Quranic root
صرف
ṣ · r · f
The root centers on turning or returning a thing from its course, state, or relation, including redirecting it, replacing it, or causing it to change.
From this core developed uses for diversion and aversion, variation between forms or states, exchange and expenditure, purity through removal of admixture, and the vicissitudes that turn people or affairs about.
- Maqāyīs · row 2785
- Mufradāt · row 829
- 7
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 30
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
صَرَفَ
ṣarafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 14 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 turn, divert, send, or put away or back from a course; to avert or repel.
Used transitively and in passive constructions, often with عَنْ to mark what someone or something is turned away from. Quranic contexts include diverting people, averting harm or punishment, and turning hearts or attention away from belief or signs.
- Lane · entry 25846
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:152word 30
“He diverted you”
Quran 25:65word 4
“Avert”
To turn or direct someone or something toward a person, place, or matter.
The directed object may be expressed with إِلَى. This use describes bringing a group or attention toward a destination or object rather than turning it away.
- Lane · entry 25846
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 46:29word 2
“We directed”
صَرَّفَ
ṣarrafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 10 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 vary, diversify, distribute, or turn something through different forms, directions, or states.
Form II commonly conveys repeated, multiple, or intensified variation. It is used in Quranic contexts for varying natural phenomena and distributing or presenting a matter in differing ways.
- Lane · entry 25847
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:50word 2
“We have distributed it”
Quran 46:27word 7
“and We have diversified”
To set out or restate signs, verses, or discourse in varied forms so that their meanings become distinct or clear.
This is the Quranic construction تَصْرِيفُ الآيَاتِ and related expressions: meanings are made distinct through repetition, variation, or differing presentation.
- Lane · entry 25847
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:105word 2
“We explain”
اِنْصَرَفَ
āinṣarafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VII
- Form
- VII
- 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 or go away or back; to withdraw or depart from a place, course, or undertaking.
The Form VII subject may be a person or thing. In the Quranic occurrence it describes people turning away after hearing or encountering something, with the exact implication supplied by context.
- Lane · entry 25851
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:127word 14
“they turn away”
صَرْف
ṣarf
- 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.
Averting or repelling something, especially punishment or harm.
In فَمَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ صَرْفًا, the noun denotes the ability to avert punishment from themselves or to turn themselves away from the fire.
- Lane · entry 25854
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:19word 7
“(to) avert”
A means or capacity for changing a matter from one state to another; by extension, artifice or cunning for warding something off.
The Quranic phrase is also interpreted as inability to alter the matter or employ an evasive resource. This sense explains renderings that emphasize artifice rather than direct aversion.
- Lane · entry 25854
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:19word 7
“(to) avert”
مَصْرِف
maṣrif
- 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 place or way of turning away, retreat, or escape.
In the Quranic expression وَلَمْ يَجِدُوا عَنْهَا مَصْرِفًا, it denotes no place or route by which to turn away from the fire.
- Lane · entry 25870
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:53word 10
“a way of escape”
مَصْرُوف
maṣrūf
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
Turned away, averted, or prevented from reaching its object.
In the Quranic phrase لَيْسَ مَصْرُوفًا عَنْهُمْ, the implied object is the punishment: it will not be turned away from them.
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:8word 15
“(will be) averted”
تَصْرِيف
taṣrīf
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- 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.
Variation, alternation, or directing from one state, course, or condition to another.
In the Quranic occurrences, the verbal noun is used with the winds and their changing or directed courses. It expresses the process rather than a single act of turning.
- Lane · entry 25847
- Mufradāt · row 829
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:164word 34
“and directing”
Quran 45:5word 16
“and (in) directing”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:164وَتَصْرِيفِand directing
- 3:152صَرَفَكُمْHe diverted you
- 6:16يُصْرَفْis averted
- 6:46نُصَرِّفُWe explain
- 6:65نُصَرِّفُWe explain
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 48 Classical meanings
صَرْف
The turning or separation of roads into distinct directions.
Used in the reported construction concerning roads whose courses diverge.
- Lane · entry 25846
صَرْف
Exchange, especially exchanging one kind of money for another.
Used for giving gold, silver, dirhams, or dinars in exchange for one another.
- Lane · entry 25846
صَرَفَ / تَصْرِيف
To expend property or money, especially in purchasing goods.
The derived noun may describe putting money into commercial transactions.
- Lane · entry 25846
صَرْفُ الكَلَام
Embellishment of speech, including additions or stylistic elaboration.
