Quranic root
شوك
sh · w · k
The root centers on roughness and sharpness at the tip of a thing.
From physical thorns and prickles, the lexical range develops toward piercing and harm, thorniness, pointed or rough growth, and metaphorical weaponry and fighting strength.
- Maqāyīs · row 2729
- Mufradāt · row 799
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
شَوْكَةٌ
shawkahun
- 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.
Armed force, weaponry, or military strength.
In the Quranic expression غير ذات الشوكة, the noun denotes the armed party or fighting strength, rather than a physical thorn. The sense includes the weaponry and effectiveness that constitute such strength.
- Mufradāt · row 799
- Lane · entry 39606
- Lane · entry 39613
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:7word 12
“(of) the armed”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 8:7ٱلشَّوْكَةِ(of) the armed
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 14 Classical meanings
شَوْكٌ
Thorns, prickles, or spines of a tree or plant; the slender, hard, pointed part.
A collective noun whose singular is شَوْكَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 39611
- Lane · entry 39613
شَاكَ / شِيكَ
To pierce or hurt with a thorn; to be pierced or wounded by a thorn; figuratively, to cause harm.
The subject may be the thorn or the person inflicting the piercing; the passive form describes the person pierced.
- Lane · entry 39606
شَاكَ
To enter, fall, or come down among thorns.
Used of a person who enters or lights among thorny growth.
- Lane · entry 39606
شَاكَ
To extract a thorn from the foot.
This is a distinct reported transitive use of the verb.
- Lane · entry 39606
شَاكَ / شَائِكٌ / تَشَوُّكٌ
To be thorny or abound in thorns; thorny or prickly.
Applied especially to trees, plants, and land; the related verbal noun denotes having thorns.
- Lane · entry 39606
- Lane · entry 39609
- Lane · entry 39619
شَوَّكَ
To put thorns upon a wall.
A causative Form II construction with the object of the thorns understood or expressed by the preposition.
- Lane · entry 39607
شَوْكَةٌ
A pointed projection or pointed implement, including a spear-point, a scorpion's sting, a cock's spur, and implements used in weaving or combing flax; also the point or edge of a weapon.
These are conventional extensions of the physical thorn sense to sharp projecting parts and tools.
- Lane · entry 39613
الشَّوْكَةُ وَالشَّجَرَةُ
A multitude, apparently a multitude of armed men, in the expression جَاؤُوا بِالشَّوْكَةِ وَالشَّجَرَةِ.
The interpretation is reported as approximate for this idiomatic paired expression.
- Lane · entry 39613
شَوْكَةٌ / مَشُوكٌ
A disease called شَوْكَةٌ, identified as plague or pestilence.
مَشُوكٌ describes a person affected by this disease.
- Lane · entry 39606
- Lane · entry 39613
- Lane · entry 39620
شَوْكَةٌ / مَشُوكٌ
A red eruption appearing on the body or face.
The term is associated with the redness produced by a scorpion's sting and is reported in connection with charms or spells; مَشُوكٌ describes one affected by it.
- Lane · entry 39613
- Lane · entry 39620
شَوْكَاءُ
Rough to the touch, said of a garment because it is new.
The evidence concerns garments such as a cloak or robe; it does not establish a general meaning of rough-woven.
- Lane · entry 39614
شَوَّكَ / شَاكَ / شُوَيْكِيَّةٌ
To become pointed, protuberant, or prominently developed, especially of a woman's breast or a camel's canine teeth.
شُوَيْكِيَّةٌ is reported of camels whose canine teeth have grown forth. The breast and canine-tooth uses are physiological extensions involving pointed protrusion.
- Lane · entry 39606
- Lane · entry 39607
- Lane · entry 39618
شَوَّكَ / مُشَوِّكٌ
To put forth rough or pointed new growth, or to begin to emerge before spreading.
Used of seed-produce, the heads of a young bird's feathers, a young man's moustache, and hair appearing after shaving.
- Lane · entry 39607
- Lane · entry 39623
شُوَيْكَةٌ
A reported term for a species of camel.
The transmitted form is textually uncertain in the lexical report, which notes a possible correction to another word.
- Lane · entry 39617
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The QAC occurrence is the inflected construct form الشَّوْكَةِ; the public headword is normalized to the citation form شَوْكَةٌ.
A reported lion sense occurs only in supplemental cross-reference context and is therefore not assigned as a direct meaning of this root.