Quranic root
ضحك
ḍ · ḥ · k
The root centers on uncovering and becoming manifest, especially through the opening of the face and display of the teeth in laughter.
From facial opening and the visible teeth of laughter, the lexicon extends metaphorically to brightness, glistening, openness, overflow, and clear or conspicuous appearance.
- Maqāyīs · row 2900
- Mufradāt · row 868
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 10
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
ضَحِكَ
ḍaḥika
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To laugh; to show happiness or gladness through an expanded face and displayed teeth, and hence to be joyful.
The ordinary positive use includes both audible or visible laughter and the broader state of gladness. Grammatical person, aspect, and number vary across the Quranic occurrences.
- Lane · entry 17535
- Mufradāt · row 868
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:82word 1
“So let them laugh”
To laugh at, mock, deride, or ridicule someone.
Used with مِنْ or بِـ and in contexts where laughter expresses contempt or derision rather than ordinary amusement.
- Lane · entry 17535
- Mufradāt · row 868
Selected Quran examples
Quran 83:29word 8
“laugh”
To express wonder or astonishment through laughter or a laughing reaction.
This interpretation is especially relevant to the Sarah passage and to contexts pairing laughter with wonder or astonishment.
- Lane · entry 17535
- Mufradāt · row 868
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:71word 3
“and she laughed”
Quran 53:60word 1
“And you laugh”
To menstruate, according to a disputed interpretation of the Sarah passage.
This is an explicitly reported but contested interpretation of the Quranic occurrence at 11:71; other lexical explanations understand the verb as laughter or wonder.
- Lane · entry 17535
- Mufradāt · row 868
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:71word 3
“and she laughed”
To be frightened, according to a disputed interpretation of the Sarah passage.
A minority interpretation reported for the Quranic occurrence at 11:71; it is not the unqualified ordinary meaning of the verb.
- Lane · entry 17535
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:71word 3
“and she laughed”
أَضْحَكَ
ʾaḍḥaka
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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.
To make or cause someone to laugh.
A causative construction; the causer may be God or a human agent.
- Lane · entry 17537
- Mufradāt · row 868
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:43word 3
“makes (one) laugh”
ضَاحِك
ḍāḥik
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Laughing; showing gladness or a cheerful, smiling expression.
The masculine and feminine forms are included under one active-participial citation form. Quranic usage can describe visible laughter or the broader appearance of gladness.
- Lane · entry 17548
- Mufradāt · row 868
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:19word 2
“laughing”
Quran 80:39word 1
“Laughing”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 9:82فَلْيَضْحَكُوا۟So let them laugh
- 11:71فَضَحِكَتْand she laughed
- 23:110تَضْحَكُونَlaugh
- 27:19ضَاحِكًۭاlaughing
- 43:47يَضْحَكُونَlaughed
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 29 Classical meanings
ضَحِكَ
Of an ape: to utter cries while displaying the teeth or grinning.
A specialized animal use, distinct from the ordinary human act of laughing.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of clouds: to lighten, especially by flashing or brightening.
A figurative use based on the visible manifestation associated with laughter.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of a pool or body of water: to glisten when full.
The glistening is associated with fullness and overflowing brightness.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of the teeth: to glisten or appear through laughter.
A conventional construction in which the teeth are treated as displaying the visible sign of laughter.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of flowers, the earth, or gardens: to display blossoms or put forth vegetation.
A figurative plant and landscape use describing emergence and conspicuous display.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of a palm spathe or the palm fruit cluster: to split or burst open, exposing what is inside.
A specialized botanical construction.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of a hare or hyena: to menstruate.
A rare and disputed animal application reported in the lexical tradition; it is distinct from the contested Quranic interpretation concerning Sarah.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَ
Of a hyena: to bare the teeth, grin, snarl, or rejoice over prey.
A specialized poetic and animal usage with several reported interpretations.
- Lane · entry 17535
ضَحِكَتِ السَّمُرَةُ
Of a gum-acacia tree: to exude gum.
A figurative botanical expression associated with the emission or disclosure of an inner substance.
- Lane · entry 17535
مُضَاحَكَةٌ
Laughing together, laughing with another, or vying with another in laughter.
