Quranic root
شهب
sh · h · b
The root centers on whiteness appearing through or mixed with blackness, rather than pure white.
This contrast develops into terms for gray or hoary color, bright fire and shooting stars, and further Classical applications to altered vegetation, whitened weapons, barren or wintry conditions, and figurative sharpness.
- Maqāyīs · row 2712
- Lane · entry 39415
- Lane · entry 39418
- Lane · entry 39423
- 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.
شِهَاب
shihāb
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
A bright flame or firebrand of fire, including a torch or flaming fire.
Used for a conspicuously blazing flame or a firebrand; the plural form شُهُب is included under this headword.
- Lane · entry 39418
- Mufradāt · row 792
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:7word 13
“a torch”
A shooting or falling star, or a flaming celestial projectile, especially one sent after a devil.
A Quranic celestial-fire construction associated with pursuing devils and with an apparition in the sky; both شِهَاب and its plural شُهُب occur in this lexical branch.
- Lane · entry 39418
- Mufradāt · row 792
Selected Quran examples
Quran 15:18word 6
“a burning flame”
Quran 37:10word 6
“a burning flame”
Quran 72:8word 8
“and flaming fires”
Quran 72:9word 12
“a flaming fire”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 15:18شِهَابٌۭa burning flame
- 27:7بِشِهَابٍۢa torch
- 37:10شِهَابٌۭa burning flame
- 72:8وَشُهُبًۭاand flaming fires
- 72:9شِهَابًۭاa flaming fire
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 20 Classical meanings
شَهِبَ
To become gray: whiteness predominates over, or is interrupted by, blackness.
A color description formed from mixed whiteness rather than pure white.
- Lane · entry 39408
شَهَبَ
To alter another's color.
Said of heat or cold; cold may alter the color of trees or people.
- Lane · entry 39408
شَهَبَ
For a year of drought to destroy a people's livestock.
A conventional expression for the destructive effect of a barren year on property and cattle.
- Lane · entry 39408
أَشْهَبَ
Of a stallion or a man, to have offspring of the gray or mixed-white-and-black color.
The construction is explained with differing attributions concerning whether it is said of the stallion or of the owner of the horses.
- Lane · entry 39410
إِشْهَابَّ
Of seedproduce, to dry or become yellow while retaining some green, and to approach yielding.
Describes a crop or seedproduce that has dried and lightened but is not entirely devoid of green.
- Lane · entry 39412
إِشْهَابَّ
Of the lips, to become ashy in hue.
A color change specifically applied to the lips.
- Lane · entry 39412
شَهْبٌ
A mountain overspread with snow.
- Lane · entry 39413
شَهْبٌ
A boy or young man who is light or active in body and sharp-headed.
A description of bodily agility and quickness.
- Lane · entry 39413
شُهْبَة
A gray or hoary color in which whiteness is mixed with or interrupted by blackness.
In horses, the term covers a coat whose main hue is interrupted by hoariness or white hairs, whether the underlying color is bay, chestnut, or black.
- Lane · entry 39415
شَهَبَان
A plant resembling panic grass.
A plant name, also reported in the variant form شَبَهَان.
- Lane · entry 39416
شَهَاب
Milk mixed with much water.
It may refer to a mixture of about one-third milk and the remainder water; the name is connected with the resulting alteration of color.
- Lane · entry 39417
شُهُب
Shining or brightly shining stars; in one usage, the seven stars or planets.
A broader Classical plural usage distinct from the Quranic shooting-star construction.
- Lane · entry 39418
شِهَاب
A penetrating, sharp, or energetic person, especially in war; figuratively, a brave or hero of an army.
A figurative comparison with the force or brilliance of a shooting star.
- Lane · entry 39418
شِهَاب
The name of a certain devil.
Attested as a proper name in traditional usage.
- Lane · entry 39418
أَشْهَب
Gray or mixed white-and-black in color.
Applied to a male horse or mule and, in the feminine شَهْبَاء, to a female mule or goat and to a blaze containing hairs of a different color. The plural الأَشَاهِب was also used for a troop associated with comeliness or white faces.
- Lane · entry 39423
أَشْهَب
Light-colored or whitened through the reduction or contrast of blackness.
Applied to ambergris of excellent pale color, to an iron head or blade lightly filed so that some or all of its blackness is removed, and to a troop whose weapons appear bright or white.
- Lane · entry 39423
أَشْهَب
Barren, sterile, or wintry in a way associated with whiteness or bleakness.
Applied to land or a year lacking verdure, to a cold or frost-laden day or night, and to the three bright white nights of the lunar month.
- Lane · entry 39423
أَشْهَب
Hard or difficult, especially an affair or case that is disliked or beyond one's power to accomplish or endure.
A figurative adjective applied to an arduous matter.
- Lane · entry 39423
أَشْهَب
A lion.
- Lane · entry 39423
شَوْهَب
The hedgehog.
A lexical synonym of قُنْفُذ.
- Lane · entry 39422
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane's Quran references in the lexical discussion use historical citation notation; the modern verse locations shown here are taken from the supplied QAC occurrences, not reconstructed from Lane's bracketed references.