Quranic root
طعم
ṭ · ʿ · m
The root centers on tasting or perceiving something through consumption; from this develop the notions of food, feeding, taste, and nourishment.
The basic act of tasting extends to the consumed thing itself, giving food and flavor, and metaphorically to supplying sustenance or conveying something as though it were placed in the mouth.
- Maqāyīs · row 3032
- Mufradāt · row 897
- 7
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 48
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
طَعِمَ
ṭaʿima
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To eat or consume food.
The sense covers eating in ordinary contexts, including statements about the amount or satisfaction resulting from eating.
- Lane · entry 11345
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:53word 22
“you have eaten”
To taste or partake of something, including a drink.
The verb may describe tasting what is eaten or drunk; in the water episode, it denotes taking or tasting the water rather than merely drinking it.
- Lane · entry 11345
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:249word 17
“taste it”
أَطْعَمَ
ʾaṭʿama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 13 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 feed someone; give someone food or give someone to eat.
The passive occurrence expresses being fed; active and imperative forms express providing food to another.
- Lane · entry 11348
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 76:8word 1
“And they feed”
To supply someone with sustenance or the means of subsistence.
This Quran-attested construction presents sustenance as something supplied by the provider, including the theological statement that God is not dependent on being sustained.
- Lane · entry 11348
Selected Quran examples
Quran 51:57word 9
“they (should) feed Me”
اِسْتَطْعَمَ
āistaṭʿama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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 ask for food or ask someone to feed one.
In the Quranic occurrence, the verb is used of travelers asking the people of a town for food.
- Lane · entry 11352
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:77word 7
“they asked for food”
إِطْعَامٌ
ʾiṭʿāmun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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.
Feeding; giving food to another.
A verbal noun of أَطْعَمَ, including the provision of food in acts of charity or expiation.
- Lane · entry 11348
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 90:14word 2
“feeding”
طَاعِمٌ
ṭāʿimun
- Part of speech
- Active 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.
One who eats; an eater.
The participle denotes the person eating or tasting in the Quranic dietary construction.
- Lane · entry 11364
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:145word 10
“an eater”
طَعَامٌ
ṭaʿāmun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 24 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.
Food; anything eaten, including a meal or repast.
The noun can refer to food generally and, by context, to a particular meal or edible provision.
- Lane · entry 11359
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:37word 4
“food”
The food or edible provision of the sea.
In the construction طَعَامُ الْبَحْرِ, it denotes what the sea leaves exposed and available to take without fishing, according to the Quranic usage represented here.
- Lane · entry 11359
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:96word 5
“and its food”
طَعْمٌ
ṭaʿmun
- 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.
Taste or flavor.
The noun denotes the perceptible taste of a consumed thing, including the taste of a drink.
- Lane · entry 11353
- Mufradāt · row 897
Selected Quran examples
Quran 47:15word 17
“its taste”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:61طَعَامٍۢfood
- 2:184طَعَامُ(of) feeding
- 2:249يَطْعَمْهُtaste it
- 2:259طَعَامِكَyour food
- 3:93ٱلطَّعَامِ[the] food
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 45 Classical meanings
طَعِمَ
Said of a branch or shoot, to receive a graft.
A figurative or specialized use applied to a plant branch or shoot.
- Lane · entry 11345
طَعِمَ
Said of an eye, to have a mote cast into it.
Reported as an extended usage and not as the ordinary meaning of the verb.
- Lane · entry 11345
طَعِمَ عَلَيْهِ
To have power over someone or something; to have the ability to do it.
A fixed construction with عَلَى.
- Lane · entry 11345
طَعْمٌ
Eating with the central incisors.
A specialized anatomical description of the manner of eating.
- Lane · entry 11345
تَطَعَّمَ
To taste food so as to acquire an appetite for it; figuratively, to begin an undertaking in a way that invites its completion.
The extended sense is preserved from the proverb associated with the imperative form.
- Lane · entry 11345
طَعَّمَ
Said of a bone, to have or contain marrow.
A specialized figurative use in which the object understood is the marrow-containing bone.
- Lane · entry 11346
طَاعَمَ
To eat with someone.
Form III reciprocal or associative construction.
- Lane · entry 11347
طَاعَمَ
Said of two pigeons, to bill, with the male inserting his bill into the female's.
A specialized description of the birds' reciprocal action.
- Lane · entry 11347
أَطْعَمَ
To assign land, revenue, or a tax as a grant or means of support.
A specialized administrative or proprietary use, including lending land for cultivation or assigning its revenue.
- Lane · entry 11348
أَطْعَمَ
To graft one branch or shoot onto another.
A horticultural use of the Form IV verb.
- Lane · entry 11348
أَطْعَمَ عَيْنَهُ
To cast a mote into someone's eye.
A fixed extended construction.
- Lane · entry 11348
أَطْعَمَ
Said of a palm tree or fruit, to bear ripe fruit or become ripe enough to eat.
Used of plants, trees, or fruit reaching edible ripeness.
- Lane · entry 11348
تَطَاعَمَ
For members of a traveling group to eat with one another by taking turns supplying the food.
The described arrangement assigns each person a turn to provide food.
- Lane · entry 11350
تَطَاعَمَ
Said of two persons, to act like billing pigeons.
A figurative reciprocal construction.
- Lane · entry 11350
اِطَّعَمَ
Said of dates, to acquire flavor and become ripe enough to eat.
A specialized use of the assimilated Form VIII verb with dates or date fruit.
