Quranic root
غمم
gh · m · m
The root centers on covering, enclosing, or overlaying something so that it is hidden or obstructed.
From physical covering and concealment develop cloud cover, obscurity or perplexity, emotional distress that overwhelms the heart, and several specialized senses involving dense growth, covered surfaces, or muffled sound.
- Maqāyīs · row 3455
- Mufradāt · row 1067
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 11
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَمَام
ghamām
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
Clouds or cloud cover.
A collective or plural noun for clouds; the covering of the sky or sunlight is part of the word's lexical association, not a restriction to a particular color or thickness.
- Lane · entry 29840
- Mufradāt · row 1067
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:57word 3
“(with) [the] clouds”
Quran 2:210word 10
“[the] clouds”
Quran 25:25word 4
“with the clouds”
غَمّ
ghamm
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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.
Distress, grief, anguish, or sorrow.
A state of emotional trouble or oppression affecting the heart; the Quranic contexts use the noun for distress and anguish rather than for a physical covering.
- Lane · entry 29835
- Lane · entry 29827
Selected Quran examples
غُمَّة
ghummah
- 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.
Obscurity, perplexity, or uncertainty concerning an affair.
Used especially in the construction أَمْرٌ غُمَّةٌ or أَمْرُكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ غُمَّةً for a case whose meaning, outcome, or proper course is unclear or concealed.
- Lane · entry 29837
- Mufradāt · row 1067
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:71word 28
“any doubt”
A constricting distress, difficulty, or oppressive predicament.
In the Quranic construction concerning an affair, the word can denote the case's straitness and anxiety as well as its obscurity; this is a lexical interpretation of the construction, not a claim that every use means emotional grief.
- Lane · entry 29837
- Mufradāt · row 1067
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:71word 28
“any doubt”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:57ٱلْغَمَامَ(with) [the] clouds
- 2:210ٱلْغَمَامِ[the] clouds
- 3:153غَمًّۢا(with) distress
- 3:153بِغَمٍّۢon distress
- 3:154ٱلْغَمِّthe distress
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 49 Classical meanings
غَمَّ
To cover, veil, conceal, or overlie something.
Includes concealing a visible object, rising over it as a covering, and making information obscure or difficult to understand.
- Lane · entry 29827
غَمَّهُ
To grieve, distress, or make someone sorrowful.
A transitive causative use describing the effect of an event or person on another's heart.
- Lane · entry 29827
غَمَّهُ
To put a muzzle, nose-bag, or similar covering over an animal's mouth or nostrils.
A specialized transitive use, especially of an ass, camel, or similar animal, to prevent feeding or otherwise cover the mouth.
- Lane · entry 29827
غَامَمَهُ
To grieve one another or cause one another sorrow.
Form III expressing reciprocal or mutual grief.
- Lane · entry 29828
أَغَمَّتِ السَّمَاءُ
The sky became clouded or overcast.
A Form IV intransitive use said of the sky; a secondary interpretation equates it with becoming altered, while the clouded-sky meaning is the primary lexical explanation here.
- Lane · entry 29829
أَغَمَّهُ
To cause great grief or sadness.
Attested in the expression مَا أَغَمَّكَ لِيَ; the attribution of this Form IV usage is reported with disagreement in the source.
- Lane · entry 29829
تَغَامَّ
To pretend or display grief without genuinely feeling it.
Form VI describing an outward show of grief.
- Lane · entry 29830
اِنْغَمَّ
To become covered, veiled, or concealed.
Intransitive Form VII use said of a thing that becomes hidden or overlaid.
- Lane · entry 29831
اِغْتَمَّ
To become grieved, sorrowful, sad, or unhappy.
Intransitive Form VIII emotional use.
- Lane · entry 29832
اِغْتَمَّ
A plant or herbage became tall, tangled, luxuriant, and abundant.
Form VIII use specifically said of vegetation.
- Lane · entry 29832
اِغْتَمَّ
A man withheld himself from going out or forth.
A specialized Form VIII use said of a person who stays in rather than departing.
- Lane · entry 29832
غَمْغَمَ
To utter a deep or indistinct cry, as a frightened bull or a courageous man in combat.
The source applies the vocalization to animals and to warriors raising their voices in conflict.
- Lane · entry 29833
غَمْغَمَ
To speak indistinctly so that the articulation or meaning is not understood.
Speech is muffled or unclear to the listener, sometimes because something is held in the speaker's mouth.
- Lane · entry 29833
غَمْغَمَ
A bow produced a sound.
A specialized use said of the sound made by a bow.
- Lane · entry 29833
غَمْغَمَ
An infant whimpered or cried while nursing at the breast.
A specialized infant vocalization, especially when the milk is insufficient.
- Lane · entry 29833
تَغَمْغَمَ
To utter cries while drowning or being pressed beneath the water.
Form V use describing a person overwhelmed by waves; the source gives Pharaoh as a poetic application.
- Lane · entry 29834
يَوْمٌ غَمٌّ
An intensely hot, oppressive day that nearly takes away the breath.
An attributive expression for oppressive heat; related expressions may also describe a night or weather producing such distress.
- Lane · entry 29827
- Lane · entry 29835
لَيْلَةٌ غَمَّةٌ
A cloud-covered or misty night in which the new moon cannot be seen.
The expression may also refer to the last night of the lunar month when its status is hidden or uncertain.
- Lane · entry 29835
غَمَّةٌ
A feminine form or epithet corresponding to غَمٌّ, grief or distress.
This vocalized form is distinct from Quranic غُمَّةٌ meaning an obscure or constricting affair.
