Quranic root
سبت
s · b · t
The root centers on rest, stillness, and cessation, with a closely related branch of cutting off or interrupting.
The evidence connects easy, quiet movement and repose with cessation, sleep, shaving or removing hair, and states of completion or softening. The naming of the Sabbath is variously explained through cessation of work or completion of creation, while another analysis foregrounds cutting off.
- Maqāyīs · row 2341
- Mufradāt · row 651
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 9
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَبَتَ
sabata
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To enter upon or observe the Sabbath, refraining from work.
Quranic usage is in the imperfect plural construction describing people who observed or entered upon the Sabbath and ceased their ordinary labor.
- Lane · entry 39953
- Mufradāt · row 651
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:163word 20
“they had Sabbath”
سُبَات
subāt
- 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.
Rest or repose, especially sleep as a period of rest.
Used in the construction وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا, describing sleep as restorative repose.
- Lane · entry 39966
- Mufradāt · row 651
Selected Quran examples
Quran 78:9word 3
“(for) rest”
A cutting off or interruption of activity, sensation, and motion.
In the Quranic sleep construction, this describes sleep as cutting a person off from work, sensation, and ordinary movement.
- Lane · entry 39966
- Mufradāt · row 651
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:47word 8
“a rest”
A death-like cessation of bodily motion and sensation, interpreted in one Quranic explanation as death.
This is an interpretation of سُبَاتًا in the sleep passage rather than a separate Quranic object or event.
- Lane · entry 39966
سَبْت
sabt
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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 Sabbath: the designated day of cessation from work, together with its observance.
Used of the Sabbath day in expressions such as يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ and of the institution whose observance required cessation from work.
- Lane · entry 39957
- Mufradāt · row 651
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:65word 7
“the (matter of) Sabbath”
Quran 7:163word 11
“the (matter of) Sabbath”
Quran 16:124word 3
“the Sabbath”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:65ٱلسَّبْتِthe (matter of) Sabbath
- 4:47ٱلسَّبْتِ ۚ(of) the Sabbath
- 4:154ٱلسَّبْتِthe Sabbath
- 7:163ٱلسَّبْتِthe (matter of) Sabbath
- 7:163سَبْتِهِمْ(of) their Sabbath
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 41 Classical meanings
سَبَتَ
To rest; cease from work; become quiet, still, or motionless; and, by extension, to sleep.
General Classical Arabic verbal usage, distinct from the Quranic specialized use of observing the Sabbath.
- Lane · entry 39953
سَبْت
Rest, quietness, stillness, or freedom from motion.
Nominal usage of سَبْتٌ as a state of repose or stillness.
- Lane · entry 39957
سَبَتَ
Of a she-camel, to go at the pace called سَبْتٌ.
A specialized verbal use describing a camel’s manner of going.
- Lane · entry 39953
سَبْت
A rapid pace or outstripping in running.
Used for a pace exceeding ordinary running, especially in descriptions of camels.
- Lane · entry 39953
سَبْت
Confusion or perplexity that leaves a person unable to see the right course, with consequent silence or downcast gaze.
An adjectival or nominal application to a person in a state of perplexity.
- Lane · entry 39953
سَبَتَ
To cut, sever, intercept, interrupt, or bring to an end, literally or figuratively.
With a neck or head, the construction means to decapitate; with a morsel and the throat, it means to obstruct or stop the passage.
- Lane · entry 39953
سَبَتَ
To shave the head or remove the hair.
Used with the head or hair as its object.
- Lane · entry 39953
سَبْت
To let the hair down after it has been twisted or plaited.
A conventional hair-grooming usage.
- Lane · entry 39953
سُبِتَ
To be affected by sleep-like stupor, swoon, or sick prostration.
Applied to a person, especially one who appears asleep or has closed eyes through illness.
- Lane · entry 39953
سُبِتَ
To die.
A Classical Arabic extension of the passive verbal state associated with cessation and sleep-like stillness.
- Lane · entry 39953
أَسْبَتَ
Of a serpent, to become silent or lower its head and eyes.
Used of a serpent’s subdued or motionless posture.
- Lane · entry 39955
أَسْبَتَ
To induce sleep-like torpor, or to torpify and benumb.
Used especially of a drug or medicinal substance producing numbness or stupor.
- Lane · entry 39955
انْسَبَتَ
To become cut off, interrupted, stopped, ended, or to cease.
Intransitive Form VII usage describing an activity or process that comes to an end.
