from the noun شَطْرٌ used as a direction or side.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَرَتِ الدَّارُ
Of a house or abode, to be distant or remote.
Used predicatively of a dwelling or place.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَرَ عَلَى أَهْلِهِ / شَطَرَ عَنْهُمْ
To withdraw far from one’s family, break off from them in anger, or disagree with them through troublesome or wicked conduct.
The construction is used of separation or hostile estrangement from one’s family.
- Lane · entry 38541
شَطَّرَ
To bind two of an animal’s teats, leaving the other two unbound.
Used of a she-camel; the binding is done with a صِرَار.
- Lane · entry 38542
شَاطَرَ
To divide property equally with another, retaining one half and giving the other half.
A reciprocal Form III sharing construction.
- Lane · entry 38543
شَاطَرَ
To leave one teat for a lamb or kid after milking the other and binding it.
A livestock-management use involving the mother’s milk.
- Lane · entry 38543
شَطْرٌ
Half of a thing; by related extension, half of a measure or verse.
The noun is used for a literal half, including half a measured quantity and, in prosody, half a verse.
- Lane · entry 38545
- Lane · entry 38552
شَطْرٌ
A part, portion, or some amount of a thing.
An extended or nonliteral use, including a portion of an action or quantity rather than exactly one half.
- Lane · entry 38545
شَطْرٌ
Either pair of a she-camel’s four teats, or either teat of a ewe or she-goat.
The term names a corresponding half or pair within the animal’s milk-producing organs.
- Lane · entry 38545
شَطْرٌ
In the idiom حَلَبَ الدَّهْرَ أَشْطُرَهُ, to have experienced the varied conditions of fortune, both hardship and prosperity.
A figurative idiom based on milking the different pairs of an animal’s teats.
- Lane · entry 38545
شَطْرٌ
Distance or remoteness.
A nominal meaning distinct from the directional sense and from the verb meaning to travel toward a direction.
- Lane · entry 38545
شِطْرَةٌ
A condition in which someone’s offspring are half male and half female.
Used of a person’s offspring as a group.
- Lane · entry 38547
شَطْرَانُ
Half full, said of a bowl or other vessel.
The adjective has feminine شَطْرَى.
- Lane · entry 38548
شَطُورٌ
Uneven or asymmetrical: an animal with unequal or dried teats, or a garment whose two breadth-ends are unequal.
Applied to the explicitly attested animal and garment cases; the common feature is imbalance between corresponding sides or parts.
- Lane · entry 38549
شَطِيرٌ
Distant or remote.
Applied to a town, country, abode, tribe, tract, or a far-reaching intention or aim.
- Lane · entry 38550
شَطِيرٌ
A stranger, or one who is alone or solitary.
The meaning is associated with remoteness from one’s people.
- Lane · entry 38550
شَاطِرٌ
A person who breaks away from family, disagrees with them, or is morally wayward, wicked, mischievous, or deceitful.
The lexical range includes one who takes a wrong course and one who troubles or exhausts his family by bad conduct.
- Lane · entry 38551
شَاطِرٌ
One who outstrips others or advances with exceptional speed.
The use may describe a swift traveler; in a mystical application it describes one quick to attain nearness to God.
- Lane · entry 38551
شَاطِرٌ
A clever, cunning person; in a later usage, a sharper or clever thief.
This is an attested later or current extension of the headword’s lexical range.
- Lane · entry 38551
مَشْطُورٌ
Halved or having half removed.
In prosody, applied to a verse from which three of its six feet are missing.
- Lane · entry 38552
مَشْطُورٌ
Bread covered with the condiment called كَامَخ.
A specialized nominal use distinct from the participial meaning “halved.”
- Lane · entry 38552
مُشَاطِرٌ
Neighboring or having a house adjoining another’s.
Used of persons whose houses adjoin one another.
- Lane · entry 38553
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form is the normalized noun citation شَطْرٌ, while the supplied Quran occurrences are its directional accusative forms such as شَطْرَ and شَطْرَهُ. The classical half and portion meanings are therefore kept separate from the Quran-attested directional sense.