Quranic root
فوم
f · w · m
A food-related root centered on فُومٌ, whose principal lexical interpretations are wheat or garlic.
The lexical evidence extends from the food noun to bread and bread-making, while also recording related produce, food, dialectal, and transferred uses.
- Maqāyīs · row 3679
- Mufradāt · row 1145
- Lane · entry 35273
- Lane · entry 35274
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- 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.
فُومٌ
fūmun
- 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.
Garlic.
In the Quranic phrase وَفُومِهَا, this is one established lexical interpretation of the occurrence at 2:61.
- Lane · entry 35274
- Mufradāt · row 1145
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:61word 20
“[and] its garlic”
Wheat.
In the Quranic phrase وَفُومِهَا, this is an alternative lexical interpretation of the occurrence at 2:61.
- Lane · entry 35274
- Mufradāt · row 1145
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:61word 20
“[and] its garlic”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:61وَفُومِهَا[and] its garlic
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 10 Classical meanings
فَوَّمَ
To make bread.
A Form II verb, also used in the request فَوِّمُوا لَنَا, “make bread for us.”
- Lane · entry 35273
فُومٌ
Bread; also grain other than wheat used for making bread.
A broader Classical nominal use, distinct from the two interpretations recorded for the Quranic occurrence.
- Lane · entry 35274
فُومٌ
Chickpeas.
A dialectal use associated with Syria.
- Lane · entry 35274
فُومٌ
A head or bulb of an onion or garlic.
A transferred nominal use for the head or cluster of the plant.
- Lane · entry 35274
فُومٌ
A large gobbet or mouthful of food.
A nominal use for a substantial portion of food.
- Lane · entry 35274
فُومٌ
An ear of grain or corn.
A dialectal use in Azd al-Sarāh; also described as a feminine noun of unity.
- Lane · entry 35274
فُومَةٌ
A thing carried between two fingers.
A distinct nominal use of فُومَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 35275
فُوَمًا
Into a number of pieces; piece by piece.
Used adverbially in the expression قَطَعُوا الشَّاةَ فُوَمًا فُوَمًا, “they cut the animal into pieces.”
- Lane · entry 35276
فَامِيٌّ
A seller of fūm.
A derived noun for a seller of the produce denoted by فُومٌ.
- Lane · entry 35277
فَامِيٌّ
A fruit seller; reportedly also a seller of sugar.
The fruit-seller usage is separately reported; the sugar-seller interpretation is recorded with an explicit doubt about its genuineness.
- Lane · entry 35277
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The sole Quranic occurrence is فُومِهَا at 2:61. Lexical evidence supports both garlic and wheat as interpretations, while the supplied contextual gloss reflects the garlic interpretation and does not resolve the lexical dispute.