Quranic root
سرف
s · r · f
The root centers on exceeding a proper limit and, in a related branch, overlooking or failing to attend to something.
The lexical development extends from excess and transgression to negligence, ignorance, and addictive overindulgence. The سُرْفَة insect and its wood-eating usages are treated as a divergent but associated branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 2413
- Mufradāt · row 685
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 23
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَسْرَفَ
ʾasrafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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.
To exceed the proper limit; to act extravagantly, immoderately, or transgressively.
In Quranic usage this includes exceeding due bounds in expenditure or consumption, acting beyond proper measure or purpose, and transgressing in one's conduct or against oneself. The excess may concern amount, manner, or the proper and lawful object of an action.
- Lane · entry 40968
- Mufradāt · row 685
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:141word 27
“(be) extravagant”
Quran 39:53word 4
“have transgressed”
To exceed the bounds of just retribution in killing.
In the retaliation context, the excess may consist in killing someone other than the killer, exceeding the authorized retaliation, or otherwise going beyond the prescribed limit of punishment.
- Lane · entry 40968
- Mufradāt · row 685
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:33word 17
“he should exceed”
إِسْرَاف
ʾisrāf
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Excess or transgression beyond the proper limit; extravagance or immoderation.
Although especially frequent in relation to expenditure, the Quranic noun also covers excess in other actions. The criterion may concern quantity, manner, proper objects, or conformity to what is right and lawful.
- Lane · entry 40968
- Mufradāt · row 685
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:147word 11
“and our excesses”
Quran 4:6word 16
“extravagantly”
مُسْرِف
musrif
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 15 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 who exceeds proper bounds; an extravagant or transgressing person.
The Quranic designation applies to financial extravagance and to excess in conduct more generally. In the account of Lot's people, it denotes sexual transgression, specifically approaching men sexually rather than women.
- Lane · entry 40980
- Mufradāt · row 685
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:141word 31
“the ones who are extravagant”
Quran 7:81word 11
“(who) commit excesses”
Quran 40:34word 29
“(is) a transgressor”
A denier of God's favors, unity, prophets, and law; an unbeliever.
This is a Quran-attested theological use of the active participle, distinct from the broader description of someone who merely exceeds a limit.
- Lane · entry 40980
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:147وَإِسْرَافَنَاand our excesses
- 4:6إِسْرَافًۭاextravagantly
- 5:32لَمُسْرِفُونَ(are) surely those who commit excesses
- 6:141تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ ۚ(be) extravagant
- 6:141ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَthe ones who are extravagant
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 15 Classical meanings
سَرِفَ
To be ignorant, unmindful, negligent, or heedless of something; to miss or overlook it.
It may be transitive with a thing or person, including passing by people and leaving them behind, failing to recognize an oath, or missing the proper recipient or occasion of an action.
- Lane · entry 40967
سَرَف
Excess or transgression of the proper limit; extravagant, immoderate, or wasteful conduct.
This is a substantive noun related to إِسْرَاف and is also used for excess in the just measure or proper course.
- Lane · entry 40967
- Lane · entry 40970
سَرَفَ
To eat away or damage by consuming; of the سُرْفَة, to consume the leaves or wood of a tree, and of a tree or food, to be eaten away or spoiled.
Extended usages include describing a sheep's or goat's ear as entirely cut off, and describing a mother as injuring her child through excessive milk.
- Lane · entry 40967
تَسَرَّفَ
To suck, eat, gnaw, or devour.
The recorded usage describes active consuming, especially in the lexical branch associated with the سُرْفَة.
- Lane · entry 40969
سَرَف
The overflow or waste of water that runs away without useful irrigation.
Used of water escaping from the sides of a trough, tank, or similar receptacle, or going to waste after the useful irrigation has been completed.
- Lane · entry 40970
سَرَف
Addictedness or insatiable attachment to something.
The usage is especially attested of attachment to flesh or meat and to wine, with the practical implication of little self-restraint.
- Lane · entry 40970
ذَاتَ سَرَفٍ
High rank, estimation, or great importance.
This meaning occurs in the expression ذَاتَ سَرَفٍ and is also reported with the variant ذَاتَ شَرَفٍ.
- Lane · entry 40970
سَرِف
Ignorant, heedless, or negligent; intellectually deficient or corrupt in judgment.
It may describe a person mistaken or deficient in heart, mind, or intellect.
- Lane · entry 40971
سَرِفَة
Land or a valley abounding in the creature called سُرْفَة.
The adjective is applied to a land or valley characterized by the presence of that small creeping creature.
- Lane · entry 40971
سُرُف
A white substance resembling silkworm web.
The lexical item is described as a particular substance or material, not as the insect itself.
- Lane · entry 40972
سُرْفَة
A small worm, caterpillar, or creeping creature that eats leaves or wood and constructs a protective web-like habitation.
Descriptions vary among a silkworm, a dust-colored wood-boring creature, and a caterpillar-like insect that strips trees of their leaves; the creature's case or habitation is a characteristic feature.
- Lane · entry 40973
سَرَاف
The erosion of a tree by wood-boring insects.
The meaning is associated with the activity of سُرَف, the plural of سُرْفَة.
- Lane · entry 40974
سَرُوف
Hard, severe, difficult, great, or formidable.
Recorded as an epithet of a day.
- Lane · entry 40975
سَرِيف
A row of grapevines.
The noun denotes an arranged row or line of vines.
- Lane · entry 40976
مَسْرُوف
Eaten away by the سُرْفَة; of a tree, having its leaves eaten by that creature.
In an extended usage, a sheep or goat described as مَسْرُوفَة has had its ear entirely cut off.
- Lane · entry 40981
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quran-specific theological sense of مُسْرِف is retained because it is explicitly tied to a Quran passage in the lexical evidence; the historical printed citation is not converted into a modern verse location here.
The rare insect, foreign-word, proper-name, and variant-expression entries are kept separate from the ordinary excess and transgression meanings.