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Quranic root

شقق

sh · q · q

The root centers on cleaving or producing an opening, with extensions to splitting into parts, occupying different sides, distance and hardship, and separation or opposition.

The basic image of an object cleaved or divided yields meanings for a fissure, half or side, a distant tract reached with difficulty, and figurative division or adversarial separation.

  • Maqāyīs · row 2668
9
Quran-attested forms
10
Quran senses
28
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.

شَقَّ

shaqqa

Part of speech
Verb · Form I
Form
I
Quran occurrences
2 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.

  1. to cleave, split, or cut something open

    Transitive Form I usage; the object may be divided into parts or opened without complete separation.

    • Lane · entry 38896
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 80:26word 2

    We cleaved

  2. to make difficult, burden, or distress

    Used with عَلَى to describe an affair or action as difficult for someone, or to impose a burdensome condition.

    • Lane · entry 38896
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 28:27word 22

    make it difficult

شَاقَّ

shāqqa

Part of speech
Verb · Form III
Form
III
Quran occurrences
7 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.

  1. to oppose or act adversely toward someone; to take an opposing side

    A reciprocal or adversarial construction: each party is situated in a side opposed to the other, often with a person, God, or the Messenger as the object of opposition.

    • Lane · entry 38898
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 8:13word 3

    opposed

    Quran 4:115word 2

    opposes

تَشَقَّقَ

tashaqqaqa

Part of speech
Verb · Form V
Form
V
Quran occurrences
3 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.

  1. to split apart or open into fissures

    The Form V development describes an object becoming cleft, often with an extended or repeated splitting.

    • Lane · entry 38900
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 25:25word 2

    will split open

    Quran 2:74word 22

    split

اِنْشَقَّ

āinshaqqa

Part of speech
Verb · Form VII
Form
VII
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.

  1. to become split, cleft, or opened apart

    In Quranic usage, the subject is a heavenly or cosmic body that becomes divided or opened, including the moon and sky.

    • Lane · entry 38902
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 54:1word 3

    and has split

    Quran 69:16word 1

    And will split

شَقّ

shaqq

Part of speech
Verbal noun
Quran occurrences
1 occurrence

Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.

  1. cleaving or splitting

    A verbal noun denoting the act of cleaving or splitting, as in the preparation of the earth.

    • Lane · entry 38896
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 80:26word 4

    splitting

شِقَاق

shiqāq

Part of speech
Verbal noun
Quran occurrences
7 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.

  1. dissension, opposition, or schism

    The state of being in a side opposed to another; used for conflict, disagreement, or adversarial separation between parties.

    • Lane · entry 38898
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:137word 14

    dissension

    Quran 22:53word 15

    schism

شِقّ

shiqq

Part of speech
Noun
Quran occurrences
1 occurrence

Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.

  1. hardship, difficulty, or distress

    Used in the expression بِشِقِّ الأَنْفُسِ for the severe effort or distress required to reach a destination.

    • Lane · entry 38907
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 16:7word 9

    with great trouble

شُقَّة

shuqqah

Part of speech
Noun
Quran occurrences
1 occurrence

Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.

  1. a distant tract or journey, especially one difficult to reach

    Refers to the distance, route, or destination whose remoteness makes travel burdensome.

    • Lane · entry 38908
    • Mufradāt · row 778
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 9:42word 11

    the distance

أَشَقّ

ʾashaqq

Part of speech
Adjective
Quran occurrences
1 occurrence

Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.

  1. harder or more difficult

    Comparative adjective describing a greater degree of difficulty or severity.

    • Lane · entry 38922
    • Lane · entry 38896
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 13:34word 8

    (is) harder

Occurrences in the Quran

Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.

  • 2:74يَشَّقَّقُsplit
  • 2:137شِقَاقٍۢ ۖdissension
  • 2:176شِقَاقٍۭschism
  • 4:35شِقَاقَa dissension
  • 4:115يُشَاقِقِopposes
View all 28 occurrences

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 52 Classical meanings
  • شَقَّ

    to break communal unity or a compact of allegiance; to cause disunion and dissension

    Figurative use in expressions involving splitting the staff of a community or obedience.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ

    to divide something into equal portions

    Used of dividing an object lengthwise so that the resulting parts are equal.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ

    to break through and emerge

    Said of a tooth or plant appearing as it cleaves the gum or ground.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ

    for dawn to rise or appear

    Figurative intransitive use, as though dawn cleaves its place of rising.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ

    for lightning to cleave or spread through the clouds

    Describes lightning extending upward or spreading broadly through the sky.

