Quranic root
دهم
d · h · m
The root centers on overtaking or covering something in darkness, extending to blackness, darkened vegetation, sudden overwhelming arrival, and multitude.
The evidence develops from being enveloped in darkness to blackness and dark-green vegetation saturated with moisture, while also extending to sudden attacks, large companies, calamity, and related named objects and expressions.
- Maqāyīs · row 1851
- Mufradāt · row 491
- 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.
مُدْهَامَّةٌ
mudhāmmahun
- 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.
Dark green, tending to black in appearance from lushness and abundant moisture.
In the Quranic description of the two gardens, the apparent blackness is the effect of complete, intense greenness produced by abundant moisture or irrigation.
- Lane · entry 1472
- Mufradāt · row 491
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:64word 1
“Dark green”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 55:64مُدْهَآمَّتَانِDark green
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 21 Classical meanings
دَهِمَ
To come upon someone suddenly and unexpectedly, taking the person unawares or overwhelming them.
Used of an event, attack, or force that arrives without warning; dialectal variation includes دَهَمَ.
- Lane · entry 1458
دَهَّمَ
To blacken a cooking pot by fire.
A Form II causative use with the cooking pot as object.
- Lane · entry 1459
أَدْهَمَ
To displease, grieve, vex, or anger someone.
A Form IV transitive use describing an action or event affecting a person.
- Lane · entry 1460
اِدْهَامَّ
To become black or intensely dark; of vegetation, to become dark green or appear blackish through abundant moisture.
A Form IX use applied to things generally and especially to plants, meadows, and greenness.
- Lane · entry 1462
دَهْمٌ
A malicious, grievous, or troublesome act that takes people by surprise or unawares.
A verbal noun naming the sudden act or occurrence rather than the act of arriving itself.
- Lane · entry 1464
دَهْمٌ
A numerous company, multitude, or great army.
A collective noun for a large company or mass of people.
- Lane · entry 1464
دُهْمَةٌ
Blackness or a deep ash-colour.
A colour noun; the cited animal-colour applications are examples of the dark or ash-coloured range.
- Lane · entry 1466
دُهْمَةٌ
A brown ewe; also the singular of a term for a particular sort or breed of sheep or goats.
A rare livestock usage reported for this headword.
- Lane · entry 1466
الدَّهْمَانُ
The night; by extension, the prayer of nightfall.
Used in opposition to expressions for the day and the morning prayer.
- Lane · entry 1467
الدُّهَيْمُ
A calamity or misfortune; by related usage, a dark trial, conflict, faction, or sedition.
The diminutive form may intensify the expression; some usages preserve the association with darkness.
- Lane · entry 1469
دُهَيْمٌ
Foolish or stupid.
An independently reported adjectival use.
- Lane · entry 1469
دُهَامِيَّةٌ
A designation for certain camels.
The designation is relational, deriving from the name of a particular stallion-camel.
- Lane · entry 1470
أَدْهَمُ
Black or very dark; of a horse, camel, or other thing, black or deep ash-coloured, and of sheep or goats, the feminine form can denote a pure brown colour; also used of black ashes.
The exact shade varies by object: a camel may be described as deep ash-coloured without white, while a very intense hue may be called nearly black.
- Lane · entry 1472
دَهْمَاءُ
A recently occupied site, or a fresh or recent trace or footprint; in some usage, an obscure, fading, or old trace.
The cited lexicographical usages include both recent and, by differing explanation, hard-to-see or fading traces.
- Lane · entry 1472
الدَّهْمَاءُ
A cooking pot, especially a black cooking pot.
The additional claim that it means an old cooking pot is disputed in the cited discussion.
- Lane · entry 1472
الدَّهْمَاءُ
The twenty-ninth night of the lunar month; in the plural, three dark nights associated with the change of the moon.
The designation is motivated by the nights' darkness.
- Lane · entry 1472
أَدْهَمُ
A shackle or fetter, including a heavy shackle or pair of fetters.
A substantivized use associated traditionally with the black colour of the fetter or its plural form.
- Lane · entry 1472
دَهْمَاءُ
A multitude, company, generality, common mass, or common people.
A figurative or collective use describing a large body or the populace.
- Lane · entry 1472
دَهْمَاءُ
The aspect, appearance, mien, guise, or garb of a man.
An idiomatic nominal use referring to outward presentation.
- Lane · entry 1472
الدَّهْمَاءُ
A green herb or tree with broad leaves and twigs, used for tanning.
A specific plant designation, with the cited identification varying between a broad herb and a tree.
- Lane · entry 1472
مُتَدَهَّمٌ
A catamite.
A rare technical or derogatory nominal use, equated with several other terms in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 1474
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic occurrence is a feminine dual surface form, but the public headword is normalized to the feminine singular active-participle citation form مُدْهَامَّةٌ.
The Quranic dark-green sense describes vegetation whose intense greenness appears blackish; it should not be reduced to an unqualified colour gloss of literal black.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:dhm:1461:g1:main reports a tentative synonymy for تَدَهَّمَ based on a single weakly grounded attribution; its independent lexical meaning cannot be assigned confidently.