Quranic root
شري
sh · r · y
The root centers on reciprocal exchange—taking and giving in return—with related branches for equivalence, spreading vegetation, and heightened or agitated movement.
The exchange branch covers selling, buying, and treating one thing as the equivalent of another. A separate botanical branch names spreading plants and trees, while another semantic branch develops into agitation, intensity, persistence, and expansion.
- Maqāyīs · row 2623
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 25
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
شَرَى
sharā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
To sell: to give up a thing or oneself in exchange for a price or counterpart.
In the Quranic Form I occurrences, the verb is used for selling or surrendering something in an exchange, including oneself or one's worldly life; the exchange need not be a literal monetary sale.
- Lane · entry 38436
- Mufradāt · row 764
Selected Quran examples
اِشْتَرَى
āishtarā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- Quran occurrences
- 21 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.
To buy or acquire by giving a price or another thing in exchange; to enter into an ordinary purchase or barter.
The exchange may involve money and goods or one commodity for another; in a reciprocal transaction, each party may be viewed as buying what it receives.
- Lane · entry 38436
- Mufradāt · row 764
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:21word 3
“bought him”
Figuratively, to take or choose one thing in exchange for relinquishing another; hence to prefer or obtain a value at the expense of another.
This construction includes choosing error, worldly life, falsehood, or a small return instead of guidance, truth, divine signs, or covenant, as well as the figurative purchase of believers and their possessions in return for divine reward.
- Lane · entry 38436
- Mufradāt · row 764
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:16ٱشْتَرَوُا۟bought
- 2:41تَشْتَرُوا۟exchange
- 2:79لِيَشْتَرُوا۟to barter
- 2:86ٱشْتَرَوُا۟bought
- 2:90ٱشْتَرَوْا۟(for) which they have sold
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 51 Classical meanings
شَرَى
To advance before a group against an enemy and fight in its defense; also to go before a ruler to speak for a people.
Occurs in the idiom شَرَى بِنَفْسِهِ, with the person putting himself forward for others.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرَى
To mock, scoff at, laugh at, or ridicule someone.
A transitive colloquial or idiomatic use.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرَى
To anger or wrong someone, or to cause displeasure, grief, or vexation.
May describe an act that occasions harm or distress; also said of God in the cited expressions.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرَى
Of God, to smite someone with the skin eruption called شَرًى.
A specialized causative use referring to the eruption named شَرًى.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرَى
To spread flesh, a garment, cloth, or curd to dry.
The object is something laid out for drying.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرِيَ
Of lightning, to shine or gleam repeatedly and spread across the face of the clouds.
Describes successive or expansive flashes rather than a single isolated flash.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرِيَ
Of a camel's nose-rein, to be agitated or in a state of much commotion.
A specialized use for the movement of the nose-rein.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرِيَ
To become angry or flurried through anger.
Said of a person.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرِيَ
Of evil, mischief, an affair, or an event, to spread, become great, or become formidable.
The construction may describe expansion among people or increasing seriousness.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرِيَ
To persist or persevere intensely in an affair, error, corrupt conduct, pace, or running; to continue without slackening.
Of a horse, the verb can describe exceeding the usual bounds of its pace or straining its bridle; of an eye, it can describe tears flowing continuously.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَرِيَ
To break out with the bodily eruption called شَرًى.
May be said of a person or of the skin.
- Lane · entry 38436
شَارَى
To buy and sell mutually with another; to barter or exchange commodities with him.
A reciprocal Form III construction.
- Lane · entry 38438
شَارَى
To persist in contention, litigation, wrangling, or vehement dispute with another.
The construction may describe obstinate altercation or legal dispute.
- Lane · entry 38438
أَشْرَى
Of a camel, to speed or go quickly.
A Form IV use said of the animal's movement.
- Lane · entry 38439
أَشْرَى
To excite discord, strife, or animosity between people.
Used with a phrase indicating the people among whom discord is caused.
- Lane · entry 38439
أَشْرَى
Of a lamb, to have its wool cleave open or become separated.
A specialized use describing the state of the lamb's fleece.
- Lane · entry 38439
أَشْرَى
Of a plant, to creep or spread along the ground like a cucumber or melon plant.
Describes a plant's prostrate growth.
- Lane · entry 38439
أَشْرَى
To fill a watering-trough, bowl, or bowls prepared for guests.
A transitive Form IV use for filling a container.
- Lane · entry 38439
أَشْرَى
To make something incline or turn toward a direction.
May describe the eyes or gaze being drawn toward something, or a person turning toward it.
- Lane · entry 38439
أَشْرَى
To put a bridle in motion.
A specialized use with a bridle as the object.
- Lane · entry 38439
تَشَرَّى
To become scattered or dispersed.
Said especially of a company or group of people.
- Lane · entry 38440
تَشَرَّى
To become like the Shurāt in conduct or actions.
A specialized Form V comparison referring to the group called the Shurāt.
- Lane · entry 38440
تَشَارَيَا
To sue each other or bring each other before a judge.
A reciprocal legal construction, synonymous with mutual litigation.