- Lane · entry 29836
غُمَّةٌ
The bottom or interior portion of a skin used for clarified butter.
A specialized material noun.
- Lane · entry 29837
غِمَّةٌ
Obscurity, confusion, or dubiousness.
A variant noun for a state of unclear or confused understanding, distinct in vocalization from غُمَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 29838
غَمَمٌ
Hair flowing down so as to narrow or cover the forehead and back of the neck, or the condition of having such hair.
A physical description of abundant hair, not a general meaning of concealment.
- Lane · entry 29839
حَبُّ الغَمَامِ
Hailstones or hail.
A conventional expression literally associated with the clouds.
- Lane · entry 29840
غُمَامٌ
A cold or nasal rheum, coryza.
A separate vocalized noun from the ordinary cloud term.
- Lane · entry 29841
غُمُومٌ
Small stars that are faint or indistinct.
A plural noun reported without a singular in the cited evidence.
- Lane · entry 29842
غَمِيمٌ
Fresh or green herbage growing beneath dry or withered herbage.
A vegetation term based on the notion of one layer being covered by another.
- Lane · entry 29843
غَمِيمٌ
Milk heated until it thickens.
The covering or congealing process motivates this specialized use.
- Lane · entry 29843
غَمَامَةٌ
Herbage or vegetation protected as the growth of a valley.
A figurative extension in which vegetation is associated with the water brought by clouds.
- Lane · entry 29844
غِمَامَةٌ
A cloth or covering used to bind a she-camel's eyes or muzzle.
It may be used to stop the nose or redirect the animal toward another's young; plural غَمَائِمُ.
- Lane · entry 29846
غِمَامَةٌ
The prepuce of a boy.
A figurative comparison with a covering or binding.
- Lane · entry 29846
غَمَّى
Dust.
A specialized noun or lexicalized form equated with غَبَرَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 29847
غَمَّى
Darkness.
A specialized noun or lexicalized form derived from the notion of covering.
- Lane · entry 29847
غَمَّى
Hardship, difficulty, or distress overwhelming a party in battle.
A figurative use for an oppressive battle situation.
- Lane · entry 29847
غُمَّى
A calamity or misfortune.
A specialized lexical use reported alongside the sense of a difficult affair.
- Lane · entry 29848
غُمَّى
A hard or difficult affair in which the right course is not known.
Describes a perplexing case or predicament rather than ordinary emotional grief.
- Lane · entry 29848
غَمَّاءُ
A dubious or confused affair or situation.
Used substantively or in the expression إِنَّهُمْ لَفِي غَمَّاءَ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ.
- Lane · entry 29849
غَمْغَمَةٌ
The cries of frightened bulls or of courageous men in combat.
A verbal noun used as a substantive for the vocalizations themselves.
- Lane · entry 29853
غَمْغَمَةٌ
Indistinct or muffled speech whose articulation cannot be distinguished.
The listener hears the voice but cannot make out the words clearly.
- Lane · entry 29853
غَمْغَمَةٌ
The sound of bows.
A specialized sound noun.
- Lane · entry 29853
أَغَمّ
A man whose hair falls so abundantly that it narrows or covers the face and back of the neck.
The feminine form غَمَّاءُ can be applied to a woman; this is a physical hair description.
- Lane · entry 29854
غَمَّاءُ
A horse's forelock that is excessively abundant in hair.
A specialized feminine adjective applied to the forelock.
- Lane · entry 29854
أَغَمّ
Dense cloud with no gap or interstice.
A figurative adjective describing closely continuous cloud cover.
- Lane · entry 29854
مُغِمَّةٌ
Land having abundant, dense, or luxuriant herbage.
A feminine adjectival form describing fertile vegetation.
- Lane · entry 29855
مُغَمِّمٌ
Abounding in water and covering or submerging what it contains.
Applied to clouds, a sea, a well, or a spring-like water source that fills and overwhelms its surroundings.
- Lane · entry 29856
مَغْمُومٌ
Covered, veiled, or concealed.
The passive participle of غَمَّهُ; the following specialized uses retain the idea of something being enclosed or overlaid.
- Lane · entry 29857
مَغْمُومٌ
Unripe dates placed in a jar and covered until they ripen.
A specialized passive-participial use applied to dates undergoing covered ripening.
- Lane · entry 29857
مَغْمُومٌ
A new moon veiled or intercepted by clouds so that it cannot be seen.
A passive-participial description of the moon's hidden visibility.
- Lane · entry 29857
مَغْمُومٌ
Grieved, sorrowful, or made unhappy.
A passive-participial emotional use applied to a person.
- Lane · entry 29857
مَغْمُومٌ
Affected by the ailment called غُمَامٌ, a nasal or coryzal complaint.
A specialized medical use distinct from the ordinary passive meaning covered or concealed.
- Lane · entry 29857
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form غُمَّة is distinct in vocalization and lexical identity from the Classical غَمَّة (feminine of غَمّ) and غِمَّة (obscurity or confusion).
A historical Quran citation occurring in Lane's cloud-cover discussion is not converted into a modern verse location because the packet does not independently identify a corresponding QAC occurrence.
The Form IV meaning associated with ما أَغَمَّكَ لِي is reported with source disagreement and is retained as a qualified Classical usage rather than treated as an uncontroversial primary sense.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:gmm:29829:g2:sub3 reports a “Demersit” use of أَغَمَّ but does not specify which lexical sense is intended; it is therefore left unresolved rather than assigned to clouding, covering, or grieving.