Quranic root
رعد
r · ʿ · d
The root centers on movement, agitation, and trembling.
From the basic idea of motion and disturbance, the root develops into thunder and the trembling it causes, as well as figurative threatening speech and several extensions describing quivering or shaken things.
- Maqāyīs · row 2069
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
رَعْد
raʿd
- 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.
Thunder: the sound associated with clouds or the sky.
The direct Quranic contextual use denotes the audible phenomenon of thunder.
- Lane · entry 23667
- Mufradāt · row 560
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:19word 7
“and thunder”
Quran 13:13word 2
“the thunder”
The angel understood in a reported interpretation as driving the clouds.
This is a reported interpretation of the Quranic term alongside the direct sense “thunder,” not an interpretation that must replace the meteorological sense in every occurrence.
- Lane · entry 23667
- Mufradāt · row 560
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:13word 2
“the thunder”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 21 Classical meanings
رَعَدَ
To thunder, of the sky or clouds; to produce the sound heard before rain.
Often occurs with lightning in descriptions of a stormy sky.
- Lane · entry 23661
رَعَدَ
To threaten, menace, frighten, or terrify.
Used of threats by speech and in the paired expression رَعَدَ وَبَرَقَ.
- Lane · entry 23661
رَعَدَتْ وَبَرَقَتْ
To beautify, adorn, and display oneself.
A figurative expression applied to a woman who intentionally exhibits her beauty.
- Lane · entry 23661
أَرْعَدَ
To be assailed or affected by thunder; also, to hear thunder.
The construction may describe a person or group affected by thunder or the experience of hearing it.
- Lane · entry 23662
أَرْعَدَ
To cause someone or something to tremble, quiver, quake, shiver, or be agitated.
The cause may be fear, cold, or a comparable condition producing trembling.
- Lane · entry 23662
أُرْعِدَ
To shake and consequently pour down, said of a hill or heap of sand.
Describes a mass whose shaking results in its material cascading downward.
- Lane · entry 23662
اِرْتَعَدَ
To tremble, quiver, quake, shiver, or be in a state of commotion.
Especially from fear or cold, though the construction can describe anything subject to such motion.
- Lane · entry 23664
رَعْدَدَ
To be importunate in asking or begging.
A specialized intensive or repeated-form usage.
- Lane · entry 23665
رَعْدٌ
War or calamity, in the expression جَاءَ بِذَاتِ الرَّعْدِ وَالصَّلِيلِ.
A conventional expression for bringing war, an attack, or a calamity.
- Lane · entry 23667
رُعُودٌ وَبُرُوقٌ
Threatening words or menacing language.
Used figuratively of the contents of a letter or other speech.
- Lane · entry 23667
رِعْدَةٌ
A tremor, quivering, quaking, shivering, or commotion.
Typically occasioned by fear or cold, without being restricted to one particular physical object.
- Lane · entry 23669
رِعْدِيدٌ
Cowardly; one who trembles or quakes from fear, especially in fighting.
The related feminine form may be applied to a woman in the same general characterization.
- Lane · entry 23670
رِعْدِيدٌ
Soft or tender, with flesh or substance that quivers.
Applied particularly to a woman or girl, and also to a soft or tender plant.
- Lane · entry 23670
رِعْدِيدٌ
Quivering or shaking; used for the quivering sweet called فالوذ and for a hill or heap of sand that shakes and pours down.
These are conventional extensions describing characteristic quivering or shaken movement.
- Lane · entry 23670
رُعَيْدَاءُ
The material discarded from wheat during picking or cleansing, such as weed or other refuse.
A specialized agricultural term; an alternative spelling is reported, but رُعَيْدَاءُ is the preferred form in the cited evidence.
- Lane · entry 23671
رَعَّادٌ
Thundering repeatedly or intensely, said of a cloud.
The usage is reported with lexical disagreement about its attestation.
- Lane · entry 23672
رَعَّادٌ
Loquacious or excessively talkative, said of a man.
A figurative extension from repeated or abundant sound.
- Lane · entry 23672
رَعَّادٌ
A certain electric fish that causes numbness and uncontrollable trembling when touched.
The term is applied to the fish because of the trembling and numbness it induces.
- Lane · entry 23672
رَاعِدٌ
Thundering, said of a cloud.
Also used in the feminine form رَاعِدَةٌ for a thundering cloud.
- Lane · entry 23673
صَلَفٌ تَحْتَ الرَّاعِدَةِ
A display of abundant talk, threat, or self-praise without corresponding substance or action.
The proverb may describe a talkative person lacking good, one who claims deeds not performed, one who threatens without acting, or related forms of boastful unproductiveness.
- Lane · entry 23673
مُرَعْدِدٌ
Importunate in asking or begging.
A derived descriptive form for the person characterized by persistent asking.
- Lane · entry 23676
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The two Quranic occurrences are contextually rendered as thunder; the angel identification is preserved as a reported interpretation rather than treated as the only meaning.