Quranic root
سحر
s · ḥ · r
The root has three lexically distinct orientations: an internal bodily organ or region, deceptive or enchanting action, and the time immediately before dawn.
Classical analysis keeps the bodily, deceptive, and temporal branches distinct. The deceptive branch is described through turning something from its proper appearance or course, while related extensions include subtle influence, fascination, and delusion.
- Maqāyīs · row 2372
- Mufradāt · row 668
- 7
- Quran-attested forms
- 11
- Quran senses
- 63
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَحَرَ
saḥara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 turn someone or something away from its proper course, state, or manner of being.
The Quranic passive use can describe being turned aside from sound judgment or proper apprehension.
- Lane · entry 40404
Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:89word 5
“are you deluded”
To enchant, fascinate, or deceive by making what is false appear true or by making a thing seem other than it is.
Includes the construction of enchanting or fascinating the eye and the related sense of deluding someone through an apparent illusion.
- Lane · entry 40404
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:116word 5
“they bewitched”
Quran 7:132word 7
“so that you bewitch us”
مُسَحَّرٌ
musaḥḥarun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
One endowed with a sahr, that is, a bodily interior or human constitution; hence, a human being subject to bodily needs such as food and drink.
This Quranic interpretation contrasts human physical dependence with claims of superhuman status.
- Lane · entry 40425
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:153word 5
“those bewitched”
Quran 26:185word 5
“those bewitched”
Repeatedly enchanted, deceived, or deluded so that perception or reason is overcome.
The intensive passive form can carry the sense of repeated or extensive enchantment, rather than merely a single act.
- Lane · entry 40425
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:153word 5
“those bewitched”
Quran 26:185word 5
“those bewitched”
مَسْحُورٌ
masḥūrun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
Bewitched, fascinated, or affected by an enchantment so as to be diverted from ordinary perception or understanding.
Used in Quranic accusations that a messenger or other person is under an enchantment or is not apprehending matters normally.
- Lane · entry 40426
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Regarded as a human being endowed with a sahr and therefore dependent on food and other bodily needs.
A Quranic interpretive reading that emphasizes human constitution rather than magical affliction; it is especially relevant where eating and bodily limitation are at issue.
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
سَحَرٌ
saḥarun
- Part of speech
- Noun · time expression
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 time immediately before daybreak; the final part of the night as dawn approaches.
The plural is أَسْحَارٌ. Quranic usage includes the pre-dawn period generally, without requiring one particular minute or subdivision of the night.
- Lane · entry 40412
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:17word 6
“[in the] before dawn”
Quran 51:18word 1
“And in the hours before dawn”
Quran 54:34word 9
“by dawn”
سَحَّارٌ
saḥḥārun
- Part of speech
- Noun · intensive agent
- 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 magician or enchanter, especially one characterized by intensive or repeated practice.
The intensive pattern presents the agent as habitual or emphatic, while retaining the agentive meaning of ساحر.
- Lane · entry 40424
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:37word 3
“magician”
سَاحِرٌ
sāḥirun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 22 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.
A magician, enchanter, or practitioner of sihr.
The active participle is used for an individual or group alleged to produce enchantment, fascination, or deceptive appearances.
- Lane · entry 40424
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:2word 25
“(is) surely a magician”
Quran 20:63word 4
“[two] magicians”
Quran 20:69word 14
“the magician”
سِحْرٌ
siḥrun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 28 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.
Enchantment, illusion, or deceptive manipulation that makes falsehood appear as truth or causes things to seem other than they are.
This includes fascination, visual illusion, and subtle operations whose real manner is hidden. It is the principal sense in Quranic accusations that a sign, message, or performance is magic.
- Lane · entry 40411
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:116word 10
“with a magic”
Quran 20:66word 10
“their magic”
Quran 28:48word 21
“Two magic (works)”
Magic practiced through an appeal to or alliance with devils.
This Quranic usage concerns the teaching or practice of magic associated with satanic assistance, rather than merely persuasive eloquence or an unexplained subtle effect.
