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Quranic root

رمم

r · m · m

The root gathers several historically distinct branches: repairing or restoring what has deteriorated, becoming worn out or decayed, and contrasting states of silence and attempted speech.

The repair branch concerns putting something damaged into sound condition, while the opposing decay branch describes bones, ropes, or other materials becoming worn and disintegrated. Separate branches describe silence and moving the mouth without clear speech; the root also has lexical extensions involving eating, marrow, and remnants.

  • Maqāyīs · row 2132
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.

رَمِيم

ramīm

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.

  1. Old and decayed bones; bones reduced to a worn, lifeless state.

    A substantival Quranic description of bones in the expression "the bones while they are ramīm"; the lexical usage denotes decayed bone remains rather than requiring a simple active- or passive-participle gloss.

    • Lane · entry 24408
    • Mufradāt · row 584
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 36:78word 11

    (are) decomposed

  2. Decomposed, disintegrated, or worn-out remains.

    Used in comparison with material reduced to crumbling remnants, as in كَالرَّمِيمِ; the construction is broader than the bone-specific usage and describes what has been left in a decomposed state.

    • Lane · entry 24408
    • Mufradāt · row 584
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 51:42word 9

    like disintegrated ruins

Occurrences in the Quran

Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.

  • 36:78رَمِيمٌۭ(are) decomposed
  • 51:42كَٱلرَّمِيمِlike disintegrated ruins
View all 2 occurrences

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 37 Classical meanings
  • رَمَّ / رَمٌّ

    To repair, restore, or rectify something after it has deteriorated or become disordered.

    Applies to such things as ropes, houses, buildings, walls, affairs, and personal circumstances; the verbal noun رَمٌّ denotes the act of repair.

    • Lane · entry 24392
  • رَمَّ

    To make an arrow even or straight by inspecting and adjusting it.

    A specialized use concerning the preparation of an arrow.

    • Lane · entry 24392
  • رَمَّ

    To eat, graze, or take food with the lips; to strip flesh from a bone.

    Used of animals taking herbage or branches with the mouth, and of eating meat from a bone; the lexical use is not restricted to one particular animal.

    • Lane · entry 24392
  • تَرَمَّمَ

    To proceed gradually or repeatedly with repairing something and restoring it to good condition.

    Form V expresses the progressive or successive undertaking of repair.

    • Lane · entry 24395
  • أَرَمَّ

    To have or contain marrow.

    Used of a bone containing marrow and of an animal whose body has some marrow; the construction can describe the presence or amount of marrow.

    • Lane · entry 24394
  • أَرَمَّ

    To become silent.

    The silence may be described generally or as arising from fear or fright; it can be used of a person or, in the cited evidence, a bird.

    • Lane · entry 24394
  • أَرَمَّ

    To incline toward diversion or amusement, or to become cheered and pleased by it.

    Used with expressions meaning inclination to play or delight in a diversion.

    • Lane · entry 24394
  • اِرْتَمَّ

    Of a young camel, to begin reaching the condition in which its hump can be felt.

    A specialized animal-development usage.

    • Lane · entry 24396
  • اِسْتَرَمَّ

    To need or require repair after becoming old, or to reach the time when repair is due.

    Used of a wall or building, especially one left for a long period without replastering or repair.

    • Lane · entry 24397
  • تَرَمْرَمَ

    To move the lips or mouth in an attempt to speak without clearly uttering words.

    Often used in negative expressions for failing to answer or uttering no letter; of a group, it can mean preparing to speak but not speaking.

    • Lane · entry 24399
  • حُمٌّ وَلَا رُمٌّ

    In a fixed paired expression, no means of avoiding or escaping something.

    The expression is treated in the lexical evidence as an imitative or accompanying sequence rather than as a basic root meaning.

    • Lane · entry 24400
  • رُمٌّ

    Household goods, utensils, and furniture of a house or tent.

    Used in expressions denying that someone possesses such household equipment, including water-skins, milk-skins, and vessels.

    • Lane · entry 24401
  • رُمٌّ

    An object, aim, or matter occupying the mind.

    Used in expressions meaning that a person has no object or concern in mind except the one mentioned.

    • Lane · entry 24401
  • رُمٌّ

    A company or group of people.

    A marginal usage applied to a group, reported in connection with a people called Kurds and possibly of Persian origin.

    • Lane · entry 24401
  • رِمٌّ

    Herbage and other things lying upon the land; in some expressions, the dry fragments or wind-borne remnants found on the ground.

    In الطِّمِّ وَالرِّمِّ, the expression is variously explained as what is of sea and land, moist and dry, earth and water, or much wealth; the core land-remnant sense is independently attested.

