Quranic root
سرر
s · r · r
A semantic orientation toward what is hidden, inward, concentrated, or settled in its core.
The root develops from concealment and inwardness to confidential communication, inner or pure substance, the navel and interior, lunar concealment, joy free from grief, and the settled couch or seat.
- Maqāyīs · row 2403
- 9
- Quran-attested forms
- 14
- Quran senses
- 44
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَرَّ
sarra
- 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 please, gladden, or make happy.
The Quranic occurrence is transitive, with people as those affected by the pleasing action.
- Lane · entry 40763
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:69word 17
“pleasing”
أَسَرَّ
ʾasarra
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 18 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 conceal, suppress, or keep something secret.
Used of a matter, statement, feeling, person, or other object kept hidden; the Quranic evidence also includes concealing a person or reciting something privately or inaudibly.
- Lane · entry 40766
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:19word 11
“And they hid him”
To disclose or confide something privately to an addressee.
The construction with إِلَى or a comparable recipient expresses revealing a secret to that person while keeping it from others; the object may be a report, affection, or other confidential matter.
- Lane · entry 40766
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 60:1word 33
“You confide”
To manifest, publish, or make something known.
This contrary interpretation is explicitly reported for the Quranic expression concerning concealing or manifesting regret. It is a disputed reading; concealment is also, and generally more strongly, reported for that expression.
- Lane · entry 40766
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:54word 11
“and they (will) confide”
إِسْرَار
ʾisrār
- 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.
Concealment or secrecy.
The verbal noun may describe keeping a matter hidden or conducting it privately.
- Lane · entry 40766
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 71:9word 7
“secretly”
Private disclosure or confidential communication.
With an addressee, إِسْرَار expresses imparting something secretly to that person, while its secrecy is maintained from others.
- Lane · entry 40766
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 47:26word 15
“their secrets”
مَسْرُور
masrūr
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
Made happy, joyful, or glad; happy.
A passive-participial description of one affected by joy or happiness.
- Lane · entry 40796
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 84:9word 4
“happily”
Quran 84:13word 5
“happy”
سِرّ
sirr
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 11 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 secret, concealed matter, or hidden content.
It may denote a secret held in the mind, an undisclosed matter, or something known privately.
- Lane · entry 40772
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:7word 6
“the secret”
Secrecy, privacy, or a private manner of acting or speaking.
Used adverbially with the sense “secretly” or “privately,” in contrast with open or public conduct; it can also describe a suppressed or low voice.
- Lane · entry 40772
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:22word 11
“secretly”
A private marriage-related approach or union.
In the Quranic marriage-related construction, the term is interpreted as a discreet declaration or proposal of marriage during a waiting period; authorities also report interpretations involving secret sexual union, including an illicit union. These interpretations preserve the association with what is not publicly declared.
- Lane · entry 40772
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:235word 21
“secretly”
سَرِير
sarīr
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural سُرُر
- 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.
A couch, raised seat, or throne.
The Quranic form is the broken plural سُرُر and denotes raised seats or couches, including thrones.
- Lane · entry 40781
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:15word 2
“thrones”
Quran 43:34word 3
“and couches”
سُرُور
surūr
- Part of speech
- 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.
Joy, happiness, or gladness.
The lexical description emphasizes an inward delight or expansion of the heart, potentially without an outward sign.
- Lane · entry 40780
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 76:11word 8
“and happiness”
سَرِيرَة
sarīrah
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural سَرَائِر
- 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.
An inner secret, concealed thought, or hidden intention.
The Quranic form is the plural سَرَائِر and refers to what is inward and liable to be disclosed or tested.
- Lane · entry 40772
- Lane · entry 40783
- Mufradāt · row 682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 86:9word 3
“the secrets”
سَرَّاء
sarrāʾ
- 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.
Ease, prosperity, or freedom from straitened circumstances.
A favorable condition of life, contrasted with adversity or distress.
- Lane · entry 40784
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:134word 4
“[the] ease”
Quran 7:95word 13
“and the ease”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:69تَسُرُّpleasing
- 2:77يُسِرُّونَthey conceal
- 2:235سِرًّاsecretly
- 2:274سِرًّۭاsecretly
- 3:134ٱلسَّرَّآءِ[the] ease
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 64 Classical meanings
سَرَّ
To rejoice, be joyful, or be happy.
Intransitive use, distinct from the causative sense “to gladden someone.”
- Lane · entry 40763
سَرَّ
To greet someone by offering sweet-smelling plant tips.