- Lane · entry 39956
انْسَبَتَ
To become long or extended, together with softness.
Applied, for example, to an elongated and soft or gently extended countenance.
- Lane · entry 39956
انْسَبَتَ
Of a hide, to become soft through tanning.
Used of the result of the tanning process.
- Lane · entry 39956
انْسَبَتَ
Of dates, to become ripe throughout and soft.
Used when ripeness has pervaded the date completely.
- Lane · entry 39956
سَبْت
A week, or a period or span of time, whether short or long.
Can denote the interval from one Sabbath to the next, a period of time, or time in general; the idiom ابنا سبت refers to the night and day.
- Lane · entry 39957
سَبْت
A swift or excellent horse that runs much.
An epithet applied to a horse distinguished by speed.
- Lane · entry 39957
سَبْت
A bold, daring boy or young man of bad disposition.
A personal epithet combining boldness with an ill nature.
- Lane · entry 39957
سَبْت
A cunning, intelligent, and discerning man, excellent in judgment; also one who is silent or downcast.
An epithet applied to a person characterized by intelligence, craft, or subdued silence.
- Lane · entry 39957
سَبْت
A person who sleeps much.
A personal description derived from كثرة السبات.
- Lane · entry 39957
سُبْت
A plant resembling marsh-mallow, reportedly used for tanning.
A plant-name distinct from the Sabbath noun.
- Lane · entry 39958
سِبْت
A hide or skin, especially an ox-hide, that has been tanned, including hide tanned with qaraz.
The term may refer to the hide whether or not tanned in every usage, but especially to soft tanned ox-hide.
- Lane · entry 39959
سِبْت
Sandals made from such tanned hides.
A conventional metonymic use of the leather term for sandals lacking hair.
- Lane · entry 39959
سِبِتّ
Dill or a similar well-known herb.
An Arabicized plant name, distinct from the native lexical branches of the root.
- Lane · entry 39960
سَبْتَة
Goats collectively.
A collective noun for goats.
- Lane · entry 39961
سَبْتَاء
A bare or treeless desert or tract of land, as though shorn of its vegetation.
Used adjectivally of barren land.
- Lane · entry 39962
سَبْتَاء
Having spreading or expanded ears.
A feminine epithet applied to an animal with ears of this shape.
- Lane · entry 39962
سَبْتِيّ
One who fasts alone on the Sabbath.
A relational adjective describing a person’s distinctive Sabbath observance.
- Lane · entry 39963
سِبْتَان
Foolish, stupid, or of little sense; confused and unable to see the right course.
A personal epithet for intellectual deficiency or perplexity.
- Lane · entry 39965
سَبُوت
A she-camel that continually goes at a quick pace.
A specialized description of a camel’s sustained gait.
- Lane · entry 39967
سَبَنْتَى
Bold or daring.
An epithet applicable to a person or animal; the feminine form is separately used with a feminine ending.
- Lane · entry 39968
سَبَنْتَى
A leopard, lion, or beast of prey.
An animal-name or epithet associated with boldness and daring.
- Lane · entry 39968
سَبَنْتَاة
A sharp-tongued or vehemently clamorous woman.
A feminine application describing a woman’s loud or foul-tongued speech.
- Lane · entry 39968
مُسْبِت
Motionless or not moving.
An active participial description of a person or thing remaining still.
- Lane · entry 39971
مُسْبِت
Entering upon or observing the Sabbath.
The participle refers correctly to entering upon the observance of the Sabbath, rather than merely entering a calendar day.
- Lane · entry 39971
مَسْبُوت
Affected by sleep-like stupor or swoon, or prostrated like a sleeping sick person.
Applied to someone whose eyes are generally closed through stupor or illness.
- Lane · entry 39972
مَسْبُوت
Confounded or perplexed and unable to see the right course.
A figurative or psychological application of the passive participle.
- Lane · entry 39972
مَسْبُوت
Dead.
A Classical Arabic passive-participial use associated with complete cessation.
- Lane · entry 39972
مَسْبُوت
Cut off, as a head that has been severed.
Used in the expression رَأْسٌ مَسْبُوتٌ.
- Lane · entry 39972
مُنْسَبِت
Of dates, ripe throughout and soft.
A participial description of dates whose ripeness has fully pervaded them.
- Lane · entry 39973
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Sabbath’s name is explained in the lexical evidence in more than one way, including cessation from work and completion of creation; these are etymological explanations rather than separate Quranic senses.