    • Lane · entry 24402
  • رِمٌّ

    Marrow.

    A noun distinct from the branch denoting land herbage or remnants.

    • Lane · entry 24402
  • رُمَّة

    An old, worn, ragged, or severed rope, or a remaining piece of such a rope.

    The plural forms include رُمَم, رِمَم, رِمَام, and أَرْمَام; the lexical item specifically concerns a rope or its remnant.

    • Lane · entry 24403
  • بِرُمَّتِهِ

    Altogether, in its entirety, with nothing omitted.

    A fixed idiom historically associated with handing over a camel together with the rope around its neck.

    • Lane · entry 24403
  • رِمَّة

    Old and decayed bones.

    A noun specifically associated with decayed bone remains; its use for ritual cleaning is prohibited in the cited legal discussion.

    • Lane · entry 24404
  • رِمَّة

    A two-winged ant; in some dialects, the wood-fretter.

    The two animal identifications are attributed differently in the lexical evidence, and the wood-fretter sense is dialectal.

    • Lane · entry 24404
  • رُمُم

    Clever, ingenious, or skilful young women, especially women skilled in repairing.

    A rare plural usage, apparently related to a feminine designation for one skilled in repair.

    • Lane · entry 24405
  • رُمَام

    A herb or herbage that animals pluck or eat, including dried growth that has become green again.

    Used of certain plants or herbage, including growth whose heads are ready to be eaten by cattle.

    • Lane · entry 24406
  • رَمُوم

    A sheep or goat that eats whatever it passes by.

    An animal epithet based on indiscriminate grazing.

    • Lane · entry 24407
  • رَمِيم

    The remains of the herbage of the preceding year.

    A broader Classical Arabic specialization of the same headword, concerning old vegetation rather than the Quranic bone or decomposed-remains usages.

    • Lane · entry 24408
  • رَمِيم

    A name for the east or easterly wind.

    A lexical name for the wind, distinct from the material-decay senses; the same form is also reported as a woman's proper name.

    • Lane · entry 24408
  • رُمَامَة

    A sufficiency of the means of subsistence by which life is maintained in a good or thriving state.

    A noun for adequate provision or livelihood.

    • Lane · entry 24409
  • رَمَّاء

    White, said of a ewe without any colored marking.

    An animal epithet describing coloration.

    • Lane · entry 24410
  • رَمَّام قَشَّاش

    A person who collects fallen food, including inferior remnants, to eat them without avoiding their uncleanness.

    A disparaging descriptive expression for such a scavenger.

    • Lane · entry 24411
  • رَمْرَام

    A kind of herbage or plant, including certain sweet-scented or prickly desert species.

    The evidence applies the name to several identified desert plants, including one used as a remedy for scorpion stings.

    • Lane · entry 24413
  • مُرِمّ

    Containing marrow; said of a bone or an animal having some marrow.

    An adjective applied to a marrow-containing bone and to a camel in a specified bodily condition.

    • Lane · entry 24416
  • مُرِمّ

    Silent.

    Applied to a man or bird; the evidence allows general silence and also silence associated with fear.

    • Lane · entry 24416
  • مُرِمَّات

    Calamities or misfortunes; according to another explanation, silencing words or acts.

    A plural lexical usage with two reported interpretations in the cited expression.

    • Lane · entry 24416
  • مَرَمَّة

    A cause or means of repair; hence, something needing repair.

    A noun of instrument, cause, or need associated with restoring a damaged object.

    • Lane · entry 24417
  • مِرَمَّة

    The lip of a cloven-hoofed animal, such as a cow.

    Named in relation to the animal's use of the lip for eating.

    • Lane · entry 24418
  • مَرْمُوم

    Having its feathers repaired or put into good condition, said of an arrow.

    A passive descriptive form applied specifically to arrows whose feathers have been restored.

    • Lane · entry 24419
  • مَرْمُوم

    An arrow made even or straight by being carefully inspected.

    A related specialized description of an arrow prepared for use.

    • Lane · entry 24419
  • مَرْمُوم

    Rectified, repaired, or put into proper order, said of an affair or case.

    A figurative application of the repair branch to a person's affair or situation.

    • Lane · entry 24419

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • رَمِيم is analyzed in the lexical evidence both as a substantival term for decayed bones and through alternative morphological explanations; the displayed definitions follow the attested lexical usages rather than forcing one morphological analysis.

  • Some marginal branches are explicitly disputed or qualified in the Classical evidence, especially the insect identifications for رِمَّة and the possibly Persian company-of-men sense of رُمٌّ; they are retained with those qualifications rather than treated as ordinary Quranic meanings.