A specialized customary greeting.
- Lane · entry 40763
سَرَّ
To cut a child’s navel-string; in the passive, to have the navel-string cut.
An anatomical and childbirth usage.
- Lane · entry 40763
سَرَّ
To pierce or thrust someone in the navel.
Used of striking the navel with a spear or similar object.
- Lane · entry 40763
سَرَّ الزَّنْدَ
To insert a small piece of wood into a fire-stick or spear-shaft, or to be hollow inside.
Used of preparing a fire-stick and of a hollow wooden shaft or spear.
- Lane · entry 40763
- Lane · entry 40774
- Lane · entry 40792
سَرَّ
To suffer a complaint or disorder of the navel area.
Used of a person with a navel complaint and of a camel affected by the named disorder سَرَر.
- Lane · entry 40763
- Lane · entry 40774
- Lane · entry 40792
سَرَّرَ
To give someone, or cause someone to take, a concubine-slave.
A doubly transitive construction.
- Lane · entry 40764
سَرَّرَ
Of water, to reach the navel.
Used of the level reached by water on a person or object.
- Lane · entry 40764
سَارَّهُ
To speak secretly with someone or acquaint him with a secret.
A reciprocal or interpersonal confidential conversation, including speaking into someone’s ear.
- Lane · entry 40765
- Lane · entry 40774
بَيْعُ السِّرَارِ
A conditional sale conducted by a secret sign or concealed hand signal.
A specialized commercial idiom involving the simultaneous or non-simultaneous display of signet-rings.
- Lane · entry 40765
أَسَرَّ
To attribute something to secrecy or mystery.
A specialized attributional construction.
- Lane · entry 40766
تَسَرَّرَ
To take a concubine-slave for oneself.
A derived Form V usage; the related pronunciation تَسَرَّى is also reported.
- Lane · entry 40767
تَسَرَّرَ
To reveal one’s secret to someone.
A reported construction distinct from the concubine-related use.
- Lane · entry 40767
تَسَرَّرَ
For a man of low birth to marry a woman of high birth because of unequal wealth or status.
A specialized social idiom.
- Lane · entry 40767
تَسَارَّ
To speak secretly together or exchange secrets.
Mutual confidential conversation.
- Lane · entry 40768
تَسَارَّ
To experience pleasure or delight at a sensation or circumstance.
A rare, explicitly qualified usage, reported for pleasure at scratching, pressing, kneading, or at something disliked by another.
- Lane · entry 40768
اِسْتَسَرَّ
To become concealed or to conceal oneself or itself.
Used of a thing or affair becoming hidden, and of the moon becoming concealed by the sun’s light.
- Lane · entry 40769
اِسْتَسَرَّ
To take extraordinary pains to conceal or keep something secret.
An intensive concealment construction.
- Lane · entry 40769
اِسْتَسَرَّنِي
To reveal one’s secret to me.
A recipient-based construction.
- Lane · entry 40769
سَرٌّ
A person who rejoices, gladdens, or makes another happy.
A substantive or adjectival description of a benevolent, affectionate person.
- Lane · entry 40770
سُرٌّ
The navel-string or the part of it cut from a newborn child.
Distinct from سُرَّة, the navel itself.
- Lane · entry 40771
عَلَى سِرٍّ
In a sequence of births with the navel-strings cut in a similar manner.
A specialized childbirth idiom, including consecutive births without a female among them.
- Lane · entry 40771
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
A thing that is revealed, appears, or is made manifest.
A contrary lexical use reported in Classical Arabic.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
The heart, mind, inner self, or recesses of the mind.
A figurative or extended use for a person’s inward self.
- Lane · entry 40772
- Lane · entry 40783
سِرّ
Private knowledge of a matter.
In the construction فُلَانٌ سِرُّ هَذَا الأَمْرِ, a person possesses privileged knowledge of the matter.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
The external sexual organ of a man or woman.
A figurative anatomical usage, including the dual expression for the two pudenda.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
Sexual intercourse.
A figurative usage derived from secrecy or privacy; not restricted to the Quranic marriage-related construction.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
Origin or the essential quality of lineage.
Used of generous origin or the core quality of a family or lineage.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
The concealed phase of the moon at the end or beginning of a lunar month.
Reported for the last night, or in some accounts the first or middle concealed phase, with variation among authorities.
- Lane · entry 40772
- Lane · entry 40777
سِرّ
The interior, heart, or middle of a thing, night, or month.
An extended spatial use for what lies within or at the center.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
The marrow of a thing.
