Quranic root
جمح
j · m · ḥ
Forceful forward movement that overcomes resistance or control.
The root develops from a horse overpowering its rider into meanings of uncontrolled or heedless haste, while also producing specialized names for related objects and qualities.
- Maqāyīs · row 1210
- Mufradāt · row 263
- Lane · entry 47281
- Lane · entry 47284
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
جَمَحَ
jamaḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To rush forward headlong, with energetic and uncontrolled momentum; to run wild.
In the Quranic construction, it describes people hastening away so that nothing turns them back, evoking the motion of an ungovernable horse rather than ordinary speed.
- Lane · entry 47281
- Mufradāt · row 263
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:57word 11
“run wild”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 9:57يَجْمَحُونَrun wild
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 15 Classical meanings
جَمَحَ
Of a horse: to overpower its rider, break loose, and run away so that it becomes ungovernable.
The motion may include going at random without a fixed aim and resisting every attempt to turn it.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمَحَ
To be quick, swift, brisk, lively, or sprightly.
This is an approved quality, contrasting with the refractory sense; the usage is also reported as obsolete except for possible figurative application to a person.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمَحَ
Of a person or animal: to go heedlessly or at random, without consideration or a fixed aim, not following a guide; also, to hasten after someone or something so that nothing turns one back.
This broader human or animal usage includes following one's natural desire without deliberation or guidance.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمَحَ
Of a woman: to leave her usual dwelling in anger and go to her family without permission.
The reported conventional use concerns leaving the husband's house before divorce.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمَحَ
Of a ship: to leave its course and become ungovernable by its sailors.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمَحَ
Of a desert: to lead a group far away because of its great extent.
This is a figurative description of the desert's effect on travelers.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمَحَ
Of an object of desire: to baffle or thwart a person's efforts to attain it.
The subject is the desired object, which defeats the attempt to reach it.
- Lane · entry 47281
جَمْحَةٌ
A trick or act by which a beast overcomes its rider and runs away with him.
The term denotes the beast's characteristic act of becoming uncontrollable.
- Lane · entry 47282
جَمُوحٌ
A refractory horse or mare that overcomes its rider, runs away, and cannot be governed.
The adjective may describe an animal that will not bend its head or be turned from its course; in this sense it denotes a fault.
- Lane · entry 47283
جَمُوحٌ
Quick, swift, brisk, lively, or sprightly.
In this sense the adjective describes an energetic quality that is not necessarily a fault.
- Lane · entry 47283
جَمُوحٌ
A person or animal that proceeds at random or heedlessly, follows natural desire without consideration or guidance, and is difficult to turn back.
- Lane · entry 47283
جَمُوحٌ
Routed, defeated, or put to flight in warfare.
This is a plural usage referring to men.
- Lane · entry 47283
جَمُوحٌ
A desert that leads travelers far away because of its great extent.
The desert is likened to an uncontrollable horse.
- Lane · entry 47283
جُمَّاحٌ
A small blunt-headed arrow used by boys for practice or play, sometimes bearing a date or clay on its head so that it does not wound.
It may be used to shoot at birds without killing them; the object is also called جُبَّاحٌ.
- Lane · entry 47284
جُمَّاحٌ
A collective plant whose extremities bear soft, ear-like growths resembling fox-tails or the heads of certain grasses.
The singular form is جُمَّاحَةٌ, and plural forms are جَمَامِيحُ or, in poetry, جَمَامِحُ.
- Lane · entry 47284
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic occurrence is an imperfect plural form, يَجْمَحُونَ; the public headword is normalized to the Form I perfect citation form جَمَحَ.