Quranic root
عرج
ʿ · r · j
The root expresses three principal orientations: inclination or bending, upward elevation and ascent, and a separate lexical branch referring to a quantified herd of camels.
The meanings develop from bending and turning to limping, curved routes, and acts of inclining; the upward branch yields ascending movement and the stairs or ways by which ascent occurs. The camel-herd term remains a distinct inherited branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 3174
- Mufradāt · row 961
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 9
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَرَجَ
ʿaraja
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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 ascend or rise upward.
The Quranic imperfect forms describe upward movement toward a higher place or realm, including the movement of angels, the spirit, things, words, and affairs. The same upward-motion lexeme can also occur in a passive construction meaning to be taken upward.
- Lane · entry 2686
- Mufradāt · row 961
Selected Quran examples
أَعْرَجُ
ʾaʿraju
- Part of speech
- Adjective · substantivized
- 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.
Lame; having a limp.
In the Quranic occurrences the adjective is definite and substantivized, referring to the lame person or one characterized by lameness.
- Lane · entry 2709
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:61word 7
“the lame”
Quran 48:17word 7
“the lame”
مِعْرَاجٌ
miʿrājun
- 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.
A stairway, ladder, or place or way of ascent.
The Quranic form is the plural مَعَارِجُ. It denotes stairways in one occurrence and places or ways of ascent, including the route by which angels ascend, in another.
- Lane · entry 2713
- Mufradāt · row 961
Selected Quran examples
Quran 43:33word 15
“and stairways”
Quran 70:3word 4
“(of) the ways of ascent”
Benefits or favours.
An alternative interpretation reported for the Quranic plural مَعَارِجُ in 70:3, distinct from the spatial sense of places or ways of ascent.
- Lane · entry 2713
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 15:14يَعْرُجُونَ(to) ascend
- 24:61ٱلْأَعْرَجِthe lame
- 32:5يَعْرُجُit will ascend
- 34:2يَعْرُجُascends
- 43:33وَمَعَارِجَand stairways
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 32 Classical meanings
عَرَجَ / عَرِجَ
To limp, walk with a limping gait, or become lame.
The cited usages distinguish lameness caused by an accident from natural or chronic lameness according to the vocalization and construction.
- Lane · entry 2686
- Lane · entry 2703
عَرَجٌ
The setting of the sun, or its inclination toward the place of setting.
A nominal usage associated with the verb describing the sun's movement toward setting.
- Lane · entry 2686
عَرِجَ / عَرِجٌ
Of a male camel, to emit urine indirectly; a male camel characterized by this condition.
The usage is specifically stated of the male camel when a hind girth presses upon the sheath.
- Lane · entry 2686
- Lane · entry 2697
عَرَّجَ
To make a building, structure, river, or rivulet incline.
A transitive Form II usage describing the imparting of an inclination.
- Lane · entry 2687
عَرَّجَ عَنْ
To turn away from, leave, or forsake.
Occurs with عن in the sense of turning away from the object.
- Lane · entry 2687
عَرَّجَ عَلَى
To bend or incline toward someone or something.
The construction with على expresses turning or inclining toward an object; it also appears in idioms denying such inclination.
- Lane · entry 2687
- Lane · entry 2699
عَرَّجَ عَلَى / بِـ
To stay, pause, or remain intent upon something; to confine one's riding camel at a stopping place.
The construction can describe remaining at a place or stopping for an object, including restraining a mount for one's travelling companions or a purpose.
- Lane · entry 2687
- Lane · entry 2699
أَعْرَجَ
To render someone lame.
A Form IV causative usage.
- Lane · entry 2688
أَعْرَجَ
To give someone, or to possess, a herd of camels called عَرْج.
This is a specialized herd-related usage distinct from the causative meaning ‘to render lame.’
- Lane · entry 2688
أَعْرَجَ
To enter upon the time of sunset.
A specialized temporal usage of the Form IV verb.
- Lane · entry 2688
تَعَرَّجَ
To become or be inclined, especially of a building or structure.
An intransitive Form V usage describing an inclined form or position.
- Lane · entry 2689
تَعَارَجَ
To pretend to be lame or imitate the gait of a lame person.
