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Quranic root

سرح

s · r · ḥ

The root centers on going forth freely and without hindrance.

From outward movement come the senses of sending livestock to pasture, proceeding easily or swiftly, and releasing or dismissing someone. Several derived usages extend this idea to flowing, becoming clear, being unclothed, and spreading outward.

  • Maqāyīs · row 2406
  • Mufradāt · row 679
4
Quran-attested forms
4
Quran senses
7
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.

سَرَحَ

saraḥa

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.

  1. To send livestock out to pasture; to go out to pasture.

    In the Quranic occurrence, the livestock are understood as the object of sending, and the verb describes their going out for grazing.

    • Lane · entry 40868
    • Mufradāt · row 679
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 16:6word 7

    you take them out

سَرَّحَ

sarraḥa

Part of speech
Verb · Form II
Form
II
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.

  1. To release or dismiss, especially to release a wife by divorce.

    The Quranic occurrences concern releasing a wife and letting her go without retaining her; the construction expresses an orderly or kindly dismissal.

    • Lane · entry 40869
    • Mufradāt · row 679
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:231word 9

    release them

    Quran 33:28word 13

    and release you

    Quran 33:49word 20

    and release them

سَرَاح

sarāḥ

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. Release or dismissal; specifically, the dismissal of a wife by divorce.

    In the Quran, the noun denotes divorce understood as a formal release or letting go.

    • Lane · entry 40876
    • Mufradāt · row 679
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 33:28word 14

    (with) a release

    Quran 33:49word 21

    (with) a release

تَسْرِيح

tasrīḥ

Part of speech
Verbal noun
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.

  1. Releasing or dismissing a wife by divorce.

    This verbal noun names the act of releasing in the marital-divorce construction.

    • Lane · entry 40869
    • Mufradāt · row 679
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:229word 6

    to release (her)

Occurrences in the Quran

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

  • 2:229تَسْرِيحٌۢto release (her)
  • 2:231سَرِّحُوهُنَّrelease them
  • 16:6تَسْرَحُونَyou take them out
  • 33:28وَأُسَرِّحْكُنَّand release you
  • 33:28سَرَاحًۭا(with) a release
View all 7 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 57 Classical meanings
  • سَرَحَ

    To defame people, especially in their absence.

    A figurative usage derived from the image of grazing freely among people's reputations.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَحَ

    To depart, go away, or proceed easily.

    Used of going out in the morning and of proceeding easily in one's affairs.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَحَ

    To flow or run freely.

    Used of a torrent and of urine flowing after having been suppressed.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَحَ

    To send a messenger or send someone to a place or task.

    A transitive sending construction distinct from sending livestock to pasture.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَحَ

    To dispose or adapt someone to what is good.

    A rare figurative and explicitly attributed usage.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَحَ

    To void excrement.

    A bodily-function usage, also reported for excrement in a thin state.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَحَ

    To bring forth or reveal what is held within oneself.

    Used figuratively of expressing what is in the breast or bosom.

    • Lane · entry 40868
  • سَرَّحَ

    To send away, remove, alienate, or estrange.

    A general removal or putting-away construction, broader than the Quranic marital use.

    • Lane · entry 40869
  • سَرَّحَ

    To remove or clear away grief or sorrow.

    Figurative causative usage.

    • Lane · entry 40869
  • سَرَّحَ

    To cause water to flow or let it flow into a channel or enclosure.

    Used transitively of directing or releasing water.

    • Lane · entry 40869
  • سَرَّحَ

    To comb, loosen, disentangle, or arrange hair.

    The usage can include letting down, separating, and combing the hair.

    • Lane · entry 40869
  • سَرَّحَ

    To trim or refine poetry or verses.

    A specialized usage applied to a poet's treatment of verse.

    • Lane · entry 40869
  • سَرَّحَ

    To facilitate or make something easy.

    A causative usage of rendering an action or matter easy.

    • Lane · entry 40869
  • تَسَرَّحَ

    To go away or go forth from a place.

    Reflexive or intransitive Form V usage.

    • Lane · entry 40870
  • اِنْسَرَحَ

    To move along quickly and easily.

    Used especially of a she-camel becoming easy and swift in her pace.

    • Lane · entry 40871
  • اِنْسَرَحَ

    To lie on one's back extended, with the legs parted.

    A bodily-position usage.

    • Lane · entry 40871
  • اِنْسَرَحَ

    To become naked or bare.

    Used of being without clothing.

    • Lane · entry 40871
  • اِنْسَرَحَ

    To become relieved or cleared away, especially of grief or sorrow.

    Intransitive or quasi-passive figurative usage.

    • Lane · entry 40871
  • سَرْح

    Livestock pasturing; by extension, livestock or camels that pasture.

    The noun may refer to the activity, a single beast, or a collection of beasts.

    • Lane · entry 40872
  • سَرْح

    A large, tall tree, often valued for its spreading shade.

    The term is also used collectively for such trees; its botanical identification is described variably.

    • Lane · entry 40872
  • سَرْحَة

    A wife or woman, by metonymy.

    A figurative nominal use of the name of the tree.

    • Lane · entry 40872
  • سَرْح

    The exterior court or yard of a house, gate, or door.

    A nominal architectural sense.

    • Lane · entry 40872
  • سُرُح

    Easy, swift, and unhindered in movement or performance.

    Used of a camel, horse, gait, the movement of a limb, an easy birth or draught of water, and figuratively of a promptly given gift.

    • Lane · entry 40873
  • سَرْحَة

    A single tree of the kind called سَرْح.