- Lane · entry 40411
- Mufradāt · row 668
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:102word 16
“[the] magic”
Quran 28:48word 21
“Two magic (works)”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:102ٱلسِّحْرَ[the] magic
- 3:17بِٱلْأَسْحَارِ[in the] before dawn
- 5:110سِحْرٌۭmagic
- 6:7سِحْرٌۭmagic
- 7:109لَسَـٰحِرٌ(is) surely a magician
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 38 Classical meanings
سَحْرٌ
The lungs or inner upper-belly region adjoining the throat and windpipe; by extension, the heart, liver, or inner region of the heart.
Variant vocalizations and related forms are reported; the term can refer broadly to the internal organs attached to the upper digestive and respiratory region.
- Lane · entry 40409
- Mufradāt · row 668
سَحَرَ
To strike or hurt someone's lungs, heart, or inner bodily region.
This is the bodily, non-enchantment verb associated with سَحْرٌ or سُحْرَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 40404
سَحْرٌ
To have the lungs swell from fear; to be cowardly or, according to one explanation, to exceed one's proper bounds.
Occurs in the idiom اِنتفخ سَحْرُهُ; the cowardice interpretation is distinguished from the disputed explanation involving excess.
- Lane · entry 40409
سَحْرٌ
An epithet in the expression for a hare whose lungs are said to burst through the speed of its running.
This is an idiomatic or auspicious appellation, not a general meaning of the anatomical noun.
- Lane · entry 40409
سَحْرٌ
Hope cut off; despair, or something of which one has despaired.
Used in idioms such as اِنتقطع منه سَحْرِي and صُرِمَ سَحْرُهُ.
- Lane · entry 40409
سَحْرٌ
The healed scar of a gall on a camel's back, with the place becoming white.
A specialized nomadic and animal-related noun.
- Lane · entry 40409
سَحْرٌ
The uppermost or farthest part of a valley.
The same expression can extend to the extremity of land or another thing.
- Lane · entry 40409
سَحَرَ
To turn someone from one disposition to another, such as from hatred to love.
A specialized extension of turning or diverting, illustrated by a change in emotional orientation.
- Lane · entry 40404
سَحَرَ
To divert someone from hunger or want by giving food or drink.
The construction سَحَرَهُ بِالطَّعَامِ describes feeding and distracting someone so that the immediate want is relieved.
- Lane · entry 40404
سَحَرَ
To gild silver.
A specialized figurative use recorded for the verb.
- Lane · entry 40404
سِحْرٌ
Corruption, spoiling, or marring; to spoil clay, earth, or dust so that it is no longer fit for use.
This branch treats سِحْرٌ as equivalent to فساد and is distinct from enchantment.
- Lane · entry 40404
- Lane · entry 40411
سَحَرَ
To cause sheep's or goats' milk to descend before parturition.
A specialized physiological usage connected with the adhesion of the lungs to the side through thirst.
- Lane · entry 40404
سَحَرَ
To go away, remove to a distance, or travel far.
This is an intransitive movement meaning, distinct from turning someone or something aside.
- Lane · entry 40404
سَحِرَ
To go forth early in the morning, between daybreak prayer and sunrise.
The verb is related to the pre-dawn time noun but denotes the act of setting out at that time.
- Lane · entry 40404
سَحَّرَ
To give another person or group the pre-dawn meal called سَحُور.
This Form II use is causative or transitive: it means supplying the meal, not eating it oneself.
- Lane · entry 40405
أَسْحَرَ
To be or become in the pre-dawn period, or to travel or set out during it.
The verb denotes being or moving at the time called سَحَر.
- Lane · entry 40406
تَسَحَّرَ
To eat or drink the pre-dawn meal.
The object may be food, a meal, parched grain preparation, or milk consumed at سَحَر.
- Lane · entry 40407
اِسْتَحَرَ
For a cock to crow, or for a bird to sing or utter its voice, at pre-dawn.
A specialized Form VIII/X-type usage tied to the time noun سَحَر.