A Form VI usage involving imitation rather than actual lameness.
- Lane · entry 2690
اِنْعَرَجَ
To bend or curve; of a road or travelers, to turn aside from a route.
The verb can describe a thing or road becoming curved, or a road or company of travelers declining from its course.
- Lane · entry 2691
اِعْرِنْجَجَ
To strive or exert oneself in an affair.
A rare lexical form recorded as Lane R.Q. III.
- Lane · entry 2692
عَرْجٌ
A large herd of camels.
The reported size varies substantially among authorities, from roughly eighty or more to many hundreds or about a thousand; the plurals include أَعْرَاجٌ and عُرُوجٌ.
- Lane · entry 2693
عَرَجٌ
Natural lameness.
A nominal designation of the condition of being naturally lame.
- Lane · entry 2696
عَرَجٌ
A river, rivulet, or valley.
The designation is explained by the bending or inclining course of the watercourse or valley.
- Lane · entry 2696
عُرْجَةٌ
The place or seat of lameness in the leg or foot.
An anatomical usage referring to the affected location rather than the general condition.
- Lane · entry 2699
عَرِيجٌ
High or elevated.
An adjectival usage describing height or elevation.
- Lane · entry 2706
عَرِيجٌ
An affair not firmly, solidly, or soundly executed.
A figurative adjectival usage applied to an inadequately completed affair.
- Lane · entry 2706
العُرَيْجَاءُ
Midday, especially the intensely hot midday period.
A specialized temporal noun, commonly used with the definite article in the cited form.
- Lane · entry 2707
العُرَيْجَاءُ
A traditional camel-watering schedule involving visits at specified morning, noon, or evening intervals.
The sources report more than one detailed schedule under this term.
- Lane · entry 2707
العُرَيْجَاءُ
The practice of eating only once each day.
A specialized idiomatic usage illustrated by the expression that someone eats al-ʿurayjāʾ.
- Lane · entry 2707
عَارِجٌ
Limping or slightly lame because of an accident.
The cited adjectival usage contrasts accidental lameness with a chronic ailment.
- Lane · entry 2708
أَعْرَجُ
A name for a crow.
The name is explained by the crow's hopping or leaping gait.
- Lane · entry 2709
العَرْجَاءُ
A name for the female hyena; by extension, a plural designation for female hyenas.
The cited usage treats the feminine form as a specialized animal name and states that the male is not called أَعْرَجُ in this sense.
- Lane · entry 2709
أَعْرَجُ
A name for a particular deaf, malignant serpent.
A specialized animal appellation distinct from the ordinary adjective ‘lame.’
- Lane · entry 2709
العُرْجُ
Three nights at the beginning of the lunar month.
A calendrical usage recorded as a specialized plural term.
- Lane · entry 2709
الأُعَيْرِجُ
A particular deaf and highly malignant serpent.
The diminutive form denotes a specific serpent said to leap like a viper; its plural is الأُعَيْرِجَاتُ.
- Lane · entry 2710
مِعْرَاجٌ
A ladder-like thing or means by which souls ascend when taken from their bodies.
A specialized usage, especially with the definite article, associated with the traditional account of the Miʿrāj; it is distinct from the Quranic general sense of places or ways of ascent.
- Lane · entry 2713
مُعَرَّجٌ
A garment or piece of cloth bearing curving stripes or lines.
A specialized nominal usage describing the pattern on the cloth.
- Lane · entry 2714
مُنْعَرَجٌ
A place where a valley bends to the right and left.
A place noun derived from the bending course of a valley.
- Lane · entry 2716
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The public headword مِعْرَاجٌ is the singular dictionary citation form; the Quranic occurrences in this group are the plural مَعَارِجُ.
The interpretation of مَعَارِجُ as ‘benefits or favours’ is an alternative Quranic interpretation reported for 70:3, not a replacement for its spatial ascent sense.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
Lane entry 2708, unit lane-unit:Erj:2708:g2:main, preserves a conflicting lexical reading: one tradition gives عَارِج as equivalent to غَائِبٌ, while another correction identifies the form as عَائِبٌ. The evidence is insufficient to assign either meaning confidently to this root.