Quranic root
حمأ
ḥ · m · ʾ
The directly attested semantic center is black or fetid mud, especially as associated with wells and water.
The lexical evidence extends from the mud substance to conditions and actions involving it: water becoming turbid, wells being cleansed, and wells being filled with mud. Other homographic branches remain lexically distinct.
- Lane · entry 15581
- Lane · entry 15582
- Lane · entry 15585
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
حَمَإٌ
ḥamaʾun
- 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.
Black or dark mud, including foul-smelling mud.
Used as a noun for the mud substance named in the Quranic creation passage.
- Lane · entry 15585
Selected Quran examples
Quran 15:26word 7
“black mud”
حَمِئَةٌ
ḥamiʾahun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Foul or darkened by black, fetid mud.
A feminine adjective describing a spring or well as fouled or darkened by such mud; in the Quranic occurrence it qualifies a spring.
- Lane · entry 15586
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:86word 10
“(of) dark mud”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 4 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 7 Classical meanings
حَمَأَ
To cleanse a well of its black or fetid mud.
A transitive construction with a well as object.
- Lane · entry 15581
حَمِئَ
Of water, to become mixed with black, fetid mud, becoming turbid and altered in odor; of a well or spring, to contain such mud abundantly.
Used of water, a well, or a spring.
- Lane · entry 15581
حَمِئَ عَلَيْهِ
To be angry with someone.
The construction is used with عَلَيْهِ, ‘with’ or ‘against him’.
- Lane · entry 15581
أَحْمَأَ
To throw black or fetid mud into a well.
A transitive Form IV construction with a well as object.
- Lane · entry 15582
حَمْءٌ
A spouse’s male relation by marriage; especially a father-in-law, and in some usages a wife’s brother or paternal uncle.
Applies to the male relations of a woman’s husband or a man’s wife; the plural is أَحْمَاءٌ.
- Lane · entry 15583
حَمْأَةٌ
A certain plant growing in the sands and open or soft land of Najd.
A regionally specified plant name, distinct from the mud term.
- Lane · entry 15585
حَمِئُ العَيْنِ
An evil-eyed man whose gaze harms those whom he sees and admires.
A fixed descriptive expression; no verb belonging to this expression is attested in the supplied evidence.
- Lane · entry 15586
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The lexical record contains homographic or closely variant branches, including in-law terminology, a plant name, an evil-eye expression, and an anger verb; these are kept separate from the Quranic mud senses.
No Maqayis or Mufradat evidence was supplied, so root-level development beyond the directly attested lexical record is not asserted.
The well-cleaning construction is reported with a usage disagreement in the lexical evidence.