Quranic root
كظم
k · ẓ · m
The root centers on holding, gathering, or containing something so that it is not released, especially breath or emotion.
This principle extends from containing wrath, grief, or breath to silence, withholding a camel's cud, closing a filled waterskin, retaining water in conduits, and joining or fastening parts.
- Maqāyīs · row 4001
- Mufradāt · row 1252
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَظِيم
kaẓīm
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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.
Inwardly grief-laden, with emotion or grief held in rather than openly expressed.
Used adjectivally of a person experiencing intense inward sorrow or distress; the sense combines containment of emotion with its resulting grief-stricken state.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:84word 12
“a suppressor”
Quran 16:58word 9
“suppresses grief”
Quran 43:17word 12
“(is) filled with grief”
كَاظِم
kāẓim
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who restrains or suppresses intense emotion, especially anger.
The Quranic plural form كَاظِمِينَ is used for people holding anger or anguish in; the construction does not require that the emotion be outwardly displayed.
- Lane · entry 32876
- Mufradāt · row 1252
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:134word 6
“and those who restrain”
Quran 40:18word 8
“choked”
مَكْظُوم
makẓūm
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
Constrained by emotion or breath held in; inwardly stifled and distressed.
A passive state in which grief or anguish is contained within, rather than released; attested in the Quranic description of the anguished speaker.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:48word 11
“(was) distressed”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:134وَٱلْكَـٰظِمِينَand those who restrain
- 12:84كَظِيمٌۭa suppressor
- 16:58كَظِيمٌۭsuppresses grief
- 40:18كَـٰظِمِينَ ۚchoked
- 43:17كَظِيمٌ(is) filled with grief
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 7 Classical meanings
كُظُوم
Holding one's breath; by extension, remaining silent or refraining from speech.
The silence sense is an expressive extension of breath being held in.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
كَظَمَ الْبَعِيرُ
Of a camel, to cease regurgitating or ruminating its cud.
A specialized usage concerning the camel's retention or cessation of its cud.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
كَظَمَ السِّقَاءَ
To close or tie a filled waterskin, preventing what it contains from escaping.
A transitive construction applied to a waterskin after it has been filled.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
كَظْم
The outlet or passage through which breath exits.
The noun is used in expressions referring to seizing or obstructing a person's breath passage.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
كَظَائِم
Subterranean conduits or excavated channels carrying water from one well to another.
Plural of كِظَامَة in this technical water-management usage.
- Lane · entry 32877
- Mufradāt · row 1252
كِظَامَة
A ring joining the threads at the end of an iron balance beam.
A technical fastening term for the part that gathers and holds the balance threads together.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
كِظَامَة
A strap attached to the string of an Arab bow and looped around the upper end of its bow limb.
A technical bow-making term for a connecting or retaining strap.
- Mufradāt · row 1252
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
كَظِيم and مَكْظُوم combine the idea of inward containment with its emotional result, so translations may alternate between suppressing emotion, being grief-laden, and being distressed.
The Quranic form كَاظِمِينَ is presented under the singular dictionary citation form كَاظِم.