Quranic root
عشر
ʿ · sh · r
The root has two established semantic axes: the number ten and association or intermingling. The numerical axis extends to counting, tenth-parts, groups of ten, and terms connected with ten-month gestation or ten-day watering intervals; the relational axis extends to companionship, kinship, and collective groups.
The numerical meanings include ten, becoming or making ten, the tenth part, and conventional periods or divisions based on ten. The relational meanings develop through social intercourse into terms for companions, kindred, and communities.
- Maqāyīs · row 3214
- 11
- Quran-attested forms
- 12
- Quran senses
- 27
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَاشَرَ
ʿāshara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 associate or live in social and familiar intercourse with someone; to consort with them.
In the Quran, used in the imperative construction concerning conduct toward wives; the construction denotes ongoing social and marital association, not merely physical co-presence.
- Lane · entry 3318
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:19word 22
“And live with them”
عَشَرَ
ʿashara
- Part of speech
- Numeral element
- 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.
Ten, as the masculine-form element of a compound numeral.
Used in compound numbers from eleven through nineteen, including the Quranic forms for twelve and nineteen; the form is used with masculine counted nouns.
- Lane · entry 3329
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:12word 10
“(and) ten”
Quran 74:30word 3
“teen”
عَشَرَة
ʿasharah
- Part of speech
- Numeral
- 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.
Ten, the numeral in its standalone masculine-counting form.
Used with masculine counted nouns, including expressions for ten days or ten items.
- Lane · entry 3329
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:196word 57
“(is) ten (days)”
Quran 5:89word 14
“(of) ten”
عَشِير
ʿashīr
- 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.
A companion, associate, intimate, or friend.
The term can denote a person with whom one regularly associates, whether a close relation or an acquaintance.
- Lane · entry 3334
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:13word 10
“friend”
عَشِيرَة
ʿashīrah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
A person's kindred or kinsfolk: the relatives who constitute his supporting family circle.
The Quranic usage concerns a person's relatives or kin-group; it need not denote an entire tribe.
- Lane · entry 3338
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:24word 8
“and your relatives”
Quran 26:214word 2
“your kindred”
Quran 58:22word 21
“their kindred”
عَشْر
ʿashr
- Part of speech
- Numeral / 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.
Ten, especially the feminine-form numeral.
Used with feminine counted nouns and in expressions where the counted units are understood from context; it also appears in multiplicative and compound numerical constructions.
- Lane · entry 3329
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
A set or period of ten nights, conventionally including their associated days where the context requires.
The Quranic usage includes a ten-night period and the expression “ten nights”; the form should not be reduced to an ordinary cardinal gloss when the temporal period is lexically salient.
- Lane · entry 3329
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:234word 10
“and ten (days)”
Quran 7:142word 6
“with ten (more)”
عَشْرَة
ʿashrah
- Part of speech
- Numeral element
- 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.
Ten, as the feminine-form element of a compound numeral.
Used in feminine compound numerals, especially the second element of twelve and related numbers; the Quranic occurrences are in the expression for twelve.
- Lane · entry 3329
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:60word 12
“(and) ten [i.e. twelve]”
Quran 7:160word 19
“(and) ten [i.e. twelve]”
عِشَار
ʿishār
- 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.
Full-term or near-term she-camels, traditionally understood as having completed about ten months of pregnancy.
The Quranic form is a plural referring to valuable pregnant she-camels at the approach of birth; it is not simply a plural numeral for ten.
- Lane · entry 3330
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 81:4word 2
“the full-term she-camels”
عِشْرُون
ʿishrūn
- Part of speech
- Numeral
- 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.
Twenty; twice ten.
A cardinal numeral used for either masculine or feminine counted nouns.
- Lane · entry 3332
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:65word 10
“twenty”
مَعْشَر
maʿshar
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
An assembly, community, or collective body whose members share a common state or circumstance.
In the Quran it occurs in direct address to collective groups, including the jinn and humankind; the meaning is a community or assembly rather than a single individual.
- Lane · entry 3344
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:128word 4
“(and will say), "O assembly”
Quran 6:130word 1
“O assembly”
Quran 55:33word 1
“O assembly”
مِعْشَار
miʿshār
- 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.
