Quranic root
صبح
ṣ · b · ḥ
The root centers on reddish coloration and the reddish light of dawn, extending to morning, morning activities, illumination, and brightness or beauty.
The primary color association is explained as redness; dawn and the lamp are associated with this reddish light, from which meanings connected with morning, morning drink, waking, illumination, and facial brightness develop.
- Maqāyīs · row 2746
- Mufradāt · row 812
- 7
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 45
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
صَبَّحَ
ṣabbaḥa
- 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 come upon or visit someone in the morning; in a hostile context, to attack or seize at daybreak.
Used with a person, people, or place reached in the morning; the hostile sense is a conventional morning-raid use.
- Lane · entry 25234
- Lane · entry 25233
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:38word 2
“seized them in the morning”
أَصْبَحَ
ʾaṣbaḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 28 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 enter upon the morning, or be present in a state reached by morning.
A temporal use referring to entering or reaching the morning; grammatical tense and person vary across the Quranic occurrences.
- Lane · entry 25235
Selected Quran examples
Quran 30:17word 6
“you reach the morning”
To become, come to be, or find oneself in a particular state or condition.
A non-attributive or incomplete-verb construction; the following predicate specifies the state, such as victory, grief, ruin, or another resulting condition.
- Lane · entry 25235
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:30word 7
“and became”
To become engaged in or begin doing something.
Frequently followed by an imperfect verb, expressing becoming occupied with, setting about, or commencing an action.
- Lane · entry 25235
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:82word 1
“And began”
إِصْبَاح
ʾiṣbāḥ
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- 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.
Daybreak or the coming of morning.
A verbal noun of أَصْبَحَ used as a time expression for the onset of dawn.
- Lane · entry 25241
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:96word 2
“(of) the daybreak”
صَبَاح
ṣabāḥ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Morning or forenoon, especially the early part of the day.
May be used as a time expression for the period beginning at dawn and extending into the morning or forenoon.
- Lane · entry 25248
- Mufradāt · row 812
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:177word 5
“(the) morning”
صُبْح
ṣubḥ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Daybreak, dawn, or the beginning of the day.
The noun denotes the onset or first part of daylight and may be used adverbially for the morning or dawn.
- Lane · entry 25241
- Mufradāt · row 812
Selected Quran examples
مِصْبَاح
miṣbāḥ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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 lamp, especially its lighted wick or source of illumination.
The Quranic singular refers to a lamp or its illuminating wick; the plural may refer to several lamps.
- Lane · entry 25265
- Mufradāt · row 812
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:35word 9
“(is) a lamp”
A heavenly lamp or illuminating star; in the plural, the stars or heavenly lights.
Used in the plural for the lights set in the sky, understood as stars or celestial lamps rather than household lamps.
- Lane · entry 25265
- Mufradāt · row 812
Selected Quran examples
Quran 67:5word 5
“with lamps”
مُصْبِح
muṣbiḥ
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Entering upon or being present in the morning.
The Quranic form is the masculine plural active participle مُصْبِحِينَ, used adverbially or predicatively for people who are in, or arrive at, the morning.
- Lane · entry 25235
- Mufradāt · row 812
Selected Quran examples
Quran 15:66word 9
“(by) early morning”
Quran 37:137word 4
“(in the) morning”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:103فَأَصْبَحْتُمthen you became
- 5:30فَأَصْبَحَand became
- 5:31فَأَصْبَحَThen he became
- 5:52فَيُصْبِحُوا۟Then they will become
- 5:53فَأَصْبَحُوا۟and they became
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 51 Classical meanings
صَبَحَ
To give someone a morning draught, especially of milk or wine; also, to water camels in the morning.
The watering or drinking takes place between daybreak and sunrise.
- Lane · entry 25233
صَبِحَ
To be satiated or have one's thirst quenched by a morning draught.
Refers specifically to satisfaction obtained from the morning drink called صَبُوح.
- Lane · entry 25233
صَبِحَ
To have hair in which whiteness is naturally mixed with redness.
