Quranic root
رذل
r · dh · l
The root centers on lowness or inferiority: the lower or inferior part of a thing, and by extension what is base, vile, rejected, or least esteemed.
The lexical range develops from being or becoming low or inferior to describing bad or rejected things, lowly people, inferior refuse, debased qualities, and the worst or most abject stage of life. Derived forms also express causing or judging something to be low or bad.
- Maqāyīs · row 2011
- Lane · entry 23074
- Lane · entry 23077
- Lane · entry 23084
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَرْذَلُ
ʾardhalu
- Part of speech
- Adjective · elative, substantivized
- 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.
The lowliest, basest, or most contemptible people; those regarded as the inferior or rejected members of a group.
Used substantively in Quranic plural forms for a group of people, as in أَرَاذِلُنا and الأَرْذَلُونَ.
- Mufradāt · row 547
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:27word 18
“(are) the lowest of us”
Quran 26:111word 5
“the lowest”
The worst or most abject stage of life: decrepit old age accompanied by dotage and severe loss of former capacity.
Occurs in the construction أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ, referring to advanced old age in which a person may be reduced to an infant-like state and no longer retain former knowledge or understanding.
- Lane · entry 23084
- Mufradāt · row 547
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:70word 9
“the worst”
Quran 22:5word 48
“the most abject”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 11:27أَرَاذِلُنَا(are) the lowest of us
- 16:70أَرْذَلِthe worst
- 22:5أَرْذَلِthe most abject
- 26:111ٱلْأَرْذَلُونَthe lowest
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 7 Classical meanings
رَذُلَ
To be or become low, base, vile, mean, or contemptible; of a thing, to be or become bad, corrupt, abominable, or disapproved.
Applied to a person with respect to appearance, states, or circumstances, and to things generally.
- Lane · entry 23074
رَذَلَ
To make or pronounce a person low, base, vile, mean, or contemptible, or to judge a thing bad, corrupt, abominable, or disapproved.
Transitive; used of declaring money or livestock bad and of rejecting particular men as inferior. The passive participle مَرْذُولٌ denotes what has been so judged or declared bad.
- Lane · entry 23074
أَرْذَلَ
To have low, base, vile, mean, or contemptible companions.
A Form IV usage describing the character of one's companions.
- Lane · entry 23075
اِسْتَرْذَلَ
To regard, find, or desire a person or thing to be low, base, vile, bad, or disapproved.
Takes a person or thing as its object and expresses deeming or wishing it to be inferior or objectionable.
- Lane · entry 23076
رَذْلٌ
A low, base, vile, mean, or contemptible person, or a bad, corrupt, base, abominable, or disapproved thing.
May qualify a person, thing, or garment, including a dirty or inferior garment; numerous plural formations are attested.
- Lane · entry 23077
رُذَالٌ
The worse or vilest of anything; the inferior refuse left after the good has been selected, and, of people, the lower or baser part of mankind.
Can refer collectively to people as the lower or lowest portion of mankind, or to the inferior remainder of things.
- Lane · entry 23079
رَذِيلَةٌ
A low, base, vile, mean, contemptible, or bad quality; a vice opposed to a virtue.
The plural is رَذَائِلُ.
- Lane · entry 23082
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane's printed citation of the أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ expression includes xvi.72, which does not match the supplied QAC occurrence at 16:70; the citation is retained as lexical evidence and is not converted into a modern location.