A tenth part; one part out of ten.
In the Quranic expression, it denotes a tenth of what was granted to earlier peoples.
- Lane · entry 3324
- Mufradāt · row 979
Selected Quran examples
Quran 34:45word 7
“a tenth”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:60عَشْرَةَ(and) ten [i.e. twelve]
- 2:196عَشَرَةٌۭ(is) ten (days)
- 2:234وَعَشْرًۭا ۖand ten (days)
- 4:19وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّAnd live with them
- 5:12عَشَرَ(and) ten
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 49 Classical meanings
عَشَرَ
To take one from ten.
- Lane · entry 3316
عَشَرَ
To take a tenth or tithe from property.
The amount can be extended in later legal usage to specified fractions related to the tenth.
- Lane · entry 3316
- Lane · entry 3324
عَشَرَ
To add one to nine, thereby completing a set of ten.
- Lane · entry 3316
عَشَرَ
To become the tenth member of a group, or to complete a group of ten by joining it.
- Lane · entry 3316
- Lane · entry 3340
عَشَّرَ
To make a number or group ten by adding what completes it.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
To mark a copy of the Quran with divisions of ten verses.
A technical use relating to manuscript or recitational divisions, not a meaning of a Quranic verse occurrence.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
To reckon or assign ten units of reward for one unit of an action.
Attested in the conventional expression concerning ten good deeds for each step.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
To remain for ten nights with someone, especially with a wife.
A temporal construction specifying a ten-night stay.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
Of a she-camel, to complete the tenth month of pregnancy or become an عُشَرَاء.
Applied to the stage of late pregnancy before giving birth.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
To break a vessel into ten pieces, or into pieces conceived as such.
Used of a drinking bowl or similar object.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
Figuratively, for love to emaciate or break the heart.
A derived figurative use based on breaking something into pieces.
- Lane · entry 3317
عَشَّرَ
For a donkey to bray with ten uninterrupted repetitions of its sound; likewise for a hyena to cry or a raven to croak in that manner.
The lexical definition concerns the repeated tenfold vocalization, not merely any animal cry.
- Lane · entry 3317
أَعْشَرَ
To become ten or make a number ten.
A Form IV numerical use.
- Lane · entry 3319
أَعْشَرَ
Of a she-camel, to complete ten months from giving birth.
A specialized camel-breeding usage.
- Lane · entry 3319
أَعْشَرَ
Of a female animal, to bring forth her tenth offspring.
- Lane · entry 3319
أَعْشَرَ
Of camels, to come to water on the tenth day, counting the preceding watering day as the first; by extension, of a person whose camels follow that schedule.
The traditional watering interval is counted inclusively and may be described as eight days between waterings.
- Lane · entry 3319
أَعْشَرَ
To enter or have ten nights pass within a specified period.
Includes being within the first ten nights of Dhu al-Hijjah and having ten nights pass since a previous meeting.
- Lane · entry 3319
تَعَاشَرَ
To associate, consort, converse, or become intimate with one another.
A reciprocal Form VI use.
- Lane · entry 3320
عَشْرَنَ
To make something twenty.
An extra-classical or post-classical quadriliteral formation.
- Lane · entry 3322
عُشْر
A tenth part or one part of ten parts.
The plural includes forms meaning tenths; this fractional noun is distinct from the Quranic numeral forms.
- Lane · entry 3324
عُشْر
Of she-camels, those that release only a scant quantity of milk into the udder without its collecting.
A specialized plural usage applied to camels.
- Lane · entry 3324
عِشْر
The traditional camel-watering interval associated with coming to water on the tenth day.
The interval is described as eight days between waterings, or as nine days depending on whether the preceding watering day is counted.
- Lane · entry 3325
عِشْر
The eighth young one or offspring.
A specialized counting term.
- Lane · entry 3325
عِشْر
A piece broken off from a pot, bowl, or other object; by extension, something broken or fragmented, including a broken heart.
The imagery may treat the object as divided into ten pieces; it also appears in descriptions of broken vessels and scabbards.
- Lane · entry 3325
أَعْشَار
The portions of a slaughtered camel distributed in the game of division, conventionally ten in number.
