Quranic root
صعر
ṣ · ʿ · r
A root principle of inclination or deviation in a thing, especially a slanting or distortion of the neck, cheek, or course.
The physical notion of bodily obliquity extends to turning the cheek away in pride and to related descriptions of oblique movement, twisting, and contracted or rounded forms.
- Maqāyīs · row 2791
- Mufradāt · row 833
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
صَعَّرَ
ṣaʿʿara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 turn away one's cheek or face from people through pride or contempt.
A Form II construction involving the cheek or face; the Quranic usage describes deliberately turning it away from people because of arrogance, pride, or dislike.
- Lane · entry 25968
- Mufradāt · row 833
Selected Quran examples
Quran 31:18word 2
“turn”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 31:18تُصَعِّرْturn
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
صَعِرَ
To have a wryness or distortion of the cheek, face, or neck; of a camel, to suffer a disorder that twists and distorts the neck.
The distortion may be associated with pride in a person, or with a physical disorder in an animal; it may be natural or accidental.
- Lane · entry 25967
صَعِرَ
To eat صَعَارِير, identified here as gum.
A separate lexical use recorded for the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 25967
صَعَّرَ
To cause someone or something to acquire a wryness or distortion of the neck, with the face turned to one side.
The distortion is caused by something striking or befalling the subject, rather than being the deliberate proud gesture of the Quranic construction.
- Lane · entry 25968
تَصَعَّرَ
To distort one's cheek through pride.
A reflexive Form V use describing the proud facial posture.
- Lane · entry 25970
اِصْعَرَّتِ الإِبِلُ
Of camels, to go at a vehement pace.
A Form IX use specifically attested with camels.
- Lane · entry 25972
اِصْعَرَّتِ الإِبِلُ
Of camels, to become dispersed.
An alternative lexical interpretation of the same Form IX expression.
- Lane · entry 25972
صَعْرَرَهُ
To make something round; to roll it.
A reduplicated special-form usage.
- Lane · entry 25973
تَصَعْرَرَ
To become round; to roll.
A reflexive or intransitive reduplicated special-form usage.
- Lane · entry 25974
اِصْعَنْرَرَ
To writhe and turn around in place from pain, becoming contracted.
Describes a subject that has been beaten or struck; an alternative form incorporates the ن into the following ر.
- Lane · entry 25975
صَعَرٌ
Wryness or distortion of the face, cheek, or neck.
In the legal expression فِي الصَّعَرِ الدِّيَةُ, it denotes facial distortion treated as an injury.
- Lane · entry 25976
صَعَرٌ
Pride or being proud.
An abstract noun referring to the proud disposition associated with turning away or facial distortion.
- Lane · entry 25976
صَعَرٌ
Smallness of the head.
Used of a person's head; the associated verb describes the head as being small.
- Lane · entry 25976
صُعْرُورٌ
A piece or strand of gum, especially gum that is long, slender, twisted, or concrete.
The plural صَعَارِيرُ may denote concrete gum resembling fingers; the term is also extended to gum generally in the cited evidence.
- Lane · entry 25977
صُعْرُورٌ
A hard fruit or similar hard growth, such as the fruit of a tree likened to the abhal or to pepper.
The plural صَعَارِيرُ may be used for such hard fruits or comparable hard objects.
- Lane · entry 25977
صُعْرُورَةٌ
A thick, tough, somewhat soft and moist substance issuing from the teat; especially the first or gummy milk of the colostrum.
A comparison-based extension of the noun صُعْرُورٌ.
- Lane · entry 25977
صُعْرُورَةٌ
The little ball rolled along by a dung beetle.
A specialized noun for the rounded object made and moved by the beetle.
- Lane · entry 25977
صَعَارِيرُ
Long fingers.
A figurative or extended plural usage.
- Lane · entry 25977
صَعَّارٌ
Proud or haughty; one who turns away the face from people.
An adjectival use associated with declining the cheek and withdrawing from others through pride; the cited traditional wording has variant reports.
- Lane · entry 25979
صَيْعَرِيٌّ
Large, great, and round, especially of a camel's hump.
An adjective applied to the size and rounded form of a camel's hump.
- Lane · entry 25980
صَيْعَرِيٌّ
Intensely red.
Used in the expression أَحْمَرُ صَيْعَرِيٌّ.
- Lane · entry 25980
صَيْعَرِيَّةٌ
Obliquity in going, marching, or course.
A noun derived from the notion of صَعَرٌ as bodily or directional obliquity.
- Lane · entry 25981
صَيْعَرِيَّةٌ
A mark made with a hot iron on a camel's neck.
Some authorities describe it particularly as a mark on a she-camel, while its application to a male camel is disputed in the cited discussion.
- Lane · entry 25981
أَصْعَرُ
Having a wryness or distortion of the cheek, face, or neck; of a camel, having a disorder that twists the neck.
The condition may be natural or accidental and is explicitly applied in the evidence to people, an ostrich, and camels.
- Lane · entry 25982
أَصْعَرُ
Withdrawn or self-important through pride; figuratively, one who turns away from the truth and is faulty.
Attested in traditional expressions as a figurative extension of turning away the face.
- Lane · entry 25982
مُصْعَرٌّ
Hard or severe, of a night-journey to water.
Used specifically of a demanding journey in the cited poetic expression.
- Lane · entry 25983
مُصَعْرَرٌ
Made round; round.
Used of rounded objects, illustrated by round pepper grains.
- Lane · entry 25984