Quranic root
هشم
h · sh · m
The root centers on breaking or crushing something, whether hollow or non-hollow.
Its lexical development includes crushing objects such as bone and bread, the state of dry vegetation broken into pieces, a head wound that breaks bone, and specialized extensions for milking an udder and showing compassion.
- Maqāyīs · row 4896
- Mufradāt · row 1524
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
هَشِيم
hashīm
- 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.
Dry, brittle plant matter broken into pieces; dry vegetation reduced to fragments.
In the Quran, it describes vegetation in a dried and broken state, including imagery of wind-scattered stalks or twig-like fragments.
- Lane · entry 17114
- Mufradāt · row 1524
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:45word 15
“dry stalks”
Quran 54:31word 7
“like dry twig fragments”
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 7 Classical meanings
هَشَمَهُ
To crush or break something.
A transitive Form I verb; the lexical evidence applies it, among other things, to crushing a bone or bread.
- Lane · entry 17111
- Mufradāt · row 1524
هَشَّمَهُ
To crush or break something thoroughly, into many pieces.
A Form II verb described with dry things and hollow objects, including the head; these examples illustrate the intensified action.
- Lane · entry 17112
تَهَشَّمَ
To become dry and broken into pieces.
A Form V verb used of a plant or herbage becoming هَشِيم.
- Lane · entry 17113
هَشِيم
Weak-bodied or physically frail.
A Classical adjectival use describing a person as physically weak.
- Maqāyīs · row 4896
هَاشِمَة
A head wound that breaks the skull bone.
A specialized noun for a wound or blow causing fracture of the head bone.
- Lane · entry 17115
- Mufradāt · row 1524
اهْتَشَمَ
To milk all that is in a she-camel’s udder.
A specialized Form VIII usage concerning extracting the milk from the udder.
- Maqāyīs · row 4896
- Mufradāt · row 1524
تَهَشَّمَ
To show compassion or take pity on someone.
A figurative construction of the form تَهَشَّمَ فُلَانٌ عَلَى فُلَانٍ, “he showed compassion toward him.”
- Maqāyīs · row 4896
- Mufradāt · row 1524
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic translations “dry stalks” and “dry twig fragments” illustrate the same lexical sense of هَشِيم rather than separate meanings.