Quranic root
غثو
gh · th · w
A semantic center of loose, degraded, scattered, or worthless material, especially refuse and scum borne on water.
The noun غثاء denotes water-borne refuse and decayed plant residue. Classical verbal uses extend this imagery to filling or sweeping together, while also recording separate applications to confusion, matting, clouding, nausea, poor quality, striking, and abundance.
- Lane · entry 28887
- Lane · entry 28889
- Mufradāt · row 1037
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غُثَاء
ghuthāʾ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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.
Rubbish, scum, and broken or decayed plant matter borne on water or left as dry residue.
In the Quran, it describes refuse carried by a torrent and dried plant residue or stubble; the two contexts represent the same lexical field of loose, degraded matter.
- Lane · entry 28889
- Mufradāt · row 1037
Selected Quran examples
Quran 87:5word 2
“stubble”
By metaphor, something rendered worthless, swept away, or of no account.
The Quran applies the image to a people reduced to refuse. The same figurative construction can compare property, work, or effort with something lacking value.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:41word 5
“(as) rubbish of dead leaves”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 12 Classical meanings
غَثَا الوَادِي
Of a valley or watercourse: to become full of refuse, including dung, leaves, and reeds.
An intransitive Form I construction; variant forms are also reported in the lexical discussion.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثَا اللَّحْمُ
Of meat: to be poor or bad because of leanness.
A description of the meat's deficient quality.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثَتِ النَّفْسُ
Of the soul or stomach: to become nauseated or foul, heaving toward vomiting.
The lexical discussion also records the related nouns غَثَيَانٌ and غَثْيٌ for this agitated, vomiting tendency.
- Lane · entry 28887
- Mufradāt · row 1037
غَثَتِ السَّمَاءُ بِالسَّحَابِ
Of the sky: to become covered or clouded with clouds.
The expression may also indicate that clouding has begun.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثَا السَّيْلُ المَرْتَعَ
Of a torrent: to sweep the pasture together and deprive it of its freshness or sweetness.
A transitive construction describing the torrent's damaging action on pasture.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثَى الكَلَامَ
To mix speech or language together confusedly.
A figurative use of the action of gathering or mixing; variant verbal patterns are reported.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثَى المَالَ وَالنَّاسَ
To beat or strike, dealing blows among cattle or people.
The evidence attests the expression with cattle and people as its objects.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثِيَتِ الأَرْضُ بِالنَّبَاتِ
Of land: to become abundant in herbage.
The construction may describe the onset of becoming rich in vegetation.
- Lane · entry 28887
غَثِيَ شَعْرُهُ
Of hair: to become matted or compacted together.
This use is reported as a possible dialectal variant.
- Lane · entry 28887
غُثَاءُ القِدْرِ
The scum or foam of a cooking pot.
A nominal use distinct from the Quranic imagery of torrent-borne refuse and dry vegetation.
- Mufradāt · row 1037
غُثَاءُ النَّاسِ
The lowly, vile, or refuse portion of mankind.
A conventional figurative expression for people regarded as socially contemptible; it is kept separate from the Quranic application of the physical refuse image.
- Lane · entry 28889
الأَغْثَى
The lion.
A separate unclassified nominal entry, not a variant of the Quranic noun غُثَاء.
- Lane · entry 28890
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane's printed comparison cites “Kur xxiii. 43”; that historical citation is not converted into a modern verse location. The public Quran example uses the independently supplied QAC occurrence at 23:41.