Quranic root
قسس
q · s · s
The root centers on deliberately tracking, pursuing, and seeking something.
This orientation extends to repeated or gradual inquiry, listening out for voices, and the hostile tracking and divulgence of speech. Related classical forms also describe a persistent seeker or a guide by night.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
- Mufradāt · row 1177
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
قِسِّيسٌ
qissīsun
- Part of speech
- 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.
A learned and devout Christian, especially one of the religious leaders or priests.
The Quran occurrence is the plural قِسِّيسِينَ, used of Christian religious figures in a religious context.
- Lane · entry 8273
- Mufradāt · row 1177
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:82word 22
“(are) priests”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 5:82قِسِّيسِينَ(are) priests
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
قَسَّ
To seek after or pursue something repeatedly, gradually, or deliberately.
A transitive verb, including the pursuit of news or tidings.
- Lane · entry 8269
قَسَّ
To calumniate, maliciously misrepresent, or spread evil speech about people.
Includes speaking against people behind their backs or in their absence, and harming or annoying them by foul speech.
- Lane · entry 8269
قَسَّ
To search out and consume the meat on a bone, leaving none, and extract its marrow; also, to eat what is on a table.
A specialized use for painstakingly picking through food.
- Lane · entry 8269
قَسَّ
To become a قَسّ or قِسِّيس, or to attain the rank or office of one.
A verbal use distinct from the noun naming the Christian religious figure.
- Lane · entry 8269
تَقَسَّسَ
To listen for or endeavor to hear voices.
Attested in the construction تَقَسَّسَ أَصْوَاتَ القَوْمِ بِاللَّيْلِ, listening by night.
- Lane · entry 8270
اقس
To seek what one might eat, or seek food.
Recorded in a description of a lion; the animal is an illustrative context, not an exclusive restriction.
- Lane · entry 8271
قَسْقَسَ
To ask or inquire about the affairs of others.
A conventional inquiry into other people's affairs.
- Lane · entry 8272
قَسٌّ
An intelligent, ingenious, clever, or learned man.
A broader reported application of the headword apart from its Christian religious title.
- Lane · entry 8273
قَسٌّ
Hoarfrost or rime.
A separate nominal meaning.
- Lane · entry 8273
قَسِيسٌ
Diligent, persistent, or assiduous.
Reported in the expression سَيْرٌ قَسِيسٌ, a diligent or persistent journey.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
قَسِّيٌّ
A type of cloth or garment made of flax mixed with silk.
A technical textile term; reports differ about its geographic association and etymology.
- Lane · entry 8279
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
قَسَّاسٌ
A calumniator or slanderer; one who pries into news and maliciously divulges it.
The divulged information is described as capable of causing discord or dissension.
- Lane · entry 8280
قَسْقَاسٌ / قَسْقَسٌ
A persistent or leisurely seeker; an inquirer into other people's affairs; a guide by night.
The forms are used for deliberate seeking and, in one reported usage, for a person who guides by night.
- Lane · entry 8286
- Mufradāt · row 1177
قَسْقَاسَةٌ
A dark night.
A reported usage described as outside the principal semantic branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
قَسِيَّةٌ
A cold night.
A reported, less common usage.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
قَسْقَاسٌ
Hunger.
Reported on the authority of al-Shaybānī, with the lexical attribution explicitly treated as anomalous or uncertain.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
قَسْقَسَ
To shout at a dog.
An idiomatic verbal construction with بِالْكَلْبِ.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
قَسِيٌّ
Bad or inferior, used of a coin.
Reported in دِرْهَمٌ قَسِيٌّ, but its attribution to this root is disputed; it may be a Persian term or an inflected form of قَاسٌّ.
- Maqāyīs · row 3773
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The sole Quran occurrence is the plural قِسِّيسِينَ; the public headword is normalized to the singular citation form قِسِّيسٌ.
The tracking and seeking material explains the root's semantic orientation and related classical derivatives; it is not an additional Quranic sense of قِسِّيسِينَ.
The textile term قَسِّيٌّ has competing reports concerning its origin and geographic association.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
A root-level discussion records قُسَاسٌ as a place-name and قَسَاسِيَّةٌ as a nisba for swords; this is geographic and derivational information rather than a confidently assignable independent lexical meaning of the root.