Quranic root
صمع
ṣ · m · ʿ
The root centers on fineness, compactness, and close joining in a thing.
This orientation appears in close-set ears, slender or pointed forms, compact joints and plants, and structures with a narrowed or compact upper part. It also develops figuratively into firmness, courage, and acuity of mind, as well as into gathering or making things compact.
- Maqāyīs · row 2837
- Mufradāt · row 849
- 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.
صَوْمَعَة
ṣawmaʿah
- 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.
A high, slender-headed structure; in the Quranic plural صَوَامِع, a Christian monastic cell or monastery.
The sole Quran occurrence is the plural صَوَامِع. The architectural name is associated with a compact, narrowed, or pointed upper part.
- Lane · entry 26591
- Mufradāt · row 849
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:40word 19
“monasteries”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 22:40صَوَٰمِعُmonasteries
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 19 Classical meanings
صَمِعَ / أَصْمَعُ
Of an ear: small, close-set to the head, and contracted; it may also be described as narrow in its opening or not pointed at the extremity.
Applied to the ears of humans and other animals.
- Lane · entry 26585
- Lane · entry 26592
صَمَعٌ / صَمِعٌ
Courage or courageousness, figuratively associated with compactness of heart.
- Lane · entry 26588
- Lane · entry 26589
صَوْمَعَ
To make a dish of crumbled bread with broth slender in the head and pointed there.
A specialized description of preparing a ثريدة.
- Lane · entry 26587
صَوْمَعَ
To make a building high.
- Lane · entry 26587
صَوْمَعَ
To collect a thing together.
- Lane · entry 26587
مُصَوْمَعَة
A dish of crumbled bread with broth made slender in the head and pointed there.
A descriptive participial expression for a ثريدة.
- Lane · entry 26594
صَوْمَعَة
A minaret.
A conventional architectural use distinct from the monastic-cell sense.
- Lane · entry 26591
صَوْمَعَة
The uppermost part or body of a dish of crumbled bread with broth, especially when shaped pointed and even.
A figurative or specialized culinary use.
- Lane · entry 26591
صَوْمَعَة
A burnus, a garment with a pointed hood; صَوَامِع is also reported for such garments.
- Lane · entry 26591
صَوْمَعَة
An eagle.
The designation is explained by the bird's remaining on the highest place to which it can rise.
- Lane · entry 26591
أَصْمَعُ
An ostrich.
The designation is explained by the smallness and close-set position of its ear.
- Lane · entry 26592
أَصْمَعُ
Small or slender, even, and smooth at the joints or knots of a limb, shaft, reed, or similar object.
Used in expressions describing joints of animals and knots or joints of spear-shafts and canes.
- Lane · entry 26592
أَصْمَعُ
Of a feather: slender in its shaft; also a choice feather suitable for feathering an arrow.
- Lane · entry 26592
صَمْعَاءُ / أَصْمَعُ
Of a plant or calyx: compact and full-grown or fresh, with its fruit or covering not yet opened.
The descriptions include a plant whose fruit or calyx has not burst open and one that is compact, moist, smooth, round, or slender.
- Lane · entry 26592
صَمِعٌ / أَصْمَعُ
Sharp, vigilant, intelligent, and resolute in mind or judgment.
Applied to the heart, mind, judgment, opinion, or a person characterized by acute intelligence.
- Lane · entry 26589
- Lane · entry 26592
أَصْمَعُ
A sharp sword.
This sense is reported with a qualification concerning the reliability of its transmission.
- Lane · entry 26592
أَصْمَعُ
One who ascends or rises by degrees to the most elevated places.
- Lane · entry 26592
أَصْمَعُ
Confused or perplexed, unable to see the right course.
Equivalent in meaning to a person described as سَادِرٌ.
- Lane · entry 26592
الصَّمْعَاءُ
The side of the upper part of the neck, or the place of the ear.
A specialized anatomical use.
- Lane · entry 26592
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied Quran occurrence is the plural صَوَامِع; the public headword is normalized to the singular صَوْمَعَة.
The sharp-sword sense is a reported Classical usage whose transmission is explicitly qualified in the lexical evidence.