Quranic root
لمس
l · m · s
The root centers on tactile contact and the seeking or pursuit of something.
The root's original orientation is seeking by hand in order to know a thing's touch; this usage developed into the broader sense of seeking or pursuing anything.
- Maqāyīs · row 4223
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
لَمَسَ
lamasa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
To touch or feel something through the outer surface of the body; to make tactile contact.
The sense includes direct physical contact and feeling something with the hand. In the Quranic passages concerning touching or contacting women, the expression is also subject to the interpretive range described in the following sense.
- Lane · entry 9870
- Mufradāt · row 1323
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:43word 33
“you have touched”
Quran 5:6word 35
“has (had) contact”
Quran 6:7word 7
“and they touched it”
To have sexual intercourse, expressed euphemistically as touching a woman.
Attested in the construction لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ / لَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ. The same Quranic wording is also interpreted as referring to physical touching rather than intercourse.
- Lane · entry 9870
- Mufradāt · row 1323
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:43word 33
“you have touched”
Quran 5:6word 35
“has (had) contact”
To seek, search for, or pursue something.
This is an extended use from feeling or searching for something by hand and may refer to seeking or striving after an object, knowledge, or a destination.
- Lane · entry 9870
- Mufradāt · row 1323
Selected Quran examples
Quran 72:8word 2
“sought to touch”
اِلْتَمَسَ
āiltamasa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- 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 seek, search for, or pursue something.
The Form VIII verb expresses active seeking or searching; the Quranic occurrence is an imperative addressed to a group.
- Lane · entry 9870
- Lane · entry 9874
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:13word 14
“and seek”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:43لَـٰمَسْتُمُyou have touched
- 5:6لَـٰمَسْتُمُhas (had) contact
- 6:7فَلَمَسُوهُand they touched it
- 57:13فَٱلْتَمِسُوا۟and seek
- 72:8لَمَسْنَاsought to touch
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
لَمْسٌ
Apprehending or coming to know a thing even without direct physical contact.
A figurative extension in which لمس denotes knowledge or recognition rather than contact between substances.
- Lane · entry 9870
لَمَسَ
To kiss a woman.
A figurative or euphemistic use mentioned alongside the sense of sexual intercourse.
- Lane · entry 9870
لَمَسَ البَصَرَ
To take away or destroy sight, including by attacking or putting out the eye.
A figurative construction used of sight or the eye; the reported explanations include rapidly destroying sight and aiming at the eye with a bite.
- Lane · entry 9870
بَيْعُ الْمُلَامَسَةِ
A sale concluded merely by touching the garment or commodity, without seeing, inspecting, or retaining the option to return it.
A conventional and prohibited mode of bargaining in which touching makes the sale binding.
- Lane · entry 9871
أَلْمَسَ
To permit someone to feel or touch another person.
Attested in the construction أَلْمِسْنِي الْجَارِيَةَ, “permit me to feel or touch the girl.”
- Lane · entry 9872
أَلْمَسَ
To procure or arrange a woman in marriage for the speaker.
A figurative request expressed as أَلْمِسْنِي امْرَأَةً, “marry or procure a woman for me.”
- Lane · entry 9872
لَمُوسٌ
A she-camel whose fatness or hump is uncertain and is examined by touch.
The term refers to uncertainty about whether the camel has fat, prompting tactile examination.
- Lane · entry 9875
لَمُوسٌ
A person of suspected origin or lineage, or whose claim to honor has a blemish.
A figurative characterization derived from the specialized camel term.
- Lane · entry 9875
لَمِيسٌ
A woman soft to the touch.
A descriptive feminine use referring to softness of tactile feel.
- Lane · entry 9876
لَمَاسَةٌ
A want or need, especially a moderate or middling one.
The related forms لَمَاسَةٌ and لُمَاسَةٌ are reported for this meaning.
- Lane · entry 9877
لَمُوسَةٌ
A road or way sought by someone who has lost the route in order to find the track of travelers.
The name is explained by the road's being sought as a means of recovering the route.
- Lane · entry 9878
لَامِسٌ
In the idiom لَا تَرُدُّ يَدَ لَامِسٍ or لَا يَرُدُّ يَدَ لَامِسٍ: a sexually available or promiscuous woman, or a man lacking resistance and regard for what is sacred.
The interpretation varies with the subject: of a woman it describes not repelling a man seeking sexual access; of a man it describes lack of resistance or care for inviolable things.
- Lane · entry 9879
لَامِسٌ
In an alternative interpretation of the same idiom, a wife who gives out her husband's property when it is requested from her.
This is an alternate explanation of the expression when applied to a wife.
- Lane · entry 9879
مَلْمَسٌ
A place or surface that is felt or touched.
The noun may also function as a verbal noun related to لمس.
- Lane · entry 9880
مَلْمُوسٌ
Smoothed or evened by repeated passage of the hand.
Used especially of the curved wooden parts of an ass's saddle after their unevenness has been removed by hand.
- Lane · entry 9881
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
In 4:43 and 5:6, the construction لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ / لَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ has an attested interpretive range between physical touching and euphemistic reference to sexual intercourse.
The public verb headwords are normalized to perfect-tense dictionary citation forms; the Form VIII Quran occurrence itself is an imperative.