    • Lane · entry 38896
    • Lane · entry 38902
  • شَقَّ

    to pass along a way or cross a river

    Figurative uses based on cutting or furrowing a path; crossing a river is described as swimming across it.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ

    to open a passage or channel for water to flow

    Used of making a vent, opening, or channel through which water emerges.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ

    to discompose, derange, or disorder an affair

    Figurative use of an affair or state of affairs becoming incongruous or disorganized.

    • Lane · entry 38896
    • Lane · entry 38902
  • شَقَّ

    to cut off or articulate speech

    The lexical report allows divergent explanations for شَقَّ الكلامَ, including breaking off speech or uttering it distinctly.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّ بَصَرُ المَيِّتِ

    for the eyes of a dying person to become fixedly open

    A specialized intransitive expression for the fixed, raised, or unreturning gaze associated with approaching death.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شُقَّ

    to develop the cracking disease called شُقَاق

    Said of a solid hoof or pastern affected by cracks.

    • Lane · entry 38896
  • شَقَّقَ

    to utter or pronounce speech with cultivated fluency

    Form II usage can imply repeated effort to produce speech in the best manner.

    • Lane · entry 38897
  • أَشَقَّ النَّخْلُ

    for palm trees to put forth their emerging shoots

    A specialized botanical expression referring to the شَوَاقّ of the palm.

    • Lane · entry 38899
  • تَشَقَّقَ

    for a horse to become lean and light of flesh

    Figurative or specialized use said of a horse that is slender and lean.

    • Lane · entry 38900
  • تَشَاقَّا

    for two adversaries to wrangle, quarrel, or contend

    Reciprocal Form VI use in a dispute, with the parties taking opposite directions in contention.

    • Lane · entry 38901
  • اِنْشَقَّ

    to seem to split from intense anger

    Figurative expression describing an angry person's interior as filled to the point of splitting.

    • Lane · entry 38902
  • اِشْتَقَّ

    to take one half of a thing

    The lexical noun اِشْتِقَاقٌ is explained here through taking the شِقّ, or half, of an object.

    • Lane · entry 38903
  • اِشْتِقَاقٌ

    derivation of one word or name from another

    Technical linguistic usage includes smaller, greater, and greater phonetic derivation according to the relation of letters, order, meaning, or articulation.

    • Lane · entry 38903
  • اِشْتِقَاقٌ

    constructing or founding something from newly originated material

    A specialized figurative sense equated with devising or originating a construction.

    • Lane · entry 38903
  • اِشْتَقَّ

    to turn to the right and left in speech, dispute, or litigation

    Describes digressive argument or speech that does not follow a direct course.

    • Lane · entry 38903
  • اِشْتَقَّ

    for a road to branch or lead into the desert

    A figurative use of a road diverging into open country.

    • Lane · entry 38903
  • اِسْتَشَقَّ بِالجُوَالِقِ

    to turn a sack onto one side in order to pass through a door

    A specialized construction describing movement through a narrow opening while using one side of the sack.

    • Lane · entry 38904
  • شَقْشَقَ

    to emit a loud bray or cry

    Said of a stallion camel braying through its faucial bag and, by extension, of a sparrow making a loud cry.

    • Lane · entry 38905
  • شَقّ

    an opening, fissure, cleft, crack, slit, or rent

    A noun for an interstice or split in wood, walls, glass, earth, mountains, or similar material; it may also denote the resulting incision or furrow.

    • Lane · entry 38906
    • Lane · entry 38925
  • شَقّ

    the cleft or gap between the labia

    An anatomical specialization referring to the rima vulvae.

    • Lane · entry 38906
  • شِقّ

    a half or lateral portion of a thing

    May mean one of two equal halves, especially when an object has been divided lengthwise; it can also denote a lateral half or side.

    • Lane · entry 38907
  • شِقّ

    a type of jinn imagined in the form of half a human being

    A specialized folkloric usage for a half-formed demonic being.

    • Lane · entry 38907
  • شِقّ

    the side or lateral part of a body, object, or mountain

    Used for a bodily side, one side of a bearer or animal, a lateral part of an object, or a collateral branch of a kin group.

    • Lane · entry 38907
  • شِقّ

    a counterpart, likeness, or close equal

    Figurative use for someone or something regarded as a counterpart or as though cleft from the other because of resemblance.

    • Lane · entry 38907
  • شِقّ

    a full brother

    A relational extension from the notion of two corresponding halves, referring to a brother by both father and mother.

    • Lane · entry 38907
  • شُقَّة

    a half or oblong piece of a garment or leather container

    Used for one of the pieces forming a garment and also for a piece of a water-skin; the word may extend to the completed garment.

    • Lane · entry 38908
  • شُقَّة

    a tract, portion, or region of Hell

    A specialized figurative use for a section or portion of Hell.

