Quranic root
مهد
m · h · d
The root denotes preparing, smoothing, leveling, and making something ready or easy.
Its concrete orientation is the preparation of a level bed or surface; this develops into arranging affairs, preparing benefits or conditions, and naming a prepared resting expanse. Related lexical branches include the spreading or elevation of a camel's hump and several specialized nominal uses.
- Maqāyīs · row 4472
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 16
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مَهَدَ
mahada
- 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 prepare or provide something for oneself.
The Quranic occurrence uses the verb with a reflexive or benefactive construction, referring to what people prepare or provide for themselves, including beneficial things or consequences.
- Lane · entry 13075
- Mufradāt · row 1393
Selected Quran examples
Quran 30:44word 9
“they are preparing”
مَهَّدَ
mahhada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 prepare, arrange, and make something plain or easy for someone.
The Quranic construction is transitive with a beneficiary introduced by لِـ; it can describe making an affair ready and manageable.
- Lane · entry 13076
- Mufradāt · row 1393
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:14word 1
“And I spread”
مَاهِدٌ
māhidun
- Part of speech
- Active 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.
One who spreads, levels, or prepares a place.
The Quranic form is plural and is used of spreading or preparing the earth.
- Lane · entry 13075
Selected Quran examples
Quran 51:48word 4
“(are) the Spreaders”
مَهْدٌ
mahdun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
A child's cradle or bed.
This is the prepared place in which a child sleeps or rests.
- Lane · entry 13080
- Mufradāt · row 1393
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:29word 9
“the cradle”
A bed or prepared, level expanse for lying, sitting, or habitation.
The term can denote an even or smooth surface, including the earth as an expanse made ready for use.
- Lane · entry 13080
- Mufradāt · row 1393
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:53word 5
“(as) a bed”
What a person has prepared for himself as his final place or condition.
This figurative Quran-attested interpretation concerns a person's prepared end or final place; the reported citation is preserved without assigning it a modern verse location.
- Lane · entry 13080
مِهَادٌ
mihādun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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.
A prepared, level resting place or bed; a spread-out expanse.
The Quran applies it to the earth as a prepared habitation and to a resting place or bed. It overlaps with مَهْدٌ in the sense of a prepared surface but is a distinct nominal form.
- Lane · entry 13080
- Mufradāt · row 1393
Selected Quran examples
Quran 78:6word 4
“a resting place”
Quran 7:41word 4
“(is) a bed”
تَمْهِيدٌ
tamhīdun
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Preparation, arrangement, and making something ready or easy.
This is the verbal noun of مَهَّدَ, including preparation made for a beneficiary or the facilitation of an affair.
- Lane · entry 13076
- Mufradāt · row 1393
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:14word 3
“ease”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:206ٱلْمِهَادُ[the] resting-place
- 3:12ٱلْمِهَادُ[the] resting place
- 3:46ٱلْمَهْدِthe cradle
- 3:197ٱلْمِهَادُ[the] resting place
- 5:110ٱلْمَهْدِthe cradle
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 18 Classical meanings
مَهَدَ
To make a place plain, even, or smooth; to spread and smooth a bed.
The concrete physical use describes preparing a surface or bed.
- Lane · entry 13075
مَهَدَ لَهُ
To do well or kindly for someone in his absence.
A tropical or idiomatic use concerning favorable treatment or service rendered for another.
- Lane · entry 13075
مَهَدَ
To gain, earn, or seek sustenance and work for oneself.
This use describes exertion and livelihood-seeking rather than the general preparation of a thing.
- Lane · entry 13075
مَهَدَ
To prepare or establish a high station for someone.
The object may be a position, standing, or other status established for another.
- Lane · entry 13075
مَهَدَ لِنَفْسِهِ
To establish a prior benefit, favor, or credit for oneself with another.
In the cited idiom, the absence of such a prior benefit means that no obligation or claim of reciprocity has been created.
- Lane · entry 13075
مَهَّدَ
To dispose or subject one's mind or self to doing a thing.
The construction concerns inward readiness or self-discipline for an intended action.
- Lane · entry 13076
مَهَّدَ
To accept or admit an excuse.
This is an idiomatic tropical use, as in accepting an excuse offered by someone.
- Lane · entry 13076
تَمَهَّدَ
To become spread, plain, even, or smooth; to spread a bed for oneself.
The form may describe a bed becoming level or a person preparing a bed for his own use.
- Lane · entry 13077
تَمَهَّدَ
To become arranged, prepared, plain, and easy.
The subject may be an affair or a situation that becomes favorable or ready for someone.
- Lane · entry 13077
تَمَهَّدَ
To become possessed of authority or power.
This is a tropical extension describing the attainment of a secure position or power.
- Lane · entry 13077
تَمَهَّدَتْ نَفْسُهُ
For one's mind or self to become disposed and ready to do a thing.
The use describes inward readiness or habituation to an intended action.
- Lane · entry 13077
اِمْتَهَدَ
For a camel's hump to become spreading and high.
A specialized physical use concerning the shape and elevation of the hump.
- Lane · entry 13078
اِسْتَمْهَدَ فِرَاشًا
To ask or desire that a bed be spread and made level or smooth.
The form expresses seeking or requesting the preparation of a bed.
- Lane · entry 13079
أَمْهَدَتْ بِوَلَدِهَا
For a woman to bring forth or cast forth her child with a single impulse.
A specialized childbirth expression; the wording describes the manner of delivery, not a general meaning of childbirth.
- Lane · entry 5873
مَهْدٌ
Good or goodly in the expression سَهْدٌ مَهْدٌ.
This is an imitative or echoic collocation rather than the ordinary noun meaning of a cradle or prepared surface.
- Lane · entry 13080
مُهْدٌ
Elevated ground or land, or alternatively depressed, smooth, and even ground or land.
The lexical evidence preserves both reported descriptions of the terrain.
- Lane · entry 13081
مَهِيدٌ
Pure butter, especially the purest melted butter with the least milk.
A specialized food term.
- Lane · entry 13084
مُمَهَّدٌ
Lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold.
A specialized tropical nominal use.
- Lane · entry 13085
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
مَهْدٌ and مِهَادٌ overlap in the sense of a prepared bed or resting expanse, while مَهْدٌ also has a specifically child-cradle use.
One Lane Quran citation for the figurative final-place interpretation uses historical citation notation and is not converted into a modern surah:ayah location.