- Lane · entry 38441
اِسْتَشْرَى
To persist or persevere in consideration or examination.
A Form X use describing sustained inspection or deliberation.
- Lane · entry 38443
اِسْتَشْرَى
To strive diligently and apply oneself carefully in religious practice.
The construction استشرى في دينه specifies the field of exertion.
- Lane · entry 38443
اِسْتَشْرَى
Of affairs or events, to become great or formidable among people.
Describes increasing seriousness or magnitude between or among people.
- Lane · entry 38443
اِشْرَوْرَى
To be or become in a state of commotion.
A Form XII intensive or expansive state description.
- Lane · entry 38444
شَرْىٌ
The colocynth, its plant, or its leaves.
A botanical noun, also used for the plant as a whole; it is associated with bitterness in the cited comparison.
- Lane · entry 38445
شَرْىٌ
Any plant that spreads, runs, or creeps along the ground, such as a melon or cucumber plant.
A broader botanical use than the specific colocynth sense.
- Lane · entry 38445
شَرْىٌ
A palm tree that grows from a date stone.
With the feminine form, it can name one such palm tree as an individual plant.
- Lane · entry 38445
شَرْىٌ
A kind of tree from which bows are made.
A botanical identification distinct from the colocynth plant.
- Lane · entry 38445
شَرًى
A road or tract of land; also an adjacent district or side, especially the named mountain or region al-Sharā.
Al-Sharā is described as a lion-abounding place, and the plural may denote surrounding or adjacent tracts.
- Lane · entry 38446
شَرًى
A mountain.
A geographical noun distinct from the broader road or tract use.
- Lane · entry 38446
شَرًى
The worst or inferior cattle, or, in another reported usage, the best or choicest cattle; especially choice camels.
The lexicographical evidence records opposite evaluations, so the intended value depends on usage and authority.
- Lane · entry 38446
شَرًى
A skin eruption consisting of small, burning, itching, red pimples or purulent pustules.
The eruption may appear suddenly or gradually and is described as becoming worse at night.
- Lane · entry 38446
ذُو الشَّرَى
The name of an idol associated with the tribe of Daws in al-Sarāt.
A proper name in pre-Islamic Arabian religious usage.
- Lane · entry 38446
شَرٍ
Affected by the skin eruption called شَرًى.
An adjectival description of a person or body bearing that eruption.
- Lane · entry 38447
شِرًى
A sale or a purchase.
A verbal noun of شَرَى; the term can cover either side of the exchange.
- Lane · entry 38448
شَرِىّ
Sold or bought, applied to a male slave.
The cited lexical application is specifically to a male slave; the feminine form is شَرِيَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 38451
شَرِىّ
A horse that persists or exceeds the usual bounds of its pace without languor; also a choice or excellent horse.
An adjectival use combining sustained vigor with excellence of quality.
- Lane · entry 38451
شَرِيَّةٌ
A way, course, mode, or manner of conduct; a nature or innate disposition.
An abstract noun for a characteristic manner or temper.
- Lane · entry 38452
شَرِيَّةٌ
A woman who bears female children.
A specialized description of women according to the sex of the children they bear.
- Lane · entry 38452
شَرْوَى
The like or equivalent of a thing.
Used alike as singular or plural in the cited usage; it can denote an equivalent replacement or counterpart.
- Lane · entry 38453
شِرَوِىّ
Relating to selling or buying.
A relational adjective formed from the verbal nouns of the exchange branch.
- Lane · entry 38454
شِرْيَانٌ
A mountain tree of the bow-making kind.
The tree is described as related in kind to other bow woods and as having a single-unit feminine form.
- Lane · entry 38456
شِرْيَانٌ
An artery, or pulsing vein, especially one arising from the heart.
A distinct anatomical use; the plural is شَرَايِينُ.
- Lane · entry 38456
شِرْيَانٌ
A crack or fissure in a rock.
A specialized geological use, synonymous with a named type of cleft.
- Lane · entry 38456
شَارٍ
A seller or selling person; also a buyer or buying person.
The form is generally used for a seller, while the buyer sense is also attested; its plural in the seller sense is شُرَاةٌ.
- Lane · entry 38458
شُرَاة
A member of the Shurāt, an appellation for the Kharijites.
The designation is explained in several ways in the lexical tradition, including the idea of selling oneself for God's obedience or for what the group believed.
- Lane · entry 38458
الْمُشْتَرِي
A well-known star, identified as Jupiter and counted among the Seven Stars.
A proper or conventional astronomical name.
- Lane · entry 38460
مُشْتَرٍ
A certain bird.
A specialized zoological noun with no further identification in the supplied evidence.
- Lane · entry 38460
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
شَرَى and اِشْتَرَى belong to the same exchange domain but are not interchangeable in every Quranic occurrence: the supplied Form I occurrences support selling, while Form VIII also expresses buying and figurative acquisition or preference.
The exchange vocabulary can describe either side of a reciprocal transaction, so translations such as sell, buy, exchange, and purchase depend on the construction and what is treated as the item given or received.