Applied to hair or its coloration.
- Lane · entry 25233
صَبُحَ
To be or become beautiful, comely, elegant, or bright in the face.
The evidence especially associates the quality with the face, without making facial beauty the only possible application.
- Lane · entry 25233
صَبَّحَ
To greet someone with a morning blessing or wish for a good morning.
Used in formulas invoking goodness, happiness, or a pleasant morning for the person addressed.
- Lane · entry 25234
صَبَّحَ
To travel by night and bring people to water in the morning.
A causative travel construction describing arrival at a water source by morning.
- Lane · entry 25234
صَبَّحَ
To declare or tell the truth clearly.
A figurative use meaning to make the truth plain.
- Lane · entry 25234
أَصْبَحَ
To awake or become roused from sleep; figuratively, to become alert from heedlessness.
Includes imperative and proverbial uses urging someone to wake or recognize the proper course.
- Lane · entry 25235
أَصْبَحَ
To perform the prayer of daybreak.
A specialized religious use in the expression for performing the dawn prayer at its proper time.
- Lane · entry 25235
أَصْبَحَ
To act gently.
A rare lexical use reported for the Form IV verb.
- Lane · entry 25235
إِصْبَاح
To trim or properly prepare a lamp or wick for use.
A specialized verbal use concerning preparation of a lamp or wick.
- Lane · entry 25235
تَصَبَّحَ
To sleep in the morning or early part of the day.
The evidence places the sleep before sunrise or in the early morning; a related use refers to sleeping in the forenoon.
- Lane · entry 25236
تَصَبَّحَ
To eat food in the morning.
The food is a morning meal or صُبْحَة.
- Lane · entry 25236
يَتَصَابَحُ
To affect or make a show of being beautiful or comely.
The form is explained as equivalent to affecting beauty.
- Lane · entry 25237
اِصْطَبَحَ
To drink a morning draught.
The drink is the morning beverage called صَبُوح.
- Lane · entry 25238
اِصْطَبَحَ
To light or use a lamp, wick, oil, or other material as a means of illumination.
May be used with بِ to express employing something for lighting oneself or others.
- Lane · entry 25238
صُبْح
Truth or a clear, plain matter.
A figurative use of the morning's clarity.
- Lane · entry 25241
أُمُّ صُبْح
A name for Mecca.
A proper-name usage.
- Lane · entry 25241
صَبَح
The glistening of iron or another thing.
Refers to a bright or glistening appearance.
- Lane · entry 25243
صَبْحَة
Watering camels in the morning or early part of the day.
The evidence identifies this early watering, before sunrise, as a practice not regarded as wholesome by the Arabs.
- Lane · entry 25244
صُبْحَة
The early forenoon or the period of entering upon morning.
May denote the time after sunrise, or more broadly one's entry into the morning or forenoon.
- Lane · entry 25245
صُبْحَة
Sleep taken in the morning or early part of the day.
The evidence also extends the term by some usage to sleep in the forenoon.
- Lane · entry 25245
صُبْحَة
Food eaten in the morning to satisfy or divert hunger.
Refers to morning food before sunrise or in the early part of the day.
- Lane · entry 25245
صَبْحَان
A person who has drunk and been satisfied by a morning draught.
The feminine form may describe a she-camel milked in the morning.
- Lane · entry 25246
صَبْحَى
A she-camel that has been milked in the morning.
A derived feminine designation associated with a morning milking.
- Lane · entry 25246
صَبَحَان
A person who hastens to take the morning draught.
Refers to eagerness to drink the beverage taken in the morning.
- Lane · entry 25247
صَبَاح
A morning salutation or wish for a pleasant morning.
Includes the pre-Islamic greeting عِمْ صَبَاحًا and related formulas.
- Lane · entry 25248
صَبَاح
A morning hostile or predatory incursion; by extension, the day of such an attack.
The expression reflects the customary timing of raids at daybreak.
- Lane · entry 25248
صُبَاح
The flame or lighted wick of a lamp.
A specialized noun for a lamp's lighted element.
