Quranic root
بشر
b · sh · r
The root centers on the appearance or surface of a thing, especially the visible human exterior, with an associated sense of beauty or pleasant change.
From the visible skin and surface, the root develops meanings of human beings, intimate skin-to-skin contact, the brightening of the face, glad tidings that visibly affect the recipient, and signs or beginnings appearing on a surface.
- Maqāyīs · row 766
- Mufradāt · row 126
- 9
- Quran-attested forms
- 11
- Quran senses
- 123
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
بَشَّرَ
bashshara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 38 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 announce good news or glad tidings to someone.
Commonly construed with بِـ for the event announced and with a person as recipient; the recipient may be given news of forgiveness, reward, birth, victory, or another favorable event.
- Lane · entry 36428
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:25word 1
“And give good news”
To announce a distressing event, especially as a denunciation or bitter irony.
The same announcing construction can be used for punishment or other bad news; the positive sense is the ordinary unmarked usage, while the negative sense is clear from the announced event or an accompanying restriction.
- Lane · entry 36428
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:21word 16
“then give them tidings”
بَاشَرَ
bāshara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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.
To come into intimate skin-to-skin contact; to approach sexually or have sexual intercourse.
The Quranic construction refers to intimate contact with a spouse and can encompass intercourse as well as direct bodily contact; the wording does not itself impose a narrower object-class restriction.
- Lane · entry 36429
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:187word 25
“have relations with them”
Quran 2:187word 49
“have relations with them”
أَبْشَرَ
ʾabshara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 receive or find glad tidings; to be assured by good news.
In the supplied Quran occurrence it is an imperative addressed to a group, with the good outcome understood from context.
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 41:30word 15
“but receive the glad tidings”
To make the face beautiful and bright.
This sense is preserved from a reported Quran reading in which the result of divine favor is expressed as the beautifying and brightening of the servants' faces; it is not represented by a separate supplied QAC occurrence.
- Lane · entry 36430
اِسْتَبْشَرَ
āistabshara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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 rejoice or become glad in response to good news or a favorable prospect.
The form presents the subject as experiencing or entering into gladness, whether on receiving news, learning of a favor, or anticipating a good outcome.
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:170word 7
“and they receive good tidings”
Quran 9:111word 29
“So rejoice”
بَشَر
bashar
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 37 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.
A human being, considered in bodily or visible human form.
The Quran uses the word for human beings in general, including singular, dual, and plural reference, especially where their corporeal or outward human condition is in view.
- Lane · entry 36436
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 15:28word 7
“a human being”
Quran 23:47word 3
“(in) two men”
بَشِير
bashīr
- Part of speech
- Adjective / Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 9 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.
A bearer or announcer of glad tidings; one who brings good news.
The word may function as a substantive or adjective and can describe a person who announces favorable news.
- Lane · entry 36443
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:119word 4
“(as) a bearer of good news”
Quran 12:96word 4
“the bearer of glad tidings”
بُشْرَىٰ
bushrāā
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 18 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.
Glad tidings; a joyful announcement or good news.
When used absolutely, the word denotes favorable news; a negative result is expressed only where the context or an accompanying phrase explicitly reverses the normal positive implication.
- Lane · entry 36438
- Lane · entry 36439
- Lane · entry 36443
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:69word 5
“with glad tidings”
Quran 25:48word 5
“(as) glad tidings”
Quran 12:19word 8
“O good news”
مُبَشِّر
mubashshir
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who brings or announces glad tidings; a bearer or herald of good news.
The participle can describe human messengers and, by extension, things such as winds that herald rain or another favorable event.
- Lane · entry 36443
- Lane · entry 36451
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:213word 8
“(as) bearers of glad tidings”
Quran 30:46word 6
“(as) bearers of glad tidings”
مُسْتَبْشِر
mustabshir
- 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.
Rejoicing or showing gladness in response to good news.
This active participle describes the state resulting from the Form X experience of gladness.
- Mufradāt · row 126
Selected Quran examples
Quran 80:39word 2
“rejoicing at good news”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:25وَبَشِّرِAnd give good news
- 2:97وَبُشْرَىٰand glad tiding(s)
- 2:119بَشِيرًۭا(as) a bearer of good news
- 2:155وَبَشِّرِbut give good news
- 2:187بَـٰشِرُوهُنَّhave relations with them
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 31 Classical meanings
بَشَرَ
To pare or strip the outer skin or surface from a hide.
The action concerns removing or exposing the hide's outer layer.
- Lane · entry 36427
بَشُرَ
To make oneself light of flesh or reduce one's bodily bulk.
This rare, figurative usage occurs in an admonitory saying about preparing oneself for reciting the Quran.
- Lane · entry 36427
بَشَرَ
For locusts to strip the ground by consuming what lies on its surface.
The meaning is extended from removing a surface layer.
- Lane · entry 36427
بَشَرَ
To clip the moustache closely enough for the skin beneath to appear.