Form III verbal-noun usage; it may also be extended figuratively to things that vie in brightness.
- Lane · entry 17536
مُضَاحَكَةٌ
Making sport with ambiguities or treating confused matters as though they were easy.
A figurative construction applied to clear or penetrating judgment.
- Lane · entry 17536
أَضْحَكَ
To cause a hyena to bare its teeth, snarl, rejoice, or menstruate.
A rare figurative causative use, variously explained in the lexical tradition.
- Lane · entry 17537
أَضْحَكَ
To fill a watering trough until it overflows.
A figurative causative construction based on the glistening or visible fullness of the water.
- Lane · entry 17537
ضَحْكٌ
White front teeth; by extension, an intensely white or bright thing, such as honey, fresh butter, snow, blossoms, or the exposed interior of a palm spadix.
These are lexicalized extensions from the whiteness and visible appearance of the teeth.
- Lane · entry 17541
ضَحْكٌ، ضَحُوكٌ
A clear, open, conspicuous, or wide road.
A figurative extension of openness and conspicuous visibility.
- Lane · entry 17541
- Lane · entry 17546
ضَحْكَاتٌ
The best or choicest things; especially the best possessions or children.
A specialized plural expression, including ضَحْكَاتُ القُلُوبِ.
- Lane · entry 17542
ضُحْكَةٌ
A thing or person made an object of laughter or ridicule.
An epithet of disapproval for the object at which people laugh.
- Lane · entry 17543
ضُحَكَةٌ
A person who laughs frequently or habitually.
The epithet can carry either commendation or disparagement depending on context.
- Lane · entry 17544
ضَحُوكٌ
Cheerful or smiling in countenance.
An adjectival description of a person's facial expression.
- Lane · entry 17546
ضَاحِكٌ
Of clouds: appearing or extending across the horizon and lightening.
A figurative active-participial use applied to cloud formations.
- Lane · entry 17548
ضَاحِكٌ
In reference to a tooth, laughingly displaying the teeth.
A figurative expression such as ضَاحِكُ السِّنِّ.
- Lane · entry 17548
ضَاحِكٌ
A very white, conspicuous stone appearing in a mountain.
A figurative description of brightness, regardless of the mountain's overall color.
- Lane · entry 17548
رَأْيٌ ضَاحِكٌ
A plain, perspicuous judgment that is not confused or dubious.
A figurative use of ضَاحِكٌ for clarity and manifestness.
- Lane · entry 17548
ضَاحِكٌ
The bursting or opening spathes of palm trees.
A specialized botanical use referring to the exposed spathes.
- Lane · entry 17548
ضَاحِكَةٌ
A tooth located between the canine teeth and molars, especially one visible when laughing.
An anatomical noun; its plural is ضَوَاحِكُ.
- Lane · entry 17549
مَضْحَكٌ
The front teeth, literally the place or means of laughter because they appear when one laughs.
An anatomical noun used in expressions for the appearance of the front teeth.
- Lane · entry 17551
أُضْحُوكَةٌ
A laughable thing, or a thing that causes laughter or ridicule.
The plural of the first sense is أَضَاحِيكُ.
- Lane · entry 17550
مُضْحِكَاتٌ
Extraordinary things or sayings that cause laughter.
A plural expression for amusing or laughable anecdotes and oddities.
- Lane · entry 17553
تَضَاحَكَ
To affect laughter, manifest laughter, or laugh together with another.
Form VI usage; it may describe affected or reciprocal laughter, including people laughing together.
- Lane · entry 17539
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Sarah passage at 11:71 has competing reported interpretations: ordinary laughter, wonder, menstruation, and fright. The latter two are retained as disputed Quranic interpretations rather than presented as unqualified meanings.
A Lane citation in this discussion uses historical citation notation; it has not been converted into a modern verse location independently of the supplied QAC location.
The feminine active participle ضَاحِكَةٌ is merged under the masculine citation form ضَاحِك; its separate anatomical noun meaning 'a tooth' remains distinct under other classical meanings.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:DHk:17548:g1:sub8 contains a disputed menstruation interpretation attached to the active-participle headword and a historical Quran citation, but the supplied QAC active-participle occurrence is 27:19 and does not securely establish that usage for the public form.