The expression can describe making discourse attractive or turning listeners’ attention toward it.
- Lane · entry 25846
- Maqāyīs · row 2785
صَرَّفَ
To leave a beverage unmixed, or to drink wine unmixed.
This specialized verb construction is used with beverage or wine and does not mean ordinary turning.
- Lane · entry 25846
- Lane · entry 25847
صَرَفَ
To grate a canine tooth against its opposite so as to make a sound.
Used of a person or camel; the resulting sound is the relevant lexical effect.
- Lane · entry 25846
صَرَفَتْ
Of a female animal, to be in heat or lust after the male.
The evidence explicitly applies this use to female animals, especially a bitch and also certain hoofed or predatory animals.
- Lane · entry 25846
تَصْرِيف
Morphological derivation and inflection: forming related words by modifying their patterns, including noun declension and verb conjugation.
This is the technical linguistic use of the verbal noun and the name of the related grammatical discipline.
- Lane · entry 25847
صَرَّفَ
To employ someone in managing an affair with discretion or freedom of action; sometimes, to make use of artifice or cunning in it.
Used with a person and an affair; the ordinary sense concerns discretionary management, while cunning is an attributed extension.
- Lane · entry 25847
صَرَّفَ
To exercise a horse.
A specialized Form II use applied to training or exercising the animal.
- Lane · entry 25847
مُصَارَفَة
Dealing, or buying and selling, with another person through exchange or commercial artifice.
The evidence leaves open whether the expression refers specifically to monetary exchange or to artful dealing more generally.
- Lane · entry 25848
تَصَرَّفَ
Of a face, to turn about or become turned about.
A Form V reflexive or quasi-passive use describing the face’s change of orientation.
- Lane · entry 25850
تَصَرَّفَ
To become employed or used in more than one way, as though shifted from one way to another.
This is a Form V quasi-passive use concerning the thing’s possible applications.
- Lane · entry 25850
تَصَرَّفَ فِي الأَمْر
To act freely or resourcefully in managing an affair; also to use artifice or cunning in it.
The evidence records both discretionary management and a figurative interpretation involving versatility or craft.
- Lane · entry 25850
تَصَرَّفَ
Of a horse, to be exercised.
A specialized Form V use for the animal’s training or exercise.
- Lane · entry 25850
اِصْطَرَفَ
To seek or obtain sustenance or gain, using resourcefulness or artifice in doing so.
The construction may specify seeking gain for one’s family or household.
- Lane · entry 25852
اِصْطَرَفَ وَجْهَهُ
To turn one’s face away.
A transitive Form VIII construction parallel to turning the face aside.
- Lane · entry 25852
اِصْطَرَفَ
To procure dirhams in exchange for other dirhams or for dinars.
A specialized monetary-exchange use of Form VIII.
- Lane · entry 25852
اِسْتَصْرَفَ
To ask or beg God to avert disliked things or adverse events.
The construction takes hardships or disliked events as what is sought to be turned away.
- Lane · entry 25853
صَرْف
The vicissitudes, mishaps, or calamities of time and fortune.
Used as a substantive, with the plural صُرُوف, for events that turn people or circumstances about.
- Lane · entry 25854
صَرْف
Repentance or turning back from wrongdoing.
This meaning is recorded especially in the paired expression لا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهُ صَرْفٌ وَلَا عَدْلٌ.
- Lane · entry 25854
صَرْف
The superiority, excess, or difference in value or excellence of one coin or piece of speech over another.
The sense applies to money and, by extension, to the relative excellence of speech.
- Lane · entry 25854
الصَّرَفَان
The night and the day considered as alternating counterparts.
This plural-like substantive is explained through their interchange.
- Lane · entry 25854
صَرْف
In the paired expression لا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهُ صَرْفٌ وَلَا عَدْلٌ, a compensatory, evasive, or otherwise offered resource; reported interpretations include repentance, artifice, gain, extra value, weight, or deviation.
The expression has several transmitted interpretations; it should not be reduced to one universal standalone meaning without context.
- Lane · entry 25854
صِرْف
Pure, unmixed, or free from admixture.
Applied to wine, beverage, blood, phlegm, and other things when nothing is mixed into them or obscures their essential quality.
- Lane · entry 25855
صِرْف
A red dye used for coloring or tanning leather and sandal straps.
A specialized material noun for the dye or red coloring substance.
