Quranic root
مرج
m · r · j
A root centered on movement or coming-and-going that leads to agitation, mingling, or unsettledness.
The semantic range develops from animals moving freely in pasture to sending forth or letting flow, mixing, instability, and confused disorder.
- Maqāyīs · row 4340
- Mufradāt · row 1355
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- 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.
مَرَجَ
maraja
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To cause two seas to meet and mingle or interflow while remaining distinct.
Used in the Quranic construction مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ, with the sweet and salt waters meeting without one wholly overtaking the other.
- Lane · entry 12473
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:53word 3
“(has) released”
Quran 55:19word 1
“He released”
To send forth or let flow two seas so that they meet.
An alternative interpretation of the Quranic construction مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ; the emphasis is on releasing or allowing the waters to flow.
- Lane · entry 12473
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:53word 3
“(has) released”
Quran 55:19word 1
“He released”
مَرْجَانٌ
marjānun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Small pearls, a marine gem.
In the Quran, the word occurs in descriptions of marine adornment and in a simile involving precious gems.
- Mufradāt · row 1355
- Lane · entry 12478
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:22word 4
“and the coral”
Quran 55:58word 3
“and coral”
مَارِجٌ
mārijun
- 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.
A mingled flame or fire, also explained as fire without smoke.
In the Quranic phrase مِنْ مَارِجٍ مِنْ نَارٍ, the term describes a flame or fire characterized as a mixture.
- Lane · entry 12481
- Mufradāt · row 1355
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:15word 4
“a smokeless flame”
مَرِيجٌ
marījun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Confused, mixed, or disordered; hence erroneous.
In the Quranic expression أَمْرٌ مَرِيجٌ, it describes an affair in a confused or erroneous state.
- Lane · entry 12479
- Mufradāt · row 1355
Selected Quran examples
Quran 50:5word 9
“confused”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 25:53مَرَجَ(has) released
- 50:5مَّرِيجٍconfused
- 55:15مَّارِجٍۢa smokeless flame
- 55:19مَرَجَHe released
- 55:22وَٱلْمَرْجَانُand the coral
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
مَرَجَ
To pasture a beast, send it to pasture, or leave it to roam and pasture freely.
A use concerning a beast of carriage or other livestock.
- Lane · entry 12473
مَرَجَ
To mix one thing with another or mix two things together.
A general transitive use, distinct from the Quranic construction concerning the two seas.
- Lane · entry 12473
مَرَجَ
To mar, spoil, or impair an affair.
- Lane · entry 12473
مَرِجَ
To become corrupt, impaired, marred, or confused; of a covenant, to become disordered and little observed.
Also used of people becoming confused.
- Lane · entry 12473
مَرِجَ
To become unsteady, as a ring on the finger or an arrow.
The lexical examples concern physical objects that are not steady in their position.
- Lane · entry 12473
أَمْرَجَ
Of a she-camel, to eject her embryo or the stallion's seed as mucus-like matter and blood.
A specialized use concerning a she-camel's reproductive discharge.
- Lane · entry 12474
أَمْرَجَ
To violate a covenant or religion.
- Lane · entry 12474
مَرْجٌ
A pasture, pasturage, meadow, or open tract of land abounding in herbage.
The noun may denote either the grazing place or a broad open grassy tract.
- Lane · entry 12475
هَرْجٌ وَمَرْجٌ
Confusion, disturbance, intricate disorder, discord, or trouble.
A conventional paired expression.
- Lane · entry 12476
مَرَجٌ
A camel or group of camels pasturing without a herder.
- Lane · entry 12477
مَرْجَانٌ
Coral, a red gem or red beads; the term is also described as pearl-like material, including large pearls, or as red roots growing in the sea.
These are alternative Classical identifications of the marine substance and should not be treated as separate lexical items.
- Lane · entry 12478
مَرْجَانٌ
A leguminous plant with red twigs and broad, juicy leaves, said to increase the milk of animals that feed on it.
A botanical use distinct from the marine-gem noun.
- Lane · entry 12478
مِمْرَاجٌ
A man who mars or spoils his affairs and does not execute them soundly.
- Lane · entry 12482
مُمْرِجٌ
A she-camel that ejects her embryo or the stallion's seed as mucus-like matter and blood.
A specialized active-participial description of a she-camel.
- Lane · entry 12483
مَارِجٌ
A mixture; that which is mixed.
A Classical nominal use of مَارِجٌ, distinct from the Quranic expression for a mixture or flame of fire.
- Lane · entry 12481
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane Quran citations use abbreviated historical notation; the modern verse and word locations in the examples are taken only from the supplied QAC data.
The supplied Quran-focused discussion associates its quoted al-Raḥmān expression with an inconsistent verse citation, so the QAC locations 55:22 and 55:58 are used for the marjān examples.