Quranic root
صدي
ṣ · d · y
The lexical evidence is heterogeneous rather than governed by one demonstrable common principle. A prominent cluster concerns a sound answering another, especially an echo, while other branches concern thirst, the brain, bodily states, and specialized names.
Within the echo-related cluster, returning or answering a sound is extended to correspondence and facing something. The Form V verb is explained through this echo-like correspondence, while the Form II verbal noun denotes clapping understood as an echo-like, unproductive sound. These associations should not be treated as a single direct meaning for every derivative.
- Maqāyīs · row 2777
- Mufradāt · row 824
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَصَدَّى
taṣaddā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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 toward, face, or give attention to someone or something.
The Quranic use expresses addressing oneself toward the object of attention, with the correspondence or facing likened to an echo answering a sound.
- Lane · entry 25676
- Mufradāt · row 824
Selected Quran examples
Quran 80:6word 3
“give attention”
تَصْدِيَة
taṣdiyah
- 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.
Clapping with the hands.
In the Quranic construction paired with bird-whistling, the clapping is characterized as an echo-like sound without useful content.
- Lane · entry 25673
- Mufradāt · row 824
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:35word 8
“and clapping”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 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 22 Classical meanings
صَدًى / صَدٍ
Thirst, especially vehement thirst; being thirsty.
The noun denotes thirst, while صَدٍ is used adjectivally for a thirsty person; related feminine and intensive forms are also recorded.
- Lane · entry 25672
- Lane · entry 25677
- Lane · entry 25678
صَادَاهُ
To imitate, correspond to, or be equal to someone or something.
A reported Quranic reading of the imperative صَادِ is interpreted in this sense as imitating the Quran through one's deeds; no supplied QAC occurrence is assigned to that reading.
- Lane · entry 25674
صَادَاهُ
To consider, forecast, manage, or attend carefully to an affair or living charge.
Used of thoughtful management or attentive supervision, including carefully minding animals or an affair.
- Lane · entry 25674
صَادَاهُ
To soothe, coax, wheedle, cajole, or outwit someone.
The usage includes managing another person gently or deceptively; related verbs are cited as synonyms.
- Lane · entry 25674
أَصْدَى
To return an echo; figuratively, for a person, to die when his echo has ceased.
The literal subject may be a mountain; the application to a man's death is an echo-based figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 25675
صَدًى
An echo, or a sound returned in response to a voice or cry.
In idiomatic expressions, making an echo silent or dumb signifies death or destruction.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدًى
A sound, voice, or cry in an unrestricted sense.
This is the broader absolute use of the noun, distinct from the specifically returning sound of an echo.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدًى
The brain, especially the part regarded as the seat of hearing; the contents of the head.
The term is used in anatomical and idiomatic expressions concerning deafness or injury to the head.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدًى
A legendary bird associated with the head or grave of an unavenged slain person; also the male owl in this usage.
This belief is attributed to pre-Islamic popular conceptions, and the plural is أَصْدَاءٌ.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدًى
The body or remains of a dead person.
This is another reported application of the term within the traditions concerning the dead and the grave.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدًى
A nocturnal flying insect that creaks, hops, and flies, identified by some as a kind of cricket.
The term is distinguished in the cited account from the smaller جُنْدُب.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدَاةٌ
A certain large, long, black, bulky fish.
This is a specialized zoological usage; صَدَاةٌ is given as its singular form.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدًى
A man who is small or slender in build.
This is an independent descriptive usage of the noun.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَدَى مَالٍ
A person skilled in caring for livestock and promoting its welfare.
The expression is used for knowledgeable or gentle management of livestock, with camels particularly mentioned in some reports.
- Lane · entry 25677
تَصَدَّى
To expose oneself to something or to humble oneself before it.
These are Classical usages of تَصَدَّى لَهُ distinct from the Quranic sense of turning one's attention toward an object.
- Lane · entry 25676
تَصَدَّى
To feign being unaware, inattentive, negligent, or heedless.
The apparent inattention is described as affected rather than genuine.
- Lane · entry 25676
تَصَدَّى
To divert oneself.
This is a separate Classical use of the Form V verb.
- Lane · entry 25676
التَّصَدِّي
The act of facing or looking toward a thing with the head and breast raised.
This verbal-noun usage describes a posture or act of looking toward an object.
- Lane · entry 25677
صَوَادٍ
Tall palm trees.
The plural may also be explained in reports as palms characterized by their relation to water; the lexical evidence records variant descriptions.
- Lane · entry 25681
مُصْدَاةٌ
A cup of wine containing much water.
It is contrasted with مُعْرَقَةٌ, described as having little water.
- Lane · entry 25682
مِصْدَاءٌ
A man who thirsts much.
This is an intensive descriptive noun, distinct from the ordinary adjective for being thirsty.
- Lane · entry 25683
مُصَدِّيَةٌ
A woman who faces or decorates a cushion with black lines on its leather covering.
The interpretation of this specialized term is reported conjecturally in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 25684
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
Lane records a reported Form III imperative reading associated with a Quran passage, but no corresponding QAC form group or independently supplied QAC word location is present. It is therefore retained under the Classical Form III entry and not presented as a Quran example.