Quranic root
حطم
ḥ · ṭ · m
The root centers on breaking or crushing a thing into pieces.
From breaking and crushing develop usages for things broken by dryness, agents or forces that crush, crowding that presses people together, and figurative effects such as infirmity, drought, or ravage.
- Maqāyīs · row 1394
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
حَطَمَ
ḥaṭama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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 crush or break into pieces.
Quranic use is transitive, describing the crushing of one thing by another; the lexical branch includes breaking, bruising, or pressing by force.
- Lane · entry 14892
- Mufradāt · row 338
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:18word 14
“lest not crush you”
حُطَامٌ
ḥuṭāmun
- 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.
Broken fragments or debris, especially material made dry and brittle.
In the Quran, the word is used of vegetation or crops reduced to dry fragments.
- Lane · entry 14905
- Mufradāt · row 338
Selected Quran examples
Quran 39:21word 25
“debris”
Quran 56:65word 4
“debris”
حُطَمَةٌ
ḥuṭamahun
- 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.
The Crusher: a vehement fire that breaks apart everything cast into it; an epithet for Hellfire.
In the Quran, حُطَمَةٌ is the name or وصف of the Hellfire, presented as a fire that crushes what it receives.
- Lane · entry 14903
- Mufradāt · row 338
Selected Quran examples
Quran 104:4word 4
“the Crusher”
Quran 104:5word 4
“the Crusher (is)”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 27:18يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْlest not crush you
- 39:21حُطَـٰمًا ۚdebris
- 56:65حُطَـٰمًۭاdebris
- 57:20حُطَـٰمًۭا ۖdebris
- 104:4ٱلْحُطَمَةِthe Crusher
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 26 Classical meanings
حَطِمَ
To break or become broken into pieces, particularly when said of a dry or tough thing such as a bone.
Intransitive use.
- Lane · entry 14892
حَطَمٌ
A disease affecting a beast’s legs.
A lexical noun for the condition, not merely the verbal noun of breaking.
- Lane · entry 14892
- Lane · entry 14896
حَطِمٌ
An aged, emaciated, or weakened beast or horse.
An extended description associated with deterioration through age.
- Lane · entry 14897
حَطِمٌ
A thing that breaks into pieces of itself.
Adjectival description of the thing undergoing the breaking.
- Lane · entry 14897
حَطَّمَ
To break something into pieces or crush it severely.
Form II, with an intensive or extensive force nuance relative to the basic transitive branch.
- Lane · entry 14892
حَطَمَ
To spoil or damage pasture by grazing over it.
A conventional transitive use referring to destructive grazing.
- Lane · entry 14892
حَطَمَ
To render someone a broken or infirm old person, or to make someone infirm through age.
Figurative or extended transitive use associated with burdens or advancing age.
- Lane · entry 14892
تَحَطَّمَ
To break apart or crumble.
Form V intransitive use, including things breaking into pieces and earth crumbling from excessive dryness.
- Lane · entry 14894
تَحَطَّمَ
For people to crowd or press together, crushing or bruising one another.
Form V reciprocal or collective use.
- Lane · entry 14894
تَحَطَّمَ
To become inflamed with anger or rage against someone.
Figurative Form V construction with عَلَيْهِ.
- Lane · entry 14894
حُطَمٌ
One who breaks through ranks to the right and left.
An agent noun describing forceful penetration of a formation.
- Lane · entry 14898
حَطْمَةٌ
The crowding, thronging, or pressing of people, including their pushing one another.
A noun for collective pressure or crush.
- Lane · entry 14900
حَطْمَةٌ
A surge or main thrust of a torrent.
A reported lexical use for the forceful advancing portion of a flood.
- Lane · entry 14900
حَطْمَةٌ
The havoc wrought by a lion among cattle.
A noun for destructive crushing or ravaging.
- Lane · entry 14900
حَطْمَةٌ
Dearth, drought, or sterility; also a year characterized by such conditions.
Figurative use based on the notion of breaking or destroying everything.
- Lane · entry 14900
حِطْمَةٌ
A fragment, or what is broken into pieces, of a dry or tough thing.
The plural may refer collectively to broken pieces; the expression can describe a broken spear-shaft and its portions.
- Lane · entry 14902
حُطَمَةٌ
A voracious or insatiable eater.
Figurative use likening the eater to a fire that consumes and breaks everything.
- Lane · entry 14903
حُطَمَةٌ
A large herd of camels or sheep and goats.
The designation is associated with the herd crushing herbage and the ground with its feet and feeding destructively.
- Lane · entry 14903
حُطَمَةٌ
A harsh or ungentle herdsman who drives animals so that they crush or bruise one another.
A figurative occupational description based on violent driving or pasturing.
- Lane · entry 14903
حُطَمِيَّاتٌ
Coats of mail.
The name is variously explained as referring to their maker or user, their ability to break swords, or their heaviness and breadth.
- Lane · entry 14904
حُطَامٌ
Fragments of an egg or pieces of an eggshell.
A conventional noun use distinct from the Quranic application to dry vegetation.
- Lane · entry 14905
حُطَامُ الدُّنْيَا
The frail or perishing goods and possessions of the present world.
A figurative expression emphasizing the transient, breakable character of worldly goods.
- Lane · entry 14905
حَطُومٌ
A lion that crushes everything it devours; also a wind that crushes everything.
An intensive agent description applied to a destructive animal or force.
- Lane · entry 14906
حَطِيمٌ
Dry, broken herbage left from the preceding year.
The condition is attributed to dryness and breaking into pieces.
- Lane · entry 14907
الحَطِيمُ
A part of the precinct of the Kaaba, especially the Ḥijr or its enclosing wall.
Descriptions of its precise boundaries vary; the name is connected either with its being left broken or with people crowding and pressing there.
- Lane · entry 14907
حَاطُومٌ
A digestive, or something that aids digestion.
A separate lexical item; it is not assigned as a meaning of حُطَمَةٌ or حُطْمَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 14910
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The torrent-surge meaning of حَطْمَةٌ is lexically reported, but its derivation from this root is questioned in the root-level evidence.
The digestive meaning belongs to حَاطُومٌ as a separate lexical item and is not a meaning of حُطَمَةٌ or حُطْمَةٌ.