- Lane · entry 25855
الصَّرْفَة
A mansion of the Moon, identified with a bright star in Leo.
A proper astronomical term whose name is explained through the turning away of heat or cold at its rising or setting.
- Lane · entry 25856
صَرْفَة
A kind of bead believed to captivate, restrain, or conciliate a person.
A traditional object associated with turning a person from one course of conduct to another.
- Lane · entry 25856
صَرْفَة
A bow marked with a black spot whose arrows are said not to strike the aimed object.
A specialized traditional term for this type of bow.
- Lane · entry 25856
صَرْفَة
A manner or interval of milking a she-camel in the early morning and leaving her until the corresponding time the next day.
This is an idiomatic temporal use rather than a general noun for milking.
- Lane · entry 25856
الصَّرَفَان
Death.
A specialized name for death.
- Lane · entry 25857
الصَّرَفَان
Lead; according to one attribution, copper.
The evidence records both lead and an alternative identification with copper.
- Lane · entry 25857
الصَّرَفَان
A heavy, tough variety of dates.
The singular is reported as صَرَفَانَة; regional identifications vary.
- Lane · entry 25857
صَرَفِيّ
A camel of a certain excellent sort.
The form and root assignment are disputed in the evidence, which also reports a preferred variant with د.
- Lane · entry 25858
صَرُوف
A she-camel that makes a grating or creaking sound with her teeth.
A specialized animal epithet derived from the tooth-grating sound.
- Lane · entry 25859
صَرِيف
A creaking, grating, or rasping sound, such as that of a pulley, door, writing reed, or camel tooth.
The noun may also describe the sound made by rubbing or grating teeth.
- Lane · entry 25846
- Lane · entry 25860
صَرِيف
Milk just drawn from the udder, while still hot or freshly obtained.
A specialized noun for fresh milk before it has cooled or otherwise settled.
- Lane · entry 25860
صَرِيف
A dry palm branch or other tree growth that has become dry.
The noun is also reported for dried vegetation or a dry palm frond.
- Lane · entry 25860
صَرِيف
Silver, especially pure silver.
A material noun attested in poetic usage and explained alternatively as pure silver.
- Lane · entry 25860
صَرِيفَة
A thin, round cake of bread.
The plural forms reported are صُرُف and صِرَاف.
- Lane · entry 25861
صَرِيفِيَّة
Wine from Ṣarīfūn in Iraq; according to another explanation, wine freshly drawn from its jar.
The evidence preserves both the place-name derivation and the alternative freshness-based interpretation.
- Lane · entry 25862
صَارِف
Making a creaking or grating sound, especially a tooth or sandal thong that creaks.
An active-participial adjective for the source of the sound.
- Lane · entry 25865
صَيْرَف
A person skilled in artifice or cunning in managing affairs.
The term can be applied figuratively to a sharp, incisive tongue.
- Lane · entry 25867
صَيْرَفِيّ
A money-changer who distinguishes the relative quality or value of coins.
The related forms صَرَّاف and صَيْرَفِيّ may differ in intensity; the latter denotes the money-changing occupation.
- Lane · entry 25868
تَصَارِيف
The varieties, changes, or vicissitudes of affairs and events.
Usually used in the expression تَصَارِيفُ الأُمُورِ.
- Lane · entry 25869
مُتَصَرَّف
A place, scope, or room for free action and maneuver.
A substantive or quasi-passive description of what allows discretionary movement or management.
- Lane · entry 25872
مُتَصَرِّف
An agent, factor, or deputy who acts according to his own discretion in managing an affair.
This use concerns an authorized person with freedom of action, not the grammatical sense of a fully inflected verb.
- Lane · entry 25873
مُنْصَرَف
A place of turning away or back; also the verbal noun of اِنْصَرَفَ.
The place noun is parallel to مَصْرِف; its verbal-noun use is grammatical in origin.
- Lane · entry 25874
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane's printed Quran citations use historical conventions and include references that do not always match modern verse numbering; modern example locations here are taken only from the secure QAC occurrences. In particular, مَصْرِف is located at 18:53 by QAC despite the Lane citation notation.
The Quranic phrase involving صَرْف in 25:19 has multiple transmitted interpretations, represented separately under the form rather than treated as interchangeable translations.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
Lane's Form VII entry reports, without naming an authority for the claim, a possible meaning of اِنْصَرَفَ as running in a small stream. It is retained as ambiguous rather than assigned as a Classical meaning.