Quranic root
بتر
b · t · r
The root denotes cutting off something before its completion, with extensions to severed continuation, relationship, benefit, or posterity.
The physical notion of cutting before completion develops into descriptions of tails or objects being severed, ties of kinship being broken, good or prosperity being cut off, and a person lacking offspring or enduring remembrance. The Quranic epithet specializes this idea in the severing of lasting mention.
- Maqāyīs · row 675
- Mufradāt · row 90
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَبْتَر
ʾabtar
- Part of speech
- Noun · substantivized adjective
- 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 cut off from lasting mention or legacy; the one whose enduring remembrance is severed.
In the Quranic epithet, the severance concerns enduring ذكر (mention). The interpretation relates this to the supposed loss of posterity, but the stated Quranic meaning is the severing of lasting remembrance.
- Mufradāt · row 90
Selected Quran examples
Quran 108:3word 4
“the one cut off”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 108:3ٱلْأَبْتَرُthe one cut off
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 18 Classical meanings
بَتَرَ
To cut or cut off something before its completion; to amputate a tail wholly or at any point.
Form I verb; the object may be a thing generally, with the tail given as a prominent application.
- Lane · entry 35484
بَتَرَ
To sever the ties of kinship and disassociate oneself from one's relations.
Used with kinship or relationship ties as the object.
- Lane · entry 35484
أَبْتَرَ
To cause someone to be without offspring or progeny.
Form IV causative verb.
- Lane · entry 35485
انْبَتَرَ
To become cut off, wholly or partly, as a tail or similar object.
Form VII intransitive or middle construction describing the resulting state.
- Lane · entry 35487
بَاتِرٌ
A cutting or sharp sword; by extension, an intensely sharp implement or instrument.
A nominal epithet for a sword or other cutting implement.
- Lane · entry 35492
أَبْتَر
Having the tail wholly or partly cut off; a tailless or short-tailed beast.
Adjectival description of an animal whose tail has been amputated or is deficient.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
A short-tailed or otherwise specified noxious serpent.
A specialized zoological use, including the serpent described as having a short tail.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
A leather water-bag or bucket lacking its loop.
A specialized description of a container considered incomplete because its loop is absent.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
Defective, deficient, incomplete, or imperfect.
Figurative or transferred adjectival use.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
In want or poor.
Figurative adjectival use associated with deficiency.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
Suffering loss or being a loser.
A figurative adjectival use synonymous with being in a state of loss.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
A person or thing cut off from good or prosperity, or whose beneficial effect has been cut off.
Figurative use for deprivation of benefit or the cessation of a beneficial result.
- Lane · entry 35493
أَبْتَر
Without offspring or progeny.
An adjectival description of a person lacking descendants; distinct from the Quranic specialization in severed lasting mention.
- Lane · entry 35493
خُطْبَةٌ بَتْرَاءُ
A sermon or formal address that omits the praise of God and the blessing of the Prophet.
A conventional expression for an address regarded as incomplete in its opening.
- Lane · entry 35493
رَكْعَةٌ بَتْرَاءُ
A single prayer-unit performed instead of a complete two-unit performance, or a prayer-unit cut short after one unit.
A conventional ritual expression for an incomplete or truncated performance.
- Lane · entry 35493
الأَبْتَرَانِ
The ass and the slave, called “the two abtars” because of the little good attributed to them.
A fixed plural expression.
- Lane · entry 35493
أُبَاتِرٌ
Short or abbreviated, as though cut off before completion.
An adjectival use emphasizing curtailed length or incompletion.
- Lane · entry 35494
أُبَاتِرٌ
A man who severs the ties of kinship, or who is quick to sever the bond between himself and a friend.
An intensive personal epithet for one who habitually cuts relational ties.
- Lane · entry 35494
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic use in 108:3 concerns severed enduring mention; the broader Classical Arabic sense “without offspring” is listed separately and should not be treated as the complete Quranic definition.