Quranic root
عظم
ʿ · ẓ · m
A root centered on greatness in size, strength, magnitude, rank, or force, with the concrete image of substantial bone underlying extensions to abstract importance and eminence.
The lexical field develops from physical largeness and strength to greatness in tangible or intellectual things, comparative superiority, honor and reverence, gravity, and the main or bulk of something.
- Maqāyīs · row 3248
- Mufradāt · row 992
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 128
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَظَّمَ
ʿaẓẓama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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.
To magnify, honor, revere, or treat with respect.
Transitive; in the Quranic occurrences, the object is something accorded reverence or esteem.
- Lane · entry 3838
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:30word 3
“honors”
Quran 22:32word 3
“honors”
أَعْظَمَ
ʾaʿẓama
- 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 great or magnify.
A transitive causative use; the Quranic occurrence expresses making something great.
- Lane · entry 3839
- Lane · entry 3838
Selected Quran examples
Quran 65:5word 12
“and make great”
أَعْظَم
ʾaʿẓam
- Part of speech
- Comparative adjective / substantivized 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.
Greater, more important, or more significant in comparison with another.
Comparative or relational; the comparison may concern rank, reward, standing, or degree.
- Lane · entry 3852
Selected Quran examples
عَظِيم / عِظَام
ʿaẓīm / ʿiẓām
- Part of speech
- Adjective / plural noun
- Quran occurrences
- 120 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.
Great, immense, mighty, or exalted; exceptional in size, rank, degree, or standing.
Used of tangible or abstract things. As an epithet of God, it denotes incomparable greatness and majesty rather than a human comparison.
- Lane · entry 3852
- Mufradāt · row 992
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:255word 50
“the Most Great”
Grave, momentous, severe, or formidable; involving great weight, seriousness, or consequence.
Used especially of affairs, punishments, accusations, sins, calamities, and other matters of great gravity.
- Lane · entry 3852
- Mufradāt · row 992
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:53word 69
“an enormity”
Bones; the skeletal bones of the body.
عِظَام is the plural of عَظْم and is a noun, distinct from the adjective عَظِيم, despite their inclusion in one supplied QAC form group.
- Lane · entry 3843
- Mufradāt · row 992
Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:14word 12
“the bones”
عَظْم
ʿaẓm
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Bone.
A concrete anatomical noun; the Quranic occurrences refer to bodily bone or bones.
- Lane · entry 3843
- Mufradāt · row 992
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:146word 23
“with the bone”
Quran 19:4word 5
“my bones”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:7عَظِيمٌۭgreat
- 2:49عَظِيمٌۭgreat
- 2:105ٱلْعَظِيمِ[the] Great
- 2:114عَظِيمٌۭgreat
- 2:255ٱلْعَظِيمُthe Most Great
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 33 Classical meanings
عَظُمَ
To be or become great, large, important, or high in rank; to exceed ordinary size or standing.
An intransitive Form I verb, used literally of size and figuratively of estimation or importance.
- Lane · entry 3837
عَظَمَ
To give a dog a bone to eat.
A transitive lexical construction with a dog as the recipient in the attested example.
- Lane · entry 3837
عَظَمَ
To strike someone upon the bones.
A transitive bodily-action construction.
- Lane · entry 3837
عَظَّمَ
Of rain, to moisten to the measure of the thick part of the arm.
A specialized description of the depth or extent to which rain has penetrated or moistened something.
- Lane · entry 3838
عَظَّمَ
To cut up a sheep or goat bone by bone.
A specialized transitive butchery construction.
- Lane · entry 3838
أَعْظَمَ
To be or become great.
The intransitive Form IV use is cross-referenced with the Form I meaning of becoming great.
- Lane · entry 3839
- Lane · entry 3837
أَعْظَمَ
To frighten, terrify, or distress someone; to make something grievous in its effect.
A transitive psychological or experiential construction, with the affected person expressed as the object.
- Lane · entry 3839
تَعَظَّمَ
To magnify oneself, act proudly or haughtily, behave insolently, or hold oneself above and disdain something.
A reflexive or intransitive Form V use concerning self-regard and disdain.
- Lane · entry 3840
تَعَظَّمَ
Of God, to be incomparable in greatness or majesty.
