Quranic root
سبط
s · b · ṭ
The root centers on the idea of something extending or spreading smoothly, as with straight, non-crisp hair.
This idea extends to bodily extension and lying outstretched, generosity that is freely extended, abundance, branching lineages, and things spread between or over spaces. These developments are broader semantic orientations and are not all direct meanings of the Qur'anic form.
- Maqāyīs · row 2347
- Mufradāt · row 654
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سِبْطٌ
sibṭun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural form أَسْبَاط
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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 tribal lineage or branch of descendants traced to a common forefather; in the Qur'an, the Israelite tribal branches or communities associated with Jacob.
The attested Qur'anic form is the plural أَسْبَاط. It is used collectively for tribal lineages and communities, including the twelve communities mentioned in 7:160; the contextual translations “descendants” and “tribes” reflect this lineage-based collective sense.
- Lane · entry 40042
- Mufradāt · row 654
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:136وَٱلْأَسْبَاطِand the descendants
- 2:140وَٱلْأَسْبَاطَand the descendants
- 3:84وَٱلْأَسْبَاطِand the descendents
- 4:163وَٱلْأَسْبَاطِand the tribes
- 7:160أَسْبَاطًاtribes
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 26 Classical meanings
سَبِطَ، سَبِطٌ
To be or become lank, straight, and not crisp; lank or non-crisp, especially of hair.
The verbal and adjectival usages describe hair that lies straight rather than curly or compact.
- Lane · entry 40038
- Lane · entry 40044
سَبَاطَةٌ، سَبِطٌ
Tall, long-boned, extended-limbed, or well-proportioned in build.
Applied to a person or to the length and evenness of the limbs and bodily frame.
- Lane · entry 40038
- Lane · entry 40044
سَبِطَ، سَبُطَ، سَبِطٌ
To be easy and liberal in beneficence; to be generous, bountiful, or munificent, including bestowing gifts successively and abundantly.
Used of a person’s beneficence, including the construction سَبَطَ عَلَيْهِ العَطَاءَ, “he bestowed successive large gifts upon him.”
- Lane · entry 40038
- Lane · entry 40044
سَبِطٌ، سَبَاطَةٌ
Abundant, extensive, and successive, said of rain.
A descriptive usage for rain that pours broadly and continuously.
- Lane · entry 40038
- Lane · entry 40044
سُبِطَ
To be affected with fever.
The passive verb describes a person overcome by fever, including fever associated with trembling or weakness.
- Lane · entry 40038
سَبَّطَ
To cast a young one or fetus abortively, before its form is complete.
Said especially of a camel or ewe that miscarries, including after the young one's hair has grown but before full development.
- Lane · entry 40039
أَسْبَطَ
To fall or lie extended upon the ground and become unable to move.
The state may result from beating, disease, weakness, medicine, or another cause; the expression أَسْبَطَ بِالأَرْضِ also means to cling or remain down upon the ground.
- Lane · entry 40040
أَسْبَطَ
To become silent and still, sometimes with the eyes lowered toward the ground.
A state of silence or stillness attributed to fear or fright.
- Lane · entry 40040
أَسْبَطَ
To close the eyes or eyelids in sleep.
Used in the construction أَسْبَطَ فِي نَوْمِهِ.
- Lane · entry 40040
أَسْبَطَ
To feign negligence, inattention, or heedlessness toward a matter.
Used with عَنِ الأَمْرِ for pretending to disregard an affair.
- Lane · entry 40040
سِبْطٌ
A grandchild, whether the child of a son or of a daughter.
The plural is أَسْبَاط. The broader Classical usage includes both lines of descent, despite a later popular distinction that restricts the word to daughters’ children.
- Lane · entry 40042
سِبْطٌ
A generation that comes after another generation.
A collective generational usage distinct from the specific kinship sense “grandchild.”
- Lane · entry 40042
سِبْطٌ رِبْعِيَّةٌ
A palm tree whose fruit ripens at the end of summer or the hot season.
A botanical regional usage.
- Lane · entry 40042
سَبَطٌ
A tall desert grass or sand plant, especially the fresh form of a plant otherwise called حَلِيّ or نَصِيّ.
It is described as good pasture, eaten by camels and other livestock, and having a tall, grain-bearing growth.
- Lane · entry 40043
سَبَطٌ
A tree with many branches arising from a single stem or root.
A botanical usage connected in the lexical discussion with the notion of branching.
- Lane · entry 40043
سَبِطٌ
Metonymically, a foreigner or non-Arab.
A figurative application associated with lank hair and contrasted with the term جَعْدٌ as applied to an Arab.
- Lane · entry 40044
سَبَاطِ
Fever, including fever accompanied by shivering or trembling.
The noun is associated with the bodily extension or relaxation caused by the illness.
- Lane · entry 40046
سُبَاطٌ
A month between winter and spring, corresponding to February in the older Syrian calendar.
A calendrical term of Greek or Syrian usage; it precedes آذَارُ.
- Lane · entry 40047
سُبَاطَةٌ
Sweepings or collected household refuse.
Refers to material swept from house courts, ordinarily discarded each day.
- Lane · entry 40048
سُبَاطَةٌ
A place where sweepings and dirt are thrown.
The same noun may denote either the refuse itself or the dumping place, depending on context.
- Lane · entry 40048
سُبَاطَةٌ
Hair that falls out during combing.
A concrete usage for combed-out hair.
- Lane · entry 40048
سُبَاطَةٌ
A palm raceme with its fruit stalks and fresh ripe dates.
A regional botanical usage.
- Lane · entry 40048
سَابَاطٌ
A roofed passage or covered structure between two walls or houses, with a road or thoroughfare beneath it.
The structure forms a covered way connecting or spanning the sides of a passage.
- Lane · entry 40049
مُسْبِطٌ
Hanging the head in grief or anxiety and appearing lax or slack in body.
Used in descriptions of a person’s dejected, drooping posture.
- Lane · entry 40050
مُسْبِطٌ
In a state of sickness or debility in which one neither moves nor speaks.
Applied to a sick person left motionless and silent.
- Lane · entry 40050
مُسْبِطَةٌ
Land abounding in the plant سَبَطٌ.
A feminine adjectival description of land rich in the named desert grass or plant.
- Lane · entry 40050
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Qur'anic occurrences are all in the plural form أَسْبَاط; the singular سِبْطٌ also has broader Classical meanings, including “grandchild,” that should not be conflated with the Qur'anic tribal sense.