This is a conventional grooming usage.
- Lane · entry 36427
بَشَرَ
To meet someone with a cheerful or pleasant countenance.
The verb describes the visible expression shown in meeting another person.
- Lane · entry 36427
بَشِرَ
To rejoice at or become glad because of an event or its announcement.
This is the Form I intransitive emotional usage, distinct in headword and morphology from Form X اِسْتَبْشَرَ.
- Lane · entry 36427
بَشَّرَ
For a she-camel to make known that she has begun to conceive or become pregnant.
The pregnancy is treated as an announced favorable event.
- Lane · entry 36428
بَاشَرَ
For enjoyment or comfort to attend someone closely.
This is a tropical extension of intimate contact, as though enjoyment adhered to the skin.
- Lane · entry 36429
بَاشَرَ
To experience the joy or happiness arising from certainty.
Used metaphorically of feeling certainty as an immediate, intimate presence.
- Lane · entry 36429
بَاشَرَ
To manage, conduct, or personally attend to an affair.
The construction emphasizes direct personal involvement, literally conducting something with one's own person or hand.
- Lane · entry 36429
أَبْشَرَ
For a she-camel to conceive or become pregnant.
The meaning is explained as an event that brings glad news to its owner.
- Lane · entry 36430
أَبْشَرَتِ الأَرْضُ
For the earth to put forth herbage visible upon its surface.
The usage describes vegetation emerging into view.
- Lane · entry 36430
تَبَاشَرَ
For people to announce a joyful event to one another and rejoice one another with it.
This is a reciprocal Form VI construction.
- Lane · entry 36432
اِسْتَبْشَرَ
To demand a reward from someone for announcing joyful tidings.
This transitive construction differs from the Quranic intransitive sense of rejoicing.
- Lane · entry 36433
بِشْر
Cheerfulness, openness, and pleasantness of countenance; happiness or gladness.
The noun denotes the visible expression or the accompanying emotional state.
- Lane · entry 36435
بَشَرَة
The external skin, cuticle, or epidermis.
It may refer to the outer skin of a human being and, according to some authorities, of other creatures.
- Lane · entry 36437
بَشَرَة
Complexion or hue; fineness or delicacy of appearance.
This is a specialized nominal extension from the visible outer skin.
- Lane · entry 36437
بَشَرَة
Herbage or leguminous growth appearing on the surface of the earth.
The expression may refer to the earth's visible vegetation.
- Lane · entry 36437
بَشَرَة
A man's hand.
This is a rare assumed-tropical usage derived from direct bodily contact or action.
- Lane · entry 36437
بَشَرِيّ
Human; belonging or relating to mankind or a human being.
Adjectival usage.
- Lane · entry 36440
بُشَار
The refuse or lowest, basest, or meanest portion of mankind.
A figurative collective designation for people of the lowest rank.
- Lane · entry 36441
بَشِير
Goodly, beautiful, or elegant in form or features.
Applied to a person, face, woman, or she-camel; the she-camel usage can include a specified condition of bodily fatness or breed, but those details are not general to the adjective.
- Lane · entry 36443
بَشَارَة
Goodliness, beauty, or elegance of form or features.
Nominal usage concerning visible appearance.
- Lane · entry 36444
بُشَارَة
Material pared from the face of a hide.
The material removed from the back of the hide has a different conventional designation.
- Lane · entry 36445
بِشَارَة
A gift or reward given to the person who announces a joyful event.
The word can denote the announcer's remuneration, distinct from the news itself.
- Lane · entry 36446
أَبْشَر
More goodly, beautiful, elegant, or well-fleshed than another.
Comparative usage applied to bodily appearance or features.
- Lane · entry 36447
تُبُشِّر
A particular bird, the ṣufāriyya.
A lexical animal name, not a productive verbal Form V meaning.
- Lane · entry 36448
تَبَاشِير
Beginnings, first signs, or early manifestations of something.
Used of the first blossoms, the first light or signs of dawn, the beginning of rain, and the first visible colors or early fruiting of palm trees.
- Lane · entry 36449
تَبَاشِير
Streaks or marks appearing upon a surface.
Examples include streaks of dawn light, marks made by wind on the ground, and marks of galls on an animal's side.
- Lane · entry 36449
مُؤْدَمٌ مُبْشَر
A complete or well-balanced person combining softness or gentleness with strength and practical knowledge.
The idiom evokes the combination of the inner skin's softness and the outer skin's roughness.
- Lane · entry 36450
حِجْرٌ مُبَاشِر
A mare desiring the stallion.
A rare equine expression referring to sexual readiness or desire.
- Lane · entry 36453
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Form II can announce either favorable or distressing news; the latter is an explicitly attested ironic or denunciatory use, not a Quran Foundation gloss-derived sense.
A reported Quran reading associated with Form IV has been preserved as a separate sense without converting Lane's historical citation into a modern verse location; it is not included in the supplied QAC occurrence count.