Quranic root
مسس
m · s · s
The root denotes probing or feeling something by hand, and thus direct tactile contact.
From physical contact, the lexical field extends to mutual contact, an effect reaching or afflicting someone, euphemistic sexual contact, and related expressions of nearness or immediate effect.
- Maqāyīs · row 4366
- Mufradāt · row 1367
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 61
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مَسَّ
massa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 56 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 by direct physical contact.
Used for tactile contact or perception by touch, including direct contact without an intervening object.
- Lane · entry 12606
- Mufradāt · row 1367
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:35word 31
“touched it”
To have sexual intercourse, expressed euphemistically as touching.
A metonymic construction used especially in statements about intercourse before consummation or before a lawful sexual relationship has taken place.
- Lane · entry 12606
- Mufradāt · row 1367
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:236word 9
“you have touched”
Quran 3:47word 8
“touch(ed) me”
To befall, afflict, or overtake someone with harm, hardship, illness, punishment, or other distress.
The object may be an individual or a group, and the subject may be distress, misfortune, punishment, illness, old age, or a comparable harmful effect.
- Lane · entry 12606
- Mufradāt · row 1367
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:214word 13
“Touched them”
Quran 21:83word 6
“has touched me”
تَمَاسَّ
tamāssa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VI
- Form
- VI
- 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 have sexual intercourse with one another, expressed as mutual touching.
The Quranic reciprocal construction refers to intercourse between the two parties, especially in the expiation sequence concerning the ẓihār declaration.
- Lane · entry 12609
- Mufradāt · row 1367
Selected Quran examples
Quran 58:3word 14
“they touch each other”
Quran 58:4word 10
“they both touch each other”
مَسّ
mass
- 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.
The first perceptible effect or onset of harm, pain, heat, or punishment.
Used for the initial sensation or impact of an affliction before it becomes fully established or overwhelming.
- Lane · entry 12610
- Mufradāt · row 1367
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:48word 8
“(the) touch”
A touch or state of madness, insanity, or diabolical possession.
The expression presents madness or possession metaphorically as a touch, particularly a touch attributed to the devil or jinn.
- Lane · entry 12610
- Mufradāt · row 1367
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:275word 13
“(his) touch”
مِسَاس
misās
- Part of speech
- Fixed expression / imperative 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.
In لَا مِسَاسَ: “no touching,” “do not touch me,” or “there shall be no mutual touching.”
A fixed Quranic expression with variant readings and closely related interpretations of prohibition, refusal of contact, or absence of mutual contact.
- Lane · entry 12611
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:97word 10
“touch”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:80تَمَسَّنَاwill touch us
- 2:214مَّسَّتْهُمُTouched them
- 2:236تَمَسُّوهُنَّyou have touched
- 2:237تَمَسُّوهُنَّyou (have) touched them
- 2:275ٱلْمَسِّ ۚ(his) 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 20 Classical meanings
مَسَّ
To wet a body, as water wets the body.
A derived physical-contact use in which the subject is water and the object is the body.
- Lane · entry 12606
مَسَّ
To strike or smite.
A tropical extension from contact by the hand; the construction may specify the instrument, such as a whip.
- Lane · entry 12606
مَسَّ
To affect someone with madness, insanity, or diabolical possession.
The expression portrays the person as touched by jinn or a devil; this verb-level use is distinct from the Quranic noun sense of مَسّ.
- Lane · entry 12606
مَسَّتْ إِلَيْهِ الحَاجَةُ
For a need to be pressing, difficult, or distressing in relation to someone.
A specialized phrase whose exact syntactic direction is inferred in the lexical source.
- Lane · entry 12606
مَسَّتْهُ مَوَاسُّ الخَيْرِ وَالشَّرِّ
For the haps or effects of good or evil fortune to happen to or betide someone.
An extended use of مسّ for events or conditions reaching a person, whether favorable or unfavorable.
- Lane · entry 12606
مَسَّتْ بِكَ رَحِمُ فُلَانٍ
For a relationship to be near to someone.
A figurative proximity construction based on the notion of contact or nearness.
- Lane · entry 12606
مَسَّ
To take or handle a thing.
A metaphorical use derived from touching or taking something with the hand.
- Lane · entry 12606
أَمَسَّ
To cause someone to touch a thing or enable someone to touch it.
Form IV takes the person as the caused participant and the thing as what is touched.
- Lane · entry 12608
أَمَسَّ
To wet or smear something with water, perfume, or another substance.
Used for causing a body or body part to be wetted or coated, including smearing the face with perfume.
- Lane · entry 12608
أَمَسَّ
To make a complaint to someone.
A specialized idiomatic construction with شَكْوَى as the conveyed complaint.
- Lane · entry 12608
تَمَاسَّ
For two bodies or parties to touch one another or be in contact.
This is the general reciprocal-contact meaning; the Quranic sexual construction is listed separately under the Quranic Form VI form.
- Lane · entry 12609
مَسّ
An impress or visible indication of a good condition in a person's livestock.
Used of the observable state or quality manifested in camels, sheep, or goats.
- Lane · entry 12610
مَسُوس
Water reached or taken by the hands.
One lexical analysis treats the word as describing water that hands can reach or take.
- Lane · entry 12613
مَسُوس
Wholesome water, saliva, or another thing that relieves thirst promptly.
The description may emphasize water that removes thirst as soon as it is touched or consumed, and extends to saliva or anything with that effect.
- Lane · entry 12613
مَسُوس
Water variously described as intermediate between sweet and salt, sweet and clear, or saline, bitter, thick, and undrinkable.
These are variant lexicographic descriptions of the water term rather than a single resolved water-quality definition.
- Lane · entry 12613
مَسُوس
Herbage having a fattening or beneficial effect on grazing animals.
A figurative extension to pasture that benefits animals feeding on it.
- Lane · entry 12613
مَسُوس
A bezoar stone or antidote against poison.
A specialized technical usage, with the two explanations treated as equivalent in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 12613
حَاجَةٌ مَاسَّةٌ
A pressing or difficult-to-accomplish need.
The adjective is used with حاجة and is synonymous with an urgent or important need.
- Lane · entry 12615
رَحِمٌ مَاسَّةٌ
A near relationship or close kinship.
A figurative proximity expression applied to kinship.
- Lane · entry 12615
مَمْسُوس
A person affected by madness, insanity, or diabolical possession.
A passive-participial description of someone regarded as touched by a devil or other possessing force.
- Lane · entry 12616
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic Form VI occurrences are specifically interpreted as reciprocal sexual contact; its broader physical-contact meaning is listed separately as Classical Arabic.
لَا مِسَاسَ has variant readings and closely related interpretations involving prohibition of contact, refusal to be touched, or absence of mutual contact.
مَسُوس has several competing lexical descriptions for water; these variants are preserved rather than forced into one narrower definition.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The phrase مَسَّتْ إِلَيْهِ الحَاجَةُ is marked as an assumed tropical use, and the exact direction of the difficulty is left partly to inference; it is represented as a pressing-need construction with that uncertainty retained.
The water-quality explanations under مَسُوس differ among authorities and are represented as variant descriptions rather than resolved into a single semantic value.