- Lane · entry 11351
اِطَّعَمَ
To become unaffected by instruction or correction; to fail to become intelligent or well disciplined.
An idiomatic figurative use applied to a person.
- Lane · entry 11351
اِسْتَطْعَمَ
To ask someone to relate a narrative or discourse, as though asking to taste its flavor.
A figurative Form X construction applied to speech or tradition.
- Lane · entry 11352
اِسْتَطْعَمَ
To ask for or prompt a recitation when the reciter cannot proceed.
A specialized construction used when a prayer leader asks others to supply the words.
- Lane · entry 11352
اِسْتَطْعَمَ
To desire a horse's running.
A specialized figurative use with a horse as the object of desire.
- Lane · entry 11352
طَعْمٌ
Something that is swallowed easily or agreeably, whether solid or liquid.
The term can include water, juice, oil, vinegar, and similar liquids as well as solid food.
- Lane · entry 11353
طَعْمٌ
An estimable quality in a person, including intelligence, prudence, or good standing.
A figurative extension from the desirable quality or relish of food.
- Lane · entry 11353
طُعْمٌ
Grain thrown to birds or bait thrown to fish.
A specialized noun for food used to attract or catch an animal.
- Lane · entry 11354
طُعْمٌ
Food that satisfies the eater's stomach.
The expression طَعَامُ طُعْمٍ denotes something nourishing or stomach-satisfying, including the conventional description of Zamzam water.
- Lane · entry 11354
طُعْمَةٌ
An assigned means of subsistence, such as a land grant, tax, portion of revenue, or surplus entitlement.
Also used of an estate or other property assigned for someone's support.
- Lane · entry 11357
طُعْمَةٌ
An invitation to food.
A conventional noun for an occasion or offer of eating.
- Lane · entry 11357
طُعْمَةٌ
A mode or means of gain.
The expression may characterize a person's livelihood as honest or corrupt.
- Lane · entry 11357
طِعْمَةٌ
A way or manner of eating, and by extension a way of conduct.
It may describe eating and drinking habits, including the conventional distinction between lawful and unlawful earnings or consumption.
- Lane · entry 11358
طَعَامٌ
In some regional usage, especially wheat, barley, dates, or other grain.
This is a lexical specialization of the broader word for food, not a restriction on its general meaning.
- Lane · entry 11359
طَعُومٌ
Said of a slaughtered camel or sheep, having fat or a fatty flavor; said also of marrow containing the flavor of fat.
A specialized description of the fatness or fatty taste of animal flesh or marrow.
- Lane · entry 11360
طَعِيمٌ
Said of water, drinkable or agreeable to drink.
A specialized adjectival use applied to water.
- Lane · entry 11361
طَعُومَةٌ
A sheep or goat kept or selected for eating.
A specialized livestock noun.
- Lane · entry 11362
طَعَامِيٌّ
A seller of food, especially grain.
The occupational adjective is applied to a food vendor.
- Lane · entry 11363
طَاعِمٌ
Well situated or in good condition with respect to food.
A figurative or possessive description of someone's food-related condition.
- Lane · entry 11364
طَاعِمٌ عَنْ طَعَامِهِمْ
To be in no need of another person's food.
A fixed idiomatic construction expressing independence from or lack of need for someone's provision.
- Lane · entry 11364
مَطْعَمٌ
A place or time of eating.
A noun of place or occasion, synonymous with a place or time of eating.
- Lane · entry 11365
مُطْعَمٌ
Supplied with the means of subsistence; provided for.
A passive participial use extended from being fed to being supported or endowed with provision.
- Lane · entry 11366
مُطْعَمٌ
Endowed with or gifted with someone's affection.
A figurative construction in which affection is treated as something bestowed.
- Lane · entry 11366
مِطْعَمٌ
One who eats vehemently or excessively.
A specialized intensive description of an eater.
- Lane · entry 11367
مُطْعِمَةٌ
A bow, regarded as feeding its owner with game.
A figurative instrument name based on the food or game obtained through hunting.
- Lane · entry 11369
مُطْعِمَةٌ
The epiglottis or the throat and fauces, the passage by which food and drink enter.
An anatomical use; the related expression can denote seizing or squeezing someone's throat.
- Lane · entry 11369
مُطْعِمَتَانِ
The two corresponding anterior toes or talons of a bird.
The talons are so called because they seize flesh for the bird to eat.
- Lane · entry 11369
مُطَعِّمٌ
Milk that has acquired a flavor or pleasant odor from the skin of its container.
A specialized description of milk altered by contact with its vessel.
- Lane · entry 11370
مِطْعَامٌ
One who feeds others abundantly or entertains many guests; by extension, one associated with plentiful eating.
Applied to a man or woman and to a group known for feeding or eating much.
- Lane · entry 11372
مُطَاعَمُ الْخَلْقِ
Sound or free from defect in make.
A specialized figurative expression describing conformity or sound construction.
- Lane · entry 11373
مُسْتَطْعَمٌ
The lips of a horse, or the area beneath the muzzle extending to their extremities.
A specialized anatomical term with some variation in the precise part intended.
- Lane · entry 11374
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Historical Quran citation notation in the Lane evidence is not treated as a modern surah:ayah locator; modern example locations are used only where independently supplied by QAC.
Some rare anatomical, agricultural, animal, and idiomatic extensions are retained as broader Classical Arabic meanings rather than presented as Quranic senses.