Quranic root
ضمر
ḍ · m · r
The root has two established semantic orientations: reduction or fineness in bodily or material substance, and withdrawal from view through concealment or absence.
The concrete sense develops from becoming lean, contracted, dried, or otherwise reduced to related notions of hiddenness, inward concealment, uncertain absence, and deferred return.
- Maqāyīs · row 2949
- Mufradāt · row 879
- 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.
ضَامِرٌ
ḍāmirun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Lean or light of flesh, especially a riding animal.
The sole Quranic occurrence describes a camel journeying to the sacred precinct. The Quran-focused lexical discussion distinguishes this leanness from wasting or emaciation and associates it with exertion or conditioning.
- Lane · entry 18003
- Mufradāt · row 879
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:27word 9
“lean camel”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 22:27ضَامِرٍۢlean camel
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
ضَمَرَ، تَضَمَّرَ، اِنْضَمَرَ، ضَمِيرٌ، مُضْطَمِرٌ
To become or be lean, weak, withered, dried, thin, or contracted; the branch includes bodily leanness, a shrivelled face, withered grapes, contracted grain, a dried branch, and contracted pearls.
The same reduction or contraction branch is applied to different materials and forms: living bodies, faces, grapes, wheat, branches, and pearls. A reported use of ضَمْرٌ describes a horse thin in the bones around the eyes.
- Lane · entry 17990
- Lane · entry 17993
- Lane · entry 17994
- Lane · entry 17996
- Lane · entry 18000
- Lane · entry 18003
- Lane · entry 18010
ضَمَّرَ، مُضَمَّرٌ، مُضَمِّرٌ، اِضْطَمَرَ، مِضْمَارٌ
To condition a horse by reducing it from fatness to scant food and exercise; a conditioned horse; or the place or period in which such training occurs.
The practice is associated with preparing horses for racing or a military expedition. مِضْمَارٌ denotes the training place or training period; one reported explanation also takes it as the goal or limit of a race.
- Lane · entry 17991
- Lane · entry 17995
- Lane · entry 18007
- Lane · entry 18008
- Lane · entry 18009
ضَمَّرَ
To weaken, subdue, or diminish something.
When the object is a sensation or passion, the verb can mean to reduce or suppress its force.
- Lane · entry 17991
تَضْمِيرٌ
The plaiting and thorough anointing or grooming of a lock of hair.
This usage is connected with the noun ضَمِيرَةٌ, a hair lock or plait.
- Lane · entry 17991
أَضْمَرَ
To determine, resolve upon, or conceive something inwardly in the heart or mind.
The object is an intention, decision, or thought held internally rather than openly expressed.
- Lane · entry 17992
أَضْمَرَ
To conceal, hide, or suppress something, including a word or expression whose intended meaning is left to be understood.
The concealment may be inward, in the heart or mind, or figuratively physical, as when distance or death causes a person to be hidden from view.
- Lane · entry 17992
أَضْمَرَ
To investigate or examine something exhaustively.
This is a separately reported synonymic use with the sense of pursuing a matter to its furthest extent.
- Lane · entry 17992
ضَمْرٌ
Narrow, when applied to a place.
This is a locational use of the noun, distinct from bodily or material thinness.
- Lane · entry 17996
ضَمْرَانٌ
A shrub or plant of the ḥamḍ or wild-shrub class, used as camel fodder.
The sources give differing botanical identifications and describe it as a green, lank plant pleasing to camels.
- Lane · entry 17997
ضُمْرَانُ، ضَمْرَانٌ
A name for a male dog.
The cited lexical discussion specifically rejects applying this use to a female dog.
- Lane · entry 17998
ضِمَارٌ
A depressed place or valley that conceals a traveler.
The sense is locational: the depression hides someone journeying through it.
- Lane · entry 17999
ضِمَارٌ
Something absent, unseen, or not confidently expected, especially property whose return is not hoped for.
The term can describe property that has disappeared, an unseen or unapparent thing, or anything of which one cannot be sure.
- Lane · entry 17999
ضِمَارٌ
A debt, gift, promise, or sale whose return or fulfilment is delayed, uncertain, or not hoped for.
In commercial and contractual expressions it includes deferred payment, credit with a fixed later term, and postponement of payment or delivery.
- Lane · entry 17999
ضِمَارًا
Property taken away through gaming.
This is an idiomatic expression describing the loss of property by gambling or gaming.
- Lane · entry 17999
ضِمَارٌ
The name of a particular idol worshipped by al-ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās.
This is a proper-name use, not the ordinary sense of absent or uncertain property.
- Lane · entry 17999
ضَمِيرٌ
Something concealed, conceived, or resolved in the heart or mind; a secret or the inner thoughts.
The word can refer to the heart, mind, inner recesses, secret thoughts, or soul, as well as to a specific concealed thought.
- Lane · entry 18000
ضَمِيرٌ
The faculty that preserves inwardly held impressions or contents; memory.
This is a further reported use of ضَمِيرٌ derived from its association with what is inward and difficult to apprehend.
- Mufradāt · row 879
ضَمِيرَةٌ
A lock or plaited lock of hair.
The plural is ضَمَائِرُ; the word is explicitly compared with ضَفِيرَةٌ and غَدِيرَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 18002
مُضْمَرٌ
Concealed or inwardly conceived in the mind; also the place or recess in which such a thought is concealed.
The adjective can qualify an inwardly hidden love or thought, while the same form can denote its mental hiding-place.
- Lane · entry 18006
ضَوْمَرَانٌ، ضَيْمُرَانٌ
A species of fragrant plant, especially wild basil or a related sweet-smelling herb.
The sources give several variant forms and botanical identifications, including wild الريحان and basil-royal.
- Lane · entry 18004
- Lane · entry 18005
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The sole Quranic occurrence is the active participle ضَامِرٌ in 22:27; the numerous concealment, uncertainty, botanical, technical, and idiomatic branches below are broader Classical Arabic evidence, not additional Quranic senses.
One supplied Lane unit, lane-unit:Dmr:17996:g1:sub4, contains an unclear synonymic cross-reference and cannot be assigned confidently.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:Dmr:17996:g1:sub4: the phrase “i. q.” is incomplete or unclear in the supplied transcription, so its intended lexical comparison cannot be established confidently.