The same plural is used of cooking pots made of or associated with ten portions.
- Lane · entry 3325
أَعْشَار
The primary feathers of a bird's wing.
A specialized nominal plural use.
- Lane · entry 3325
عُشَر
The three nights of a lunar month following the ninth: the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth.
- Lane · entry 3326
عُشَر
A tree or shrub identified with the asclepias or gigantic swallow-wort, yielding a soft tinder-like substance and sweet gum.
A botanical noun with a collective-plural or collective-genus use.
- Lane · entry 3326
عِشْرَة
Social or familiar intercourse and fellowship.
A verbal noun or abstract noun for association with others.
- Lane · entry 3328
عَاشِرَة
A circular sign or technical marker denoting a division of ten verses in a Quran copy.
A post-classical manuscript term; it can also denote the verses completing such a division.
- Lane · entry 3341
عُشَرَاء
A pregnant female, especially a mare or she-camel, in late pregnancy; in some accounts the term extends to the period immediately after giving birth.
The precise boundary between late pregnancy and the immediately post-partum state varies among lexical authorities.
- Lane · entry 3330
عُشَرِيّ
Milk from camels that feed on the plant called عُشَر.
- Lane · entry 3331
عُشَار
Ten and ten, or ten at a time; in distributive expressions, ten by ten.
Usually used in a distributive or repeated construction such as coming ten by ten.
- Lane · entry 3333
عَشِير
A measure of land equal to a tenth of a qafiz, itself a tenth of a jarīb.
A technical land-measure term.
- Lane · entry 3334
عَشِير
A husband, understood as a spouse and associate.
A specialized relational use of the companion sense.
- Lane · entry 3334
عَشِير
A wife, as one who is an associate in marriage.
A specialized relational use.
- Lane · entry 3334
عَشِير
A relation or associate.
- Lane · entry 3334
عَشِير
The cry of a hyena.
A specialized, non-derived lexical use.
- Lane · entry 3334
عُشَارِيّ
A garment or piece of cloth ten cubits long.
- Lane · entry 3336
عُشَارِيّ
A boy ten years old.
The feminine form is used with a girl of that age.
- Lane · entry 3336
عَشِيرَة
A small subtribe, tribe, or community of related people.
This broader tribal or communal use is distinct from the Quranic reference to a person's kindred.
- Lane · entry 3338
عَشَّار
A person who takes or receives the tenth or a legally related tithe from property.
The term may also be represented by عَاشِر in the same occupational sense.
- Lane · entry 3339
عَاشِرَة
Camels coming to water after the traditional ten-day counting interval.
A plural usage distinct from the Quranic manuscript-marker sense.
- Lane · entry 3341
عَاشِرَة
A proper name for a hyena or female hyena.
A determinate lexicalized noun.
- Lane · entry 3341
عَاشُورَاء
The tenth day of Muharram.
Some authorities report the ninth, but the predominant lexical interpretation is the tenth.
- Lane · entry 3343
مَعْشَر
A company, collective body, or family; in some usage, specifically a male company or a man's family.
The broader Classical range includes a group sharing circumstances and, in certain descriptions, a company of men exclusive of women.
- Lane · entry 3344
مُعْشِر
A woman who has completed the full term of pregnancy.
A figurative or specialized participial use.
- Lane · entry 3345
مُعَشِّر
A person whose camels have given birth or have become pregnant she-camels of the عِشَار type.
A specialized camel-breeding use.
- Lane · entry 3347
مِعْشَار
A she-camel whose milk is abundant during the nights around giving birth.
A specialized camel-breeding use, distinct from the fractional noun.
- Lane · entry 3348
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The forms عَشَرَة, عَشْرَة, and عَشْر reflect grammatical and vocalic distinctions in numeral constructions; they should not be collapsed into one undifferentiated English “ten.”
عَشْر can denote either the numeral ten or a conventional ten-night or ten-day period, depending on construction.
Classical authorities differ on whether عَاشُورَاء refers to the ninth or tenth of Muharram; the predominant interpretation is the tenth.
Classical discussions give variant fractional values for some uses of مِعْشَار, but the Quranic occurrence is supported here as “a tenth.”