- Lane · entry 25249
صَبُوح
A morning draught or beverage, especially milk or wine, taken before noon.
The term is the opposite of غَبُوق and may refer generally to what is eaten or drunk in the morning; one authority also uses it absolutely for wine.
- Lane · entry 25250
صَبُوح
The quantity of milk drawn from a camel at dawn or in the early morning.
A measure or amount associated with the morning milking.
- Lane · entry 25250
صَبُوح
A she-camel milked at dawn or in the morning.
A specialized animal designation derived from the time of milking.
- Lane · entry 25250
صَبِيح
Beautiful, comely, pretty, elegant, or bright in the face.
The evidence especially associates this adjective with the face or facial brightness.
- Lane · entry 25251
صَبَاحَة
Beauty, comeliness, elegance, or brightness of the face.
A quality principally located in the face, distinguished in the cited lexical account from other aspects of beauty.
- Lane · entry 25252
صُبَاحِيّ
Intensely red blood.
A specialized color adjective derived from the redness associated with the root.
- Lane · entry 25254
صُبَاحِيّ
An adjective applied to a wide spearhead.
Used in the expression for wide spearheads; the lexical motivation is uncertain in the cited evidence.
- Lane · entry 25254
صَابِح
One who gives a morning draught or waters camels in the morning.
An active participle of the Form I morning-drink or morning-watering use.
- Lane · entry 25256
صَابِح
One who makes a hostile or predatory incursion in the morning.
A figurative extension from giving a morning draught to making a morning attack.
- Lane · entry 25256
صَابِح
Plain, manifest, or clear truth.
Used in the expression for truth that is clear or openly apparent.
- Lane · entry 25256
أَصْبَح
Black with redness intermixed, or hair or a beard overspread with a reddish hue; also an epithet for a lion.
The color description applies to people, lions, and hair; the lion designation is an associated lexical use.
- Lane · entry 25257
صَبْحَاء
A woman conspicuous, clear, or fair in the forehead.
A feminine color or appearance adjective referring specifically to the forehead.
- Lane · entry 25257
أَصْبَحِيّ
A whip associated with Dhu Asbah of Himyar.
A relational adjective referring to the named Yemeni king.
- Lane · entry 25258
أَصْبَحِيّ
An adjective applied to certain wide spearheads.
Used in the expression for wide spearheads; the exact motivation is reported as uncertain.
- Lane · entry 25258
إِصْبَاح
Darkness, according to a reported contrary use.
This is an attributed secondary usage contrasted with the primary morning meaning.
- Lane · entry 25259
إِصْبَاح
Redness of the hair, according to a reported usage.
An attributed color use related to the root's association with redness.
- Lane · entry 25259
تَصْبِيح
A morning meal eaten between daybreak and sunrise.
A substantive use of the Form II verbal noun; its plural is used for morning meals served to guests.
- Lane · entry 25261
مَصْبَح
The place or time of entering upon the morning.
The noun may denote the morning time, its onset, or the place associated with entering it.
- Lane · entry 25262
مِصْبَاح
A large drinking vessel used for a morning draught.
A specialized nominal use distinct from the lamp meaning.
- Lane · entry 25265
مِصْبَاح
A she-camel that remains lying in the morning and does not go out to pasture until the sun is high.
The described condition is attributed to strength and fatness and is regarded as an approved quality.
- Lane · entry 25265
مِصْبَاح
A wide spearhead.
A specialized object noun also reported for the related plural expression.
- Lane · entry 25265
مُصْطَبِح
One who drinks a morning draught.
The active participle refers to drinking the beverage called صَبُوح.
- Lane · entry 25266
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
أَصْبَحَ has both a temporal morning use and a copular or resultative use meaning “became”; the surrounding construction determines the sense.
مِصْبَاحٌ is a lamp in singular contexts, while its Quranic plural مَصَابِيحُ can denote heavenly lights or stars.
Lane includes several rare, attributed, or specialized Classical uses; these are kept separate from Quran-attested meanings rather than generalized into them.