- Lane · entry 40408
سِحْرٌ
A purported operation said to change forms or natures, such as making a human being into an animal.
This is reported as a claim attributed to non-Arab or popular belief and is explicitly characterized as having no reality by critical authorities.
- Mufradāt · row 668
سِحْرٌ
Powerful or captivating eloquence.
The expression إِنَّ مِنَ البَيَانِ لَسِحْرًا compares persuasive, striking speech to enchantment; the force may be praiseworthy or blameworthy depending on context.
- Lane · entry 40411
سِحْرٌ
Skill, technical knowledge, or science.
This extension can be approving or disapproving; an attested example compares a branch of star knowledge with a branch of enchantment.
- Lane · entry 40411
سِحْرٌ
Food, nourishment, or nutriment.
The term is explained through the subtle or fine effect of nourishment.
- Lane · entry 40411
سِحْرٌ
Superabundant rain.
The phrase غَيْثٌ ذُو سِحْرٍ applies the term to exceptionally plentiful rain.
- Lane · entry 40411
سَحَرٌ
Whiteness spreading over blackness.
This color term is usually distinguished from the time noun سَحَر, though the forms are homonymous.
- Lane · entry 40412
سَحَرٌ
The extremity or uppermost part of a desert, land, or other thing.
A spatial extension associated by the lexical source with the pre-dawn term.
- Lane · entry 40412
سَحُورٌ
The food or drink consumed before dawn, especially the pre-dawn meal.
This form names the meal or its food, in contrast with سُحُورٌ, which names the act of eating it.
- Lane · entry 40417
سُحُورٌ
The act of eating or drinking the pre-dawn meal.
A verbal noun associated especially with تَسَحَّرَ.
- Lane · entry 40418
سَحِيرٌ
Having ruptured or painful lungs, or suffering an abdominal complaint attributed to the lungs.
The adjective is also used of a person with a complaint of the belly arising from lung pain.
- Lane · entry 40419
سَحِيرٌ
Large in the belly or chest, especially said of a horse.
A specialized physical description, separate from the illness sense.
- Lane · entry 40419
سَحِيرٌ
An arrow that wounds the lungs.
A specialized weapon-related use reported for the adjective.
- Lane · entry 40419
سُحَارَةٌ
The lungs, windpipe, and attached parts of a sheep or goat that a butcher removes and discards.
The term denotes the discarded collection of internal parts rather than one single organ.
- Lane · entry 40421
سَحَّارَةٌ
A children's toy that changes apparent color when its attached string is extended in different directions.
The name extends to things resembling this color-changing plaything.
- Lane · entry 40423
سَاحِرٌ
Enchanting, fascinating, or producing a delusive appearance, as of an eye or a mirage.
This adjectival use describes an effect or quality, not a person who practices magic.
- Lane · entry 40424
سَاحِرٌ
Knowing, skilled, intelligent, or adept.
A figurative adjectival extension of the agent noun, distinct from the Quranic accusation of practicing magic.
- Lane · entry 40424
مَسْحُورٌ
Having one's lungs or heart struck or hurt.
This literal bodily passive sense is distinct from enchantment and from the Quranic interpretive reading centered on human physical constitution.
- Lane · entry 40426
مَسْحُورٌ
Deprived of reason, or having the intellect corrupted or disordered.
A figurative passive description of mental disturbance, reported independently of the Quranic readings of the form.
- Lane · entry 40426
مَسْحُورٌ
Spoiled or marred, said of food, herbage, or land.
The land sense includes ground damaged by excessive rain or by lack of herbage.
- Lane · entry 40426
مَسْحُورٌ
Having little milk, said of a she-goat.
The description may apply to a goat with a large udder but scant milk.
- Lane · entry 40426
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The passive participles مُسَحَّرٌ and مَسْحُورٌ have competing Quranic interpretations: enchantment or delusion on one reading, and being a human endowed with bodily organs and needs on another.
سَحَرٌ as the pre-dawn time is distinct from the homonymous anatomical and deceptive branches of the root; inflection and context determine the intended branch.