    Singular noun for the tree sense.

    • Lane · entry 40874
  • سَرْحَة

    A mature she-ass that has not become pregnant.

    A specialized animal term.

    • Lane · entry 40874
  • سَرْحَة

    The name of a certain dog.

    A proper-name usage.

    • Lane · entry 40874
  • سِرْحَان

    A wolf; in one dialect, a lion.

    The animal designation is also used as a masculine noun and has several plural forms.

    • Lane · entry 40875
  • ذَنَبُ السِّرْحَان

    The false or first dawn.

    An idiomatic expression derived from the wolf or lion designation.

    • Lane · entry 40875
  • سِرْحَان

    A name given to certain dogs and horses.

    These are proper-name usages rather than a general animal classification.

    • Lane · entry 40875
  • سِرْحَان

    The middle part of a watering trough or tank.

    A specialized material noun.

    • Lane · entry 40875
  • سَرَاح

    Dismissal or sending away in a general sense.

    Classical usage broader than the Quranic divorce sense.

    • Lane · entry 40876
  • سَرَاح

    Haste, expedition, or promptness.

    A nominal sense of quick, unhindered completion.

    • Lane · entry 40876
  • سَرَاح

    Ease and rest.

    Attested in the fixed expression فِي سَرَاحٍ وَرَوَاحٍ.

    • Lane · entry 40876
  • سَرَاحِ

    The name of a certain horse, probably conveying quick and easy pace.

    An indeclinable proper name whose lexical interpretation is inferential.

    • Lane · entry 40876
  • سَرِيح

    Quick, expeditious, or prompt.

    Used of an affair or bounty accomplished without delay.

    • Lane · entry 40878
  • سَرِيح

    Without a saddle, of a horse.

    A specialized equestrian usage.

    • Lane · entry 40878
  • سَرِيحَة

    A thong or strap used for sandals, camel footwear, or similar fastening.

    The term may denote a single strap or related sandal components.

    • Lane · entry 40879
  • سَرِيحَة

    A sinew binding or conspicuous mark on an arrow.

    Specialized terminology for arrow construction or appearance.

    • Lane · entry 40879
  • سَرِيحَة

    A piece of a garment that has been much torn.

    A material noun, also reported with collective plural usage.

    • Lane · entry 40879
  • سَرِيحَة

    An elongated, conspicuous strip or tract of ground richer in vegetation than its surroundings.

    The tract is described as even or narrow and rising above or standing out from the surrounding land.

    • Lane · entry 40879
  • سَرِيحَة

    An elongated tract of flowing blood.

    A specialized description of blood when spread out in a strip.

    • Lane · entry 40879
  • سِرْيَاح

    Tall, as an epithet for a man.

    An adjectival usage.

    • Lane · entry 40880
  • سِرْيَاح

    A locust; also used for a female locust.

    An animal noun with the feminine expression أُمُّ سِرْيَاحٍ.

    • Lane · entry 40880
  • سِرْيَاح

    The name of a certain woman.

    A rare proper-name usage reported in one instance.

    • Lane · entry 40880
  • سِرْيَاح

    The name of a certain dog.

    A proper-name usage.

    • Lane · entry 40880
  • سَرَّاح

    The name of a horse, probably meaning swift or easy-paced.

    The lexical interpretation is explicitly presented as probable.

    • Lane · entry 40881
  • سَارِح

    A herder who sends livestock to pasture; also a person or group possessing grazing livestock.

    The active participle is also substantivized for the herder or the people associated with the grazing herd.

    • Lane · entry 40882
  • سَارِحَة

    In the expression مَا لَهُ سَارِحَةٌ وَلَا رَائِحَةٌ: anything at all, or, by negation, nothing.

    A fixed figurative expression originally contrasting livestock going to and returning from pasture; it can also refer to people or a group.

    • Lane · entry 40882
  • سَارِح

    Flowing easily, of a torrent.

    An adjectival description of a freely running torrent.

    • Lane · entry 40882
  • مَسْرَح

    A pasture or place to which animals are sent out to graze.

    The place may be near or distant from the settlement.

    • Lane · entry 40883
  • مِسْرَح

    A comb.

    A noun for the implement used in combing.

    • Lane · entry 40884
  • مِسْرَح

    One of the two wooden pieces bound around a ploughing bull's neck as part of a yoke.

    Usually encountered in the dual form مِسْرَحَانِ.

    • Lane · entry 40884
  • مِسْرَحَة

    An instrument for separating and combing hair, flax, or similar fibers.

    A specialized combing and carding implement.

    • Lane · entry 40885
  • مَسْرُوح

    A mirage.

    A rare dialectal attribution whose correctness is reported as uncertain.

    • Lane · entry 40886
  • مُنْسَرِح

    Lying on one's back extended, with the legs parted.

    A bodily-position usage.

    • Lane · entry 40887
  • مُنْسَرِح

    Denuded or lightly clad; stripped of clothing or, of a camel, of its fur.

    The expression may be literal or figurative, including being divested of the apparel of generosity.

    • Lane · entry 40887
  • مُنْسَرِح

    The name of a type of Arabic poetic meter.

    A technical prosodic term.

    • Lane · entry 40887

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • The Form I public headword is normalized to the perfect citation form سَرَحَ; the supplied Quran occurrence is an imperfect inflection.

  • Several rare animal-name, botanical, and dialectal senses are retained because Lane presents them as lexical usages, while uncertain interpretations are marked in their usage conditions.