Quranic root
بعض
b · ʿ · ḍ
The root centers on dividing a thing into portions: each portion of a whole is a بعض.
The central idea develops into the noun بَعْض for a part or some member of a whole, the causative بَعَّضَ for dividing into portions, and the inchoative تَبَعَّضَ for becoming divided. بَعُوضَة is treated lexically as a secondary formation associated with the small size of the mosquito.
- Maqāyīs · row 796
- Mufradāt · row 140
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 158
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
بَعْض
baʿḍ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 157 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 part or portion of a whole; some member or members of a group, person, or thing.
Used in partitive and relational constructions such as “some of them,” “some of you,” and “some to or with another.” The portion may be small or large, even the greater part. In certain Quranic expressions, mentioning a part can pragmatically indicate the consequence or representative scope of a larger matter; this does not make “all” its ordinary lexical meaning.
- Lane · entry 36750
- Mufradāt · row 140
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:36word 11
“to others”
Quran 6:129word 3
“some (of)”
Quran 40:28word 29
“some (of)”
Quran 43:63word 11
“some”
بَعُوضَة
baʿūḍah
- 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 mosquito or gnat.
The Quranic form is the singular noun; بعوض is used as its plural or collective form in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 36752
- Mufradāt · row 140
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:26word 9
“(of) a mosquito”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:26بَعُوضَةًۭ(of) a mosquito
- 2:36بَعْضُكُمْsome of you
- 2:36لِبَعْضٍto others
- 2:73بِبَعْضِهَا ۚwith a part of it
- 2:76بَعْضُهُمْsome of 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 6 Classical meanings
بَعَضَ
To bite, annoy, or molest by biting.
Used specifically of mosquitoes or gnats.
- Lane · entry 36746
بَعَّضَ
To divide something into distinct parts or portions; to separate or dismember it.
The construction can describe dividing property or an object, including dismembering an animal.
- Lane · entry 36747
أَبْعَضَ
To have mosquitoes, or an abundance of mosquitoes, in a place.
A derived Form IV verb describing a place in which mosquitoes are plentiful.
- Lane · entry 36748
تَبَعَّضَ
To become divided into parts or portions.
An inchoative Form V construction describing division into separate parts.
- Lane · entry 36749
بَعِضَةٌ
Abounding in mosquitoes.
Used adjectivally of a land or a night in which mosquitoes are numerous.
- Lane · entry 36751
مُخُّ البَعُوضِ
An impossible or extraordinarily difficult thing to obtain or undertake.
A figurative idiom, as in imposing on someone the task of obtaining the “marrow of a mosquito.”
- Lane · entry 36752
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
A reported interpretation of بعض in a Quranic construction as “all” is disputed; the supported ordinary sense is “a part” or “some,” with any wider implication treated as contextual or rhetorical.
A historical lexical citation using Roman-numeral notation is not converted here into an additional modern Quran location.