Quranic root
صفصف
ṣ · f · ṣ · f
The root expresses leveling, evenness, and equality of placement, whether in a flat tract of land or in things standing side by side in a row.
The reduplicated form صفصف is associated with level ground; the same orientation extends to forming ranks and placing things evenly.
- Maqāyīs · row 2800
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- 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.
صَفْصَف
ṣafṣaf
- 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.
Level, smooth, and even; a level plain or expanse.
In the Quranic description of the land in 20:106, it characterizes the ground as level and smooth.
- Lane · entry 26055
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:106word 3
“plain”
Bare or barren, without herbage.
A reported interpretation of the Quranic land description emphasizes that the surface is stripped or bald and without vegetation; this is a distinct descriptive nuance of the same construction.
- Lane · entry 26055
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 20:106صَفْصَفًۭاplain
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 32 Classical meanings
صَفَّ
To set, place, or station people, a military force, or things in a rank, row, or line.
The intensive form صَفَّفَ is reported with an intensive sense. Collective and reflexive derivatives can mean to gather themselves together or stand in ranks, including gathering at a watering place; اصطفّوا means to stand or become arranged in ranks.
- Lane · entry 26041
- Lane · entry 26045
- Lane · entry 26046
صَفَّ
Of a she-camel: to set the forelegs evenly side by side.
This specialized use is reported in the context of milking.
- Lane · entry 26041
- Lane · entry 26051
صَفَّ
Of a she-camel: to yield or be milked into a row of bowls by combining two or three milking vessels at one milking.
The expression refers to the abundance of the camel’s milk and to the vessels being placed together.
- Lane · entry 26041
- Lane · entry 26051
صَفَّ
To cut meat into broad or thin strips or slices, and lay it on coals or in the sun for roasting or drying.
The reported descriptions include cutting the meat thin enough to be translucent and placing it on live coals or in sunlight.
- Lane · entry 26041
صَفَّ
Of a bird: to extend or expand its wings in a line without flapping them.
The use describes gliding or holding the wings extended in flight, in contrast with active wing-beating.
- Lane · entry 26041
صَفَّ
To put a ṣuffa, or saddle covering, on a horse or other riding animal.
This is a figurative or specialized use connected with the saddle accessory called صُفَّة.
- Lane · entry 26041
صَافَّ
To face an opponent in a rank or draw oneself out in a rank against the opponent in battle.
The construction describes opposing parties forming lines for combat.
- Lane · entry 26043
مُصَافّ
A person whose house porch or covered frontage faces another person’s porch.
The expression describes two house appendages standing opposite or facing one another.
- Lane · entry 26043
- Lane · entry 26061
صَفْصَفَ
To travel or become alone in a level tract of land.
The verb is reported in connection with being alone in a صفصف, or level expanse.
- Lane · entry 26047
صَفْصَفَ
To pasture on trees called صفصاف.
This is a separately reported verbal use associated with the willow-like tree name صفصاف.
- Lane · entry 26047
صَفْصَفَة
The cry or chirping sound of a sparrow.
The noun is reported as an infinitive or simple substantive and is associated with dialectal use of صُفْصُف for sparrow.
- Lane · entry 26047
صَفّ
A rank, row, or line; an even front or forepart of things; or a company standing in such formation.
The noun can be used collectively or as a singular with a collective sense. It also occurs in Quranic expressions involving ranks, but the relevant QAC form group here is the separate adjective صفصف.
- Lane · entry 26048
صَفّ
A station or place where people stand in ranks.
In a reported Quranic usage, صفًّا is also explained either as a prayer or festival gathering-place or as a circumstantial expression meaning people standing in ranks.
- Lane · entry 26048
صَفّ
A pair of bowls placed together, especially as filled at one milking.
The meaning is attributed to the vessels being put side by side.
- Lane · entry 26048
صَفّ
A medicament used to whiten the teeth.
- Lane · entry 26048
صُفَّة
A roofed appendage, porch, portico, or covered frontage of a house or building.
The expression أهل الصفة referred to poor refugees and other houseless people lodged in the covered area adjoining the Prophet’s mosque. The expression عذاب يوم الصفة is reported with a disputed identification, sometimes equated with عذاب يوم الظلة.
- Lane · entry 26049
صُفَّة
A saddle accessory or covering fitted between the front and rear parts of a horse or camel saddle.
The term can refer to the component enclosing or supporting the saddle’s structural pieces.
- Lane · entry 26049
صُفَّة
A long period of time.
This is reported as a figurative use in the expression صُفَّةٌ مِنَ الدَّهْرِ.
- Lane · entry 26049
صُفَّة
The quantity of grain that can be held in the palm of the hand.
This is reported as an assumed figurative use in a traditional expression about possessing no food.
- Lane · entry 26049
صَفَف
A garment worn beneath a coat of mail during battle.
- Lane · entry 26050
صَفُوف
A she-camel characterized by producing a row of bowls of milk, filling vessels set side by side, or setting her forelegs evenly while being milked.
The descriptions differ in whether the name emphasizes the camel’s abundant milk, the paired vessels, or the even position of her forelegs.
- Lane · entry 26051
صَفِيف
Meat cut into strips, broad slices, or oblong pieces and roasted, dried, or partly cooked.
The reported preparations include roasting on coals or pebbles, drying in the sun, and making broad slices unlike ordinary قديد.
- Lane · entry 26052
الصُّفِّيَّة
The Ṣūfiyya, a designation associated with the people of the ṣuffa.
The term is explained in relation to أهل الصفة.
- Lane · entry 26053
صَافّ
Standing or placed in a row or rank; applied to camels arranged in a row for slaughter and to angels standing in ranks.
The plural صَوَافّ is used of camels in a reported Quranic expression, while الصافات describes angels standing in ranks in another Quranic expression.
- Lane · entry 26054
صَافّ
Of a bird: expanding its wings and not flapping them.
This participial use corresponds to the bird’s extended-wing flight described under the verb صَفَّ.
- Lane · entry 26054
صَفْصَف
A desert or waterless tract.
The feminine form صَفْصَفَة is also reported in this sense.
- Lane · entry 26055
صَفْصَف
A ridge, brow, or ledge of a mountain.
- Lane · entry 26055
صُفْصُف
A sparrow.
This designation is reported in one or more dialects.
- Lane · entry 26056
صَفْصَفَة
A dish or mess of the food called سكباجة.
The form is also reported in the dialect of Thaqīf.
- Lane · entry 26057
صَفْصَفَة
A small insect, identified as a weevil.
The word is described as foreign or adventitious to Arabic and is associated with a Persian designation.
- Lane · entry 26057
صَفْصَاف
A willow-like tree, identified with خِلاف in the lexical sources.
صَفْصَافَة is reported as its nomen unitatis; species identifications vary by region and dialect.
- Lane · entry 26058
- Lane · entry 26059
مَصَفّ
A station or place where ranks are drawn up in war or battle.
The plural is مَصَافّ.
- Lane · entry 26060
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The displayed Quranic form is the adjective صَفْصَف in 20:106; related صفّ rank terminology and other contracted-root derivatives are listed separately as broader Classical Arabic evidence.