Quranic root
جفأ
j · f · ʾ
The root centers on froth, scum, or refuse being cast off or swept away, with a Quranic figurative extension to what is worthless and discarded.
The concrete image of torrent or cooking-pot scum develops into the evaluation of something as useless because it is carried away or thrown out. Related derived verbs extend the action to emptying, throwing down, and uprooting.
- Lane · entry 46976
- Lane · entry 46978
- Lane · entry 46979
- Mufradāt · row 254
- 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.
جُفَاء
jufāʾ
- 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.
Froth, foam, or floating refuse cast off by a torrent or a boiling pot.
In the Quranic expression فَأَمَّا الزَّبَدُ فَيَذْهَبُ جُفَاءً, it denotes the scum carried away from the water.
- Lane · entry 46979
- Mufradāt · row 254
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:17word 31
“(as) scum”
Something worthless, useless, or unprofitable, fit to be cast away.
A Quranic figurative interpretation of جُفَاءً in the construction فَيَذْهَبُ جُفَاءً, by analogy with foam and refuse that are discarded and pass away.
- Lane · entry 46979
- Mufradāt · row 254
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:17word 31
“(as) scum”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 13:17جُفَآءًۭ ۖ(as) scum
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 9 Classical meanings
جَفَأَ
To cast forth froth, foam, and particles of rubbish or refuse, as a water-filled valley or a boiling pot.
An intransitive use describing the valley or pot as expelling its froth and refuse.
- Lane · entry 46976
جَفَأَ
To sweep scum and rubbish from a valley, or to clear froth from a cooking-pot.
A transitive use with the scum or froth as the material removed.
- Lane · entry 46976
جَفَأَ
To turn a cooking-pot upside down or incline it and empty out its contents.
A conventional construction referring to pouring out or overturning the pot.
- Lane · entry 46976
جَفَأَ
To throw a person or thing down onto the ground, or to prostrate it.
A transitive construction with the person or thing as the object thrown down.
- Lane · entry 46976
اجْتَفَأَ
To pull or pluck up, uproot, and throw down or away plants, herbs, or trees; also, to cut a plant or herb.
A Form VIII derived verb with uprooting, discarding, or cutting as its reported uses.
- Lane · entry 46978
جُفَاء
The foremost or first contingent of people.
Reported as an interpretation of جُفَاءٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ in a tradition; the attribution and reading are disputed, with other transmitters reported to read أَخِفَّاءُ instead.
- Lane · entry 46979
جُفَاء
An empty ship.
A separate classical nominal use.
- Lane · entry 46979
أَجْفَأَ
Of a cooking-pot, to cast out its foam.
A Form IV derived use with the pot as the subject and its foam as what is expelled.
- Mufradāt · row 254
أَجْفَأَتِ الأَرْضُ
Of land, to become like scum through the departure of its good or produce.
A figurative Form IV construction describing land whose beneficial substance has gone away.
- Mufradāt · row 254
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Mufradat discussion notes that related meanings expressed by جفا and جفو, including lifting a saddle and shunning, properly belong to the wāw-root material rather than serving as direct meanings of the hamzated root جفأ.
The reported meaning “the foremost people” is textually disputed because an alternative reading is reported in its place.