Quranic root
درس
d · r · s
The root centers on traces becoming faint, effaced, or difficult to perceive, and on repeatedly following a trace or path.
From the effacement of physical traces and the repeated passage that wears or marks something, the root develops the sense of repeatedly following a text's traces through reading and study, leading to retention and learning.
- Maqāyīs · row 1741
- Mufradāt · row 466
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
دَرَسَ
darasa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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 read or study a text repeatedly, retaining or learning its contents.
Used with books, scripture, knowledge, or other written material; the repeated activity may include memorization and learning.
- Lane · entry 536
- Mufradāt · row 466
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:79word 28
“studying (it)”
Quran 6:105word 5
“You have studied”
Quran 7:169word 31
“while they studied”
Quran 34:44word 5
“which they could study”
To study a text but leave its contents unacted upon.
Reported as an interpretation of وَدَرَسُوا مَا فِيهِ in 7:169; this consequence is an explicitly reported interpretation in that context, not a required feature of the ordinary verb.
- Mufradāt · row 466
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:169word 31
“while they studied”
To become effaced, obsolete, or dissipated, said of narratives, signs, or their traces.
Reported in Lane's discussion of alternative Quranic readings and interpretations; it should not be imposed on all canonical occurrences of the supplied QAC Form I group.
- Lane · entry 536
دِرَاسَةٌ
dirāsahun
- 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.
Study or sustained reading of a text for retention and learning.
A verbal noun denoting the activity expressed by دَرَسَ, especially repeated engagement with scripture or other written material.
- Lane · entry 536
- Mufradāt · row 466
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:156word 13
“their study”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:79تَدْرُسُونَstudying (it)
- 6:105دَرَسْتَYou have studied
- 6:156دِرَاسَتِهِمْtheir study
- 7:169وَدَرَسُوا۟while they studied
- 34:44يَدْرُسُونَهَا ۖwhich they could study
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 35 Classical meanings
دَرَسَ
To become effaced, erased, or obliterated; said especially of a trace, house, or place whose remains disappear.
The disappearance may result from wind, sand, or the passage of time.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
To efface, erase, or obliterate something by repeated passage over it.
Used with a wind, winds, people, traces, houses, or other things that are worn away through repeated action.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
For a book or writing to become old or obsolete.
A figurative extension of physical wearing and effacement, distinct from actively reading or studying a book.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
For a garment or piece of cloth to become old and worn out; also, to render it so.
Used both intransitively of the garment and transitively of the person or thing causing the wear.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
To tread or thresh grain, especially wheat.
The sense is associated with repeatedly passing over grain; regional usage is reported.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
To approach sexually or have sexual intercourse with another person.
A transitive figurative usage; the cited lexical construction does not establish a restriction on the object's class beyond the construction itself.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
To break, train, or accustom a camel through repeated handling.
Used of training or disciplining a camel; the sense emphasizes repeated tending or returning to the animal.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَسَ
For a woman to menstruate.
A euphemistic figurative usage explicitly applied to a woman or girl.
- Lane · entry 536
دَرَّسَ
To teach someone to read, study, or learn; to instruct or lecture someone.
May take a learner and a book or other subject as objects.
- Lane · entry 537
دَارَسَ
To read or study with another, each helping or teaching the other; by extension, to confer or discuss a subject.
The reciprocal study sense may involve repeated reading of a book. It is also reported in a variant Quranic reading associated with reading or consulting with the People of Scripture.
- Lane · entry 538
- Lane · entry 536
تَدَرَّسَ
To put on old and worn-out garments.
An archaic figurative usage associated with wearing clothing that has become worn.
- Lane · entry 540
تَدَارَسَ
To study or read together, teaching one another until the material is retained in memory.
A reciprocal construction involving joint, repeated study.
- Lane · entry 541
دَرْسٌ
An obscure or scarcely perceptible road or way.
The road is conceived as one whose traces have become effaced.
- Lane · entry 543
دَرْسٌ
A lesson or lecture.
The plural is دُرُوسٌ.
- Lane · entry 543
دِرْسٌ
A relic, trace, or mark of something that is being effaced or obliterated.
The word denotes the remaining visible trace rather than the act of effacement itself.
- Lane · entry 544
دِرْسٌ
An old and worn-out garment or piece of cloth; by extension, something worn out, such as a carpet, coat of mail, or sword.
It may function as a substantive or as an adjective applied to worn objects.
- Lane · entry 544
أَبُو أَدْرَاسٍ
A euphemistic name for the female pudendum.
An anatomical idiom associated in the lexical discussion with menstruation.
- Lane · entry 544
دُرْسَةٌ
Training, discipline, or habituation.
A verbal noun or abstract noun associated with repeated handling and training.
- Lane · entry 545
دَرِيسٌ
Alexandrian trefoil or bersim, a clover-like plant.
A separately attested lexical item despite the related form of the word.
- Lane · entry 546
دَارِسٌ
Describing a house whose remains are becoming effaced or obliterated.
Used adjectivally of a dwelling or its ruins.
- Lane · entry 547
دَارِسٌ
A menstruating woman or girl.
An adjectival or substantive usage explicitly applied to a female person.
- Lane · entry 547
أَبُو إِدْرِيسَ
A euphemistic name for the penis.
An anatomical idiom.
- Lane · entry 548
تَدْرِيسٌ
A conventional technical term or signification used in teaching or lecturing.
A specialized educational usage.
- Lane · entry 549
مِدْرَسٌ
A book or piece of writing; also, a commentary used for teaching.
The commentary sense is reported as a secondary lexical explanation.
- Lane · entry 550
مَدْرَسَةٌ
A place for reading or study, such as a college, academy, collegiate mosque, or synagogue.
The term can refer specifically to a Jewish house in which the revealed Book is read repeatedly.
- Lane · entry 551
مَدْرَسَةُ النَّعَمِ
The road or track followed by camels or other livestock.
A specialized expression for an animal route.
- Lane · entry 551
مُدَرَّسٌ
A bed or resting place made level, smooth, and easy to lie upon.
A figurative passive-participial usage.
- Lane · entry 552
مُدَرَّسٌ
A person tried, strengthened, or made expert through use and experience.
Applied to someone tested and seasoned by practice.
- Lane · entry 552
مُدَرِّسٌ
One who reads or studies much and repeatedly; hence, a teacher, lecturer, or professor.
The educational occupation sense is associated with a teacher in a place of study.
- Lane · entry 553
مِدْرَاسٌ
One who reads or studies the books of the Jews.
The form conveys an intensive association with repeated study.
- Lane · entry 554
مَدْرُوسٌ
Describing a house whose remains have been effaced or obliterated.
A passive participial description of ruins or a vanished dwelling.
- Lane · entry 555
مَدْرُوسٌ
Describing a road much beaten by travelers and thereby made easy to follow.
The sense develops from repeated passage over a route.
- Lane · entry 555
مُدَارِسٌ
One who studies or reads with another; also, one who has read books.
The first sense is relational, while the second emphasizes acquired familiarity with books.
- Lane · entry 556
دَرْسٌ
A slight or limited case of mange affecting a camel.
A rare lexical specialization reported independently from the principal semantic branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 1741
دِرْوَاسٌ
A thick-necked person or animal.
Reported as an anomalous lexical branch outside the root's principal semantic development.
- Maqāyīs · row 1741
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The interpretation of 7:169 as studying a text but abandoning its practical application is explicitly reported as an alternative contextual explanation, not as the obligatory meaning of every occurrence.
Lane records alternative Quranic readings involving effacement and reciprocal study; the artifact does not assign those readings modern verse locations beyond the independently supplied QAC locations.