Quranic root
صحب
ṣ · ḥ · b
The root centers on the juxtaposition, proximity, and sustained association of one thing with another.
From proximity and companionship develop meanings of accompanying, making something a companion, adhering to or carrying something along, becoming tractable through association, and designating a companion, possessor, or associated group.
- Maqāyīs · row 2755
- Mufradāt · row 815
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 97
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
صَحِبَ
ṣaḥiba
- 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 protect, defend, or keep safe.
Quranically attested in the passive construction يُصْحَبُونَ, describing people who receive no protection or safeguarding from others.
- Lane · entry 25386
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:43word 14
“can be protected”
صَاحَبَ
ṣāḥaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 accompany, associate with, or keep company with.
The construction denotes sustained companionship or association rather than a merely momentary meeting; it may be used with a person or group.
- Lane · entry 25387
- Lane · entry 25386
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:76word 8
“keep me as a companion”
Quran 31:15word 14
“But accompany them”
أَصْحَاب
ʾaṣḥāb
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural
- Quran occurrences
- 78 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.
Companions, associates, or people associated with a person, place, event, or thing.
The plural frequently forms names for groups linked to a particular person, location, episode, or distinguishing circumstance; context may render it as the people or inhabitants of that association.
- Lane · entry 25397
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:9word 4
“(the) companions”
Occupants or inmates of a place or state.
In expressions such as أصحاب الجنة and أصحاب النار, the noun denotes those who inhabit or belong to Paradise or the Fire, rather than ordinary companions.
- Lane · entry 25397
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:82word 6
“(are the) companions”
Appointed keepers or custodians.
In أصحاب النار in the construction cited for 74:31, the referents are those entrusted with the Fire, not its punished inmates.
- Lane · entry 25397
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:31word 3
“keepers”
صَاحِب
ṣāḥib
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 12 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 companion, associate, fellow, or close companion.
The noun normally denotes a person characterized by sustained association; it can also be used for an associated person in relation to an animal, place, time, or circumstance.
- Lane · entry 25397
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:40word 18
“to his companion”
Quran 53:2word 3
“your companion”
A fellow inmate or fellow occupant.
In the dual vocative صاحبي السجن, it denotes the two fellow prisoners addressed in the Quranic narrative.
- Lane · entry 25397
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:39word 1
“O my two companions”
Quran 12:41word 1
“O my two companions”
صَاحِبَة
ṣāḥibah
- Part of speech
- Noun · feminine
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 female companion or associate; a female consort or spouse.
The feminine noun denotes a female counterpart in an association. In possessive constructions referring to a male's female counterpart, Quranic context specifies the sense as spouse or wife.
- Lane · entry 25397
- Mufradāt · row 815
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:39أَصْحَـٰبُ(are the) companions
- 2:81أَصْحَـٰبُ(are the) companions
- 2:82أَصْحَـٰبُ(are the) companions
- 2:119أَصْحَـٰبِ(the) companions
- 2:217أَصْحَـٰبُ(are) companions
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
صَحَبَ
To skin a slaughtered animal.
A distinct classical Form I use.
- Lane · entry 25386
أَصْحَبَ
To make a person or thing a companion or associate of another.
It may take a person as a companion or make an object, such as a book or writing, accompany someone metaphorically.
- Lane · entry 25388
أَصْحَبَ
To leave the hair or wool upon a skin instead of stripping it.
Used of a skin or hide that has not undergone the relevant removal or preparation process.
- Lane · entry 25388
أَصْحَبَ
To become one who has a companion or companions.
The intransitive Form IV use describes acquiring or coming to have a companion.
- Lane · entry 25388
أَصْحَبَ
To have a son who has reached manhood and become a companion-like equal.
A conventional extension describing the father's changed status when his son reaches maturity.
- Lane · entry 25388
أَصْحَبَ
To become tractable, submissive, or compliant after being refractory.
Used of a person or animal that becomes manageable or yields to another.
- Lane · entry 25388
- Lane · entry 25388
- Lane · entry 25401
- Lane · entry 25402
أَصْحَبَ
For water, to become covered with algae.
A specialized classical use applied to water.
- Lane · entry 25388
يَتَصَحَّبُ
To be ashamed, bashful, or shy of associating with someone or doing something.
The use may describe reluctance to sit with others or failure to avoid a shameful act, depending on the construction.
- Lane · entry 25389
تَصَاحَبَ
For two or more people, to associate or keep company with one another.
A reciprocal Form VI use.
- Lane · entry 25391
اِسْتَصْحَبَ
To seek, choose, invite, or take someone as a companion, and to keep him with oneself.
The Form X use may emphasize requesting companionship, choosing an associate, or retaining the companion.
- Lane · entry 25392
اِسْتَصْحَبَ
To carry or take something along as a companion.
Used especially of carrying a book or another object with oneself.
- Lane · entry 25392
- Lane · entry 25394
اِسْتَصْحَبَ
To adhere, cling, hold fast, or coalesce with something.
A specialized Form X extension for things that remain attached or become united.
- Lane · entry 25392
صُحْبَة
Companionship or company.
The verbal noun may describe being in someone's company or carrying something along with oneself.
- Lane · entry 25394
صَحَابَة
The conventional collective designation for the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
In later usage, it denotes those who saw Muhammad and had recognized companionship with him, with variation over how long that companionship must have lasted.
- Lane · entry 25395
صَاحِب
An owner, possessor, master, occupant, or person having control of something.
This is a possessive or relational use of صاحب distinct from simple interpersonal companionship.
- Lane · entry 25397
صَاحِب
A person characterized by association with a role, object, office, doctrine, text, or affair.
Depending on the construction, it can denote an attendant or official, accomplice, follower of a school, author, manager, disposer, person with authority, or debtor.
- Lane · entry 25397
أَصْحَبُ
Of a color, inclining toward redness.
A specialized descriptive adjective applied to a wild ass or similar animal.
- Lane · entry 25399
مُصْحَب
Made to have a companion.
The passive participial form of the causative association branch; it also has specialized lexical extensions below.
- Lane · entry 25400
مُصْحَب
Possessed by a jinn or demon; demoniac or insane.
A specialized assumed-tropical use.
- Lane · entry 25400
مُصْحَب
A skin or hide retaining its hair, wool, or fur.
Includes a water-skin retaining some hair or wool and not subjected to the specified preparation process.
- Lane · entry 25400
مُصْحَب
A branch or stick retaining its bark.
A specialized description of wood that has not been stripped.
- Lane · entry 25400
مُصْحِب
Having a companion.
It may describe a man whose son has reached manhood and become companion-like, as well as the general state of having an associate.
- Lane · entry 25401
مُصْحِب
One who talks to himself.
A tropical descriptive use.
- Lane · entry 25401
مُصْحِب
Going straight on or proceeding without delay.
A specialized assumed-tropical descriptive use.
- Lane · entry 25401
مَصْحُوب
Associated with or accompanied by something or someone.
The passive participle can also occur in a farewell formula meaning that the departing person is kept safe or preserved from harm.
- Lane · entry 25403
مَصْحُوب
Sent away safely or preserved from harm.
A conventional farewell or protective idiom, not a general restriction on the ordinary meaning of accompaniment.
- Lane · entry 25403
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form I Quran occurrence is represented specifically in the protective or defensive construction يُصْحَبُونَ; this does not generalize the protective sense to every ordinary use of the root.
صَاحِب and أَصْحَاب vary between interpersonal companionship, named association, occupancy, and custodianship according to their construction and Quranic context.