    • Lane · entry 38908
  • شِقَّة

    a splinter or piece split lengthwise from wood, a plank, garment, or other material

    Refers to a piece separated by splitting, including a half or strip cut from a larger object.

    • Lane · entry 38909
  • أَشَقّ

    of a horse, broad in specified parts, tall or long, or inclined to one side while running

    The epithet is also applied comparatively to a man; the reported physical applications include breadth between the hind legs or nostrils and veering from side to side in running.

    • Lane · entry 38910
    • Lane · entry 38924
  • شَقَقَة

    enemies

    A plural lexical item reported without a securely supplied singular form.

    • Lane · entry 38911
  • شُقَاق

    cracking in several places or a disease producing cracks in skin, hoofs, or pasterns

    A specialized pathological term used of animals' pasterns and hoofs and, in another report, of cracked human skin.

    • Lane · entry 38912
  • شَقِيق

    a calf, bull, or man that has become firm and strong

    A specialized or figurative application to a mature, vigorous male animal or, by comparison, a man.

    • Lane · entry 38913
  • شَقُوقَة

    a small dusky gray bird

    A specialized bird name, also treated as a diminutive-related form in the lexical report.

    • Lane · entry 38914
  • شَقِيقَة

    an intervening or rugged tract between elongated sand formations

    A sandy or rocky tract between dunes or mountain ranges, often producing herbage.

    • Lane · entry 38915
  • شَقِيقَة

    a slice cut from a melon or similar object

    A specialized use for a piece cut off from a larger fruit or object.

    • Lane · entry 38915
  • شَقِيقَة

    a broad, heavy rain with large drops

    The rain is described as cleaving the clouds; its plural can refer to clouds opened by copious rain.

    • Lane · entry 38915
  • شَقِيقَةُ بَرْق

    a lightning flash spread broadly across the horizon or clouds

    A specialized meteorological expression for lightning filling the breadth of the sky.

    • Lane · entry 38915
    • Lane · entry 38913
  • شَقِيقَة

    a headache or pain affecting one half of the head or face

    A medical term for hemicrania or a related pain in the front and sides of the head.

    • Lane · entry 38915
  • شَقَائِقُ النُّعْمَان

    the red anemone or a blood-colored flower

    A plant name whose explanations connect its red color with lightning or blood; the expression can function as singular or plural.

    • Lane · entry 38915
  • شَقِّيّ

    a horse difficult for its rider to control

    A specialized adjective for a horse whose management or mastery is troublesome.

    • Lane · entry 38918
  • شِقِّيَّة

    a sexual position performed with the woman lying on her side

    A specialized term for a particular mode of intercourse.

    • Lane · entry 38919
  • شِقْشِقَة

    the inflatable faucial bag or throat membrane of a stallion camel

    The camel protrudes and inflates it while braying; the term is especially associated with the Arabian camel.

    • Lane · entry 38920
  • شِقْشِقَة

    sonorous, fluent, and forceful speech or eloquence

    A figurative extension from the camel's faucial bag, applied to an eloquent orator or preacher and sometimes to harangues regarded as deceptive.

    • Lane · entry 38920
  • الخُطْبَةُ الشِّقْشِقِيَّة

    the oration known as al-Khuṭbah al-Shiqshiqiyyah

    A conventional name explained by an image of speech that briefly brayed forth and then became still.

    • Lane · entry 38921
  • شَاقّ

    difficult, hard, distressing, or fatiguing

    An adjective for an affair, event, or journey that imposes hardship.

    • Lane · entry 38922
  • شَافَّة

    the young spadix of a palm tree after it cleaves its envelope

    A specialized botanical term for a spadix about a span long; its plural is شَوَاقّ.

    • Lane · entry 38923
  • مَشَقّ العَيْن

    the slit or opening of the eye

    A specialized anatomical expression for the eye opening.

    • Lane · entry 38925

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • The Lane match uses contraction of the geminate root شقق to the Lane root شق; the Quranic form identity and counts remain those supplied by QAC.

  • The Quranic adjective أَشَقّ is presented with its supported comparative difficulty sense; Lane also records separate physical applications of the same adjective for horses.

  • Two Lane units contain explicitly uncertain or possibly mistranscribed evidence and are retained as ambiguous rather than treated as established meanings.

Unassigned or ambiguous evidence

  • lane-unit:$qq:38904:g1:sub2 reports, without secure authority, a possible meaning 'emerged or became manifest' for استشقّ.

  • lane-unit:$qq:38907:g1:sub9 appears to question whether the cited lexical item is شِقّ or شَقّ.

  • lane-unit:$qq:38915:g1:main gives a fissure gloss attributed to Golius but states that the cited source does not explain it that way.