Quranic root
بذر
b · dh · r
The root centers on scattering or dispersing something by casting it forth, especially seed.
The concrete notion of sowing and scattering seed extends to general dispersal, the dissemination of speech, and figuratively the dissipative expenditure of wealth.
- Maqāyīs · row 725
- Mufradāt · row 106
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 3
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
بَذَّرَ
badhdhara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 squander or dissipate wealth through extravagant or improper expenditure.
Form II use with wealth or property; it denotes expenditure beyond what is right or befitting, including consuming, wasting, or ruining what is possessed, rather than ordinary spending.
- Lane · entry 35896
- Mufradāt · row 106
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:26word 9
“spend”
مُبَذِّر
mubadhdhir
- 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 squanders or dissipates wealth through extravagant or improper expenditure.
Active participle of the Form II expenditure sense; it characterizes a person by such dissipation.
- Lane · entry 35896
- Lane · entry 35916
- Mufradāt · row 106
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:27word 2
“the spendthrifts”
تَبْذِير
tabdhīr
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Squandering or dissipating wealth through extravagant or improper expenditure.
Verbal noun of the Form II expenditure sense; it denotes wasteful expenditure rather than the ordinary dispersal of seed.
- Lane · entry 35896
- Lane · entry 35910
- Mufradāt · row 106
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:26word 10
“wastefully”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 3 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 25 Classical meanings
بَذَرَ
To sow seed or grain by casting it upon the ground; to sow a field.
The basic concrete use; the object may be the seed, grain, or the land being sown.
- Lane · entry 35895
بَذَّرَ
To sow or scatter seed intensively; to scatter or disperse something abundantly.
An intensive Form II use related to the concrete scattering of seed, distinct from the Quranic expenditure use.
- Lane · entry 35895
بَذَرَ
To scatter or disperse a thing; to disperse people across the earth.
The object may be a thing or a group of people; the latter is an attested conventional use, not a restriction on the verb.
- Lane · entry 35895
تَبْذِير
The intensive sowing or scattering of seed.
A concrete seed-scattering use of the verbal noun, distinct from its Quranic figurative use for dissipating wealth.
- Lane · entry 35895
بَذَرَ
To disseminate, spread, or diffuse speech among people.
Figurative use modeled on scattering seed; the speech may be spread extensively.
- Lane · entry 35895
بَذَرَ
Of the earth: to put forth plants, herbage, or seed in a scattered state.
Intransitive use with the land as subject.
- Lane · entry 35895
بَذُرَ
To divulge what was secret or reveal what one had heard.
A figurative Form I use concerning disclosure of information.
- Lane · entry 35895
بَذِرَ
To talk much or be loquacious.
Form I verbal use describing excessive talkativeness.
- Lane · entry 35895
تَبَذَّرَ
To become scattered or dispersed.
Intransitive Form V use; it can also indicate becoming much scattered.
- Lane · entry 35898
تَبَذَّرَ
Of speech: to become widely disseminated, scattered, or diffused.
Figurative intransitive use with speech or talk as the subject.
- Lane · entry 35898
بَذْرٌ
Seed or grain set apart for sowing; any seed or sown grain.
The term may be distinguished from seed of sweet-smelling plants or leguminous herbs in one reported usage.
- Lane · entry 35899
بَذْرٌ
A newly emerged plant or herbage just come forth from the earth.
It may refer especially to the first growth while it has only two leaves, or before its kind is fully apparent.
- Lane · entry 35899
بَذْرٌ
Progeny or offspring.
Figurative extension from seed to its resulting descendants.
- Lane · entry 35899
شَذَرَ بَذَرَ
To disperse in every direction.
Fixed expression used of people and, by extension, the like of a man's camels.
- Lane · entry 35901
بَذِرٌ
Loquacious; a great or frivolous babbler.
Adjectival use for one who talks excessively or irrationally.
- Lane · entry 35902
بَذِرٌ
Food or grain characterized by increase, redundance, exuberance, or abundance.
Used of wheat or other food in which there is abundant increase.
- Lane · entry 35902
البُذُرَّى
What is false, vain, or ineffectual.
A figurative lexical use associated with the idea of dispersion.
- Lane · entry 35905
بَذُورٌ
One who divulges secrets or cannot keep a secret.
Descriptive noun or adjective for a person who reveals confidential information.
- Lane · entry 35906
بَذُورٌ
A calumniator or slanderer.
A figurative extension involving the spreading of damaging speech.
- Lane · entry 35906
بَذِيرٌ
Scattered or dispersed.
The interpretation is disputed; the form is also treated as an imitative or variant expression associated with كثِير, “many.”
- Lane · entry 35907
بُذَارَةٌ
Increase, redundance, exuberance, plenty, or abundance in wheat or food.
Used in expressions describing food or grain with abundant increase.
- Lane · entry 35909
بَذَارَّةٌ
The dissipation or squandering of wealth or property in an improper way.
A nominal form for wasteful expenditure, synonymous in meaning with the expenditure branch of تبذير.
- Lane · entry 35910
تِبْذَارَةٌ
One who dissipates or squanders wealth or property through extravagant expenditure.
Agent noun describing a person characterized by consuming, ruining, or improperly spending possessions.
- Lane · entry 35916
مِبْذَارٌ
Land that yields increase or abundant vegetation.
Adjectival use with land and its plant growth.
- Lane · entry 35918
مَبْذُورٌ
Many, much, or abundant; blessed with plenty or increase.
Used especially of abundant water or other plentiful things.
- Lane · entry 35919
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic occurrences supplied here are all Form II expenditure derivatives; the seed-sowing, general scattering, and other branches listed separately are broader Classical Arabic evidence.
The interpretation of بَذِيرٌ as “scattered or dispersed” is explicitly disputed in the lexical evidence and is therefore presented with that qualification.