A specialized theological use, not a description of human pride.
- Lane · entry 3840
تَعَاظَمَ
To be or become so great that nothing is great in comparison with it.
A comparative construction used of a thing, event, rain, or other subject whose magnitude eclipses comparison.
- Lane · entry 3841
تَعَاظَمَ
To be of great magnitude, gravity, or difficulty; to become grievous, distressing, or burdensome to someone.
Said especially of an affair or event with عَلَيْهِ or a similar affected-person construction.
- Lane · entry 3841
اِسْتَعْظَمَ
To judge, reckon, or regard something as great or important.
A transitive evaluative construction involving an observer’s assessment.
- Lane · entry 3842
اِسْتَعْظَمَ
To take the greater or main part of something.
A specialized transitive use concerning the greater portion of a thing.
- Lane · entry 3842
عَظْم
A portion of a slaughtered camel distributed in the game of maysir.
A specialized cultural term for a portion of the animal used in the reported game.
- Lane · entry 3843
عَظْمُ وَضَّاحٍ
The name of an Arab game in which a bone, or white bone, is thrown at night and the party finding it prevails.
A fixed game name and idiom, not a general meaning of anatomical bone.
- Lane · entry 3843
عَظْمُ الرَّحْلِ
The wooden part of a camel saddle, without its leather bands or other gear.
A fixed expression referring to the bare wooden saddle structure.
- Lane · entry 3843
عَظْمُ الفَدَّانِ
The broad board of a plough at the head of which the iron share is fixed.
A specialized agricultural term.
- Lane · entry 3843
عَظْم
A winnowing-fork.
A dialectal variant of عَضْمٌ.
- Lane · entry 3843
عَظْم
The handle or grasped part of a bow.
A dialectal variant of عَضْمٌ.
- Lane · entry 3843
عَظَمُ الطَّرِيقِ
The main part, middle, or beaten track of a road.
A fixed expression for the principal or most-used part of a road.
- Lane · entry 3845
عَظَمَة
Self-magnification, pride, haughtiness, or insolence.
Generally blameworthy when attributed to a human being.
- Lane · entry 3847
عَظَمَة
A title to honor, respect, or consideration; recognized standing or rights that command regard.
A laudatory human use referring to social esteem rather than arrogance.
- Lane · entry 3847
عَظَمَة
Incomparable greatness or majesty when attributed to God.
A divine attribute not defined by human comparison or likeness.
- Lane · entry 3847
عَظَمَة
The thick part of the forearm, especially the half nearer the elbow and its principal muscle.
An anatomical term.
- Lane · entry 3847
عَظَمَة
The thick part of the tongue above its root.
An anatomical term.
- Lane · entry 3847
عَظَمَاتُ القَوْمِ
The chiefs or nobles of a people or party.
A plural expression for leading persons.
- Lane · entry 3847
عَظِمَة
A woman who desires large penises.
A specialized sexual description explicitly restricted to the attested female subject and desire.
- Lane · entry 3848
عَظْمِيّ
A pigeon tending toward whiteness.
A relational adjective apparently motivated by the whiteness associated with bone.
- Lane · entry 3849
عَظِيمَة
A severe calamity, misfortune, or great crime.
A feminine noun for a grave event or offense; its plural is used for grave crimes or calamities.
- Lane · entry 3855
إِعْظَامَة
A pillow, garment, or piece of cloth used by a woman to make her buttocks appear large.
A specialized item of clothing or padding used for bodily enlargement in appearance.
- Lane · entry 3859
مُعْظَم
The greater, main, principal, or bulk of a thing, group, affair, or event; sometimes its middle or midst.
A nominal form referring to the predominant portion or central part.
- Lane · entry 3860
مُعْظَم
The harder parts of the body, such as the neck or thigh.
A specialized bodily use reported for the term.
- Lane · entry 3860
مَعْظُومَة
A young weaned camel whose tongue has had a bone broken so that it cannot perform the relevant sucking action.
A specialized veterinary or animal-husbandry term.
- Lane · entry 3862
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied QAC form group for عَظِيم also contains the plural noun عِظَام; adjective and bone senses are therefore displayed together but explicitly separated and should not be conflated.