Quranic root
سفح
s · f · ḥ
The root centers on letting something flow out or be poured forth, especially a liquid.
The literal branch concerns pouring or spilling water, blood, and tears. The sexual noun السِّفاح develops through the image of water being poured wastefully outside marriage. Maqāyīs treats the mountain-foot noun سَفْح as an ibdāl branch from صَفْح and the maysir-arrow term سَفِيح as anomalous to the central principle.
- Maqāyīs · row 2437
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مُسَافِحٌ
musāfiḥun
- Part of speech
- Active participle · Form III
- 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.
A fornicator; one who engages in sexual intercourse outside marriage.
Active participle of Form III. The feminine form مُسَافِحَةٌ denotes a female fornicator; the Quranic occurrences use masculine and feminine inflections in marital and sexual-ethics contexts.
- Lane · entry 41292
- Lane · entry 41305
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:24word 21
“(to be) lustful”
Quran 4:25word 31
“those who commit immorality”
Quran 5:5word 29
“being lewd”
مَسْفُوحٌ
masfūḥun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle · 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.
Poured forth or shed; in the Quranic usage, blood that has been poured out.
Passive participle of Form I. The Quranic construction describes blood as poured forth, presenting it as the result of pouring or shedding.
- Lane · entry 41290
- Lane · entry 41300
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:145word 18
“poured forth”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:24مُسَـٰفِحِينَ ۚ(to be) lustful
- 4:25مُسَـٰفِحَـٰتٍۢthose who commit immorality
- 5:5مُسَـٰفِحِينَbeing lewd
- 6:145مَّسْفُوحًاpoured forth
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 23 Classical meanings
سَفَحَ
To pour out water, or to shed blood and tears.
Transitive Form I usage.
- Lane · entry 41290
سَفَحَ
To pour or flow out intransitively, especially of water or tears.
Intransitive Form I usage.
- Lane · entry 41290
سُفِحَ؛ مَسْفُوحٌ
Stretched or extended upon the ground, said of a camel.
A specialized description of a camel’s posture or placement.
- Lane · entry 41290
- Lane · entry 41304
سَفَّحَ؛ مُسَفِحٌ
To do a deed that brings no profit; hence, one who does such a deed.
A Form II usage and its related participial description.
- Lane · entry 41291
- Lane · entry 41303
سَافَحَ؛ تَسَافَحَ
To shed blood mutually; by extension, to fight or engage in camel-hocking with one another.
A reciprocal Form III or Form VI construction.
- Lane · entry 41292
- Lane · entry 41295
إِسْفَاحٌ
To make horses run without a wager.
A specialized Form IV usage associated with the maysir arrow called السَّفِيح.
- Lane · entry 41293
تَسَفَّحَ
To be or become poured out or forth.
Reported as an attributed usage without a named authority in the cited entry.
- Lane · entry 41294
سَفْحٌ
The base, foot, lower part, or spreading face of a mountain.
The noun may refer to the lower or ground-resting part of the mountain; plural سُفُوحٌ.
- Lane · entry 41296
سُفُوحٌ
Soft or smooth, slippery rocks.
Plural lexical usage distinct from the mountain-base sense.
- Lane · entry 41296
سَفُوحٌ
Shedding abundantly, especially tears.
The cited usage describes an eyelid that sheds copious tears.
- Lane · entry 41297
سَفِيحٌ
A sack; in the dual, a pair of sacks placed on a camel like panniers.
A nominal object term.
- Lane · entry 41298
سَفِيحٌ
A thick or coarse garment or cloak.
A nominal usage distinct from the sack sense.
- Lane · entry 41298
السَّفِيحُ
A maysir arrow to which no portion, penalty, or winning share is assigned.
One of the unnotched arrows used in the game of maysir.
- Lane · entry 41298
سَفَّاحٌ
A great shedder of blood.
An intensive agent noun; السَّفَّاحُ is also recorded as the name of a sword.
- Lane · entry 41299
السَّفَّاحُ
The name of a sword.
A proper-name usage derived from the intensive bloodshed sense.
- Lane · entry 41299
سَفَّاحٌ
A great giver; one who gives much.
A reported figurative extension, including the giving of many gifts.
- Lane · entry 41299
سَفَّاحٌ
Fluent or eloquent in speech.
A reported figurative usage; the cited discussion also records an interpretation glossed as chaste.
- Lane · entry 41299
سَافِحٌ
Pouring out or forth, applied to water, blood, or tears.
Active participial adjective of the literal pouring branch.
- Lane · entry 41300
أَسْفَحُ
Bald in the fore part of the head.
A specialized physical description.
- Lane · entry 41301
مَسْفَحٌ
A place where water is poured or flows out, or where blood or tears are shed; an outlet or discharge-place.
Plural مَسَافِحُ; a valley may have several such outlets.
- Lane · entry 41302
مَسْفُوحٌ
Broad, thick, coarse, or large in bodily build or in a body part.
Used in descriptions of breadth in the armpits or ribs and of a long, thick neck; the cited examples do not establish a narrower object-class restriction.
- Lane · entry 41304
المَسْفُوحُ
The name of a horse.
A proper-name usage.
- Lane · entry 41304
مُسَافِحَةٌ
In the expression ابن مُسَافِحَةٍ, a son born of fornication; by extension, offspring of fornication.
A conventional kinship expression, distinct from the meaning ‘fornicatress’ of مُسَافِحَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 41305
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The mountain-slope noun سَفْحٌ is treated by Maqāyīs as an ibdāl branch from صَفْح, although it is recorded in the supplied Lane entry under سفح.
The maysir-arrow term سَفِيحٌ is explicitly treated by Maqāyīs as anomalous to the central pouring sense.
The Form V meaning ‘to be or become poured out’ is reported in Lane without a named authority.