A specialized sense for its inner substance.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
The pure, choice, best, or excellent part or quality of something.
Used of the best quality of a thing, condition, race, lineage, or rank.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
The low, central, best, or most fertile part of a valley or tract of land.
By extension, the middle of a city or meadow and fertile, good land.
- Lane · entry 40772
سِرّ
A line or crease of the palm, face, or forehead; by extension, a facial beauty.
The plural forms include the lines of the hand and forehead and the beauties of the cheeks.
- Lane · entry 40772
سُرَّة
The navel or small hollow at the middle of the belly.
The remaining mark or hollow after the navel-string has been cut.
- Lane · entry 40773
سُرَّة
A star in the head of Andromeda, called the navel of Pegasus.
A specialized astronomical name.
- Lane · entry 40773
سُرَّة
A central perforation in a drinking jar through which a tube is fixed.
A specialized object-designation based on the navel-like central hollow.
- Lane · entry 40773
سُرَّة
The place where water rests at the far end of a trough or tank.
A specialized sense for the central or terminal hollow of a watering place.
- Lane · entry 40773
سَرَر
A painful disease, gall, or sore affecting the breast or navel area of an animal.
Especially used of camels, and in some reports of horses; authorities differ on the precise anatomical location.
- Lane · entry 40774
- Lane · entry 40792
سِرَر
The earth, sand, or covering over a truffle.
A specialized agricultural and botanical usage.
- Lane · entry 40776
سَرَار
A secret or private matter, and in another synonymic use the pure or best part of a thing.
The entry explicitly relates these uses to corresponding senses of سِرّ.
- Lane · entry 40777
سَرَار
Dates in an unripe state.
A specialized botanical or agricultural sense.
- Lane · entry 40777
سُرُور
The upper extremities of plant stems.
A botanical noun distinct from the abstract noun “joy.”
- Lane · entry 40780
سَرِير
A bier before the corpse is placed upon it.
The term is associated with an auspicious expectation of joy; once carrying the corpse, other terms are used.
- Lane · entry 40781
سَرِير
The group of stars called the bier of the daughters of Naʿsh, in the Greater Bear.
A specialized astronomical designation.
- Lane · entry 40781
سَرِير
Dominion, sovereignty, authority, ease, or settled affluence.
A figurative extension from the seat or throne.
- Lane · entry 40781
سَرِير
The part where the head rests upon the neck.
A figurative anatomical use; plural forms are also reported.
- Lane · entry 40781
سَرَارَة
The best or most productive part of a meadow.
A specialized landscape and agricultural usage.
- Lane · entry 40782
سَرَارَة
Pureness, excellence, or superiority, especially of condition, lineage, or quality.
Used of the best condition of life and of superiority over another.
- Lane · entry 40782
سَرِيرَة
The heart, mind, or inner self.
Opposed to the outward or public aspect of a person.
- Lane · entry 40783
سَرَّاء
A broad, level stony or sandy expanse.
A specialized geographical equivalence to بَطْحَاء.
- Lane · entry 40784
سِرِّيّ
Secret, mysterious, or conducted secretly; a person who acts secretly.
A relational adjective and substantive description derived from سِرّ.
- Lane · entry 40785
سُرِّيَّة
A concubine-slave kept as a possession and for sexual intercourse.
The vocalization distinguishes this term from the similarly written term for a free woman in a secret sexual relationship.
- Lane · entry 40786
سِرِّيَّة
A free woman with whom a man has sexual intercourse secretly; according to one report, a prostitute.
A term distinguished by vocalization from سُرِّيَّة, the concubine-slave.
- Lane · entry 40787
سُرْسُور
Intelligent, knowing, skilful, or adept at managing affairs.
Especially used of someone who manages property or cattle through knowledge and artful contrivance.
- Lane · entry 40788
سُرْسُور
A beloved or special companion and friend.
A social and relational use distinct from the skill-related sense.
- Lane · entry 40788
سُرْسُور
The spun thread that has come forth from a spindle.
A specialized textile term.
- Lane · entry 40788
أَسَرُّ
An adventive or stranger residing among people to whom he is not related.
A noun describing lack of local kinship or origin.
- Lane · entry 40792
مَسَرَّة
A cause or occasion of happiness and joy.
A thing by which someone is made happy or glad.
- Lane · entry 40794
مَسَرَّة
The tender, succulent, or fragrant upper or concealed parts of certain plants.
A botanical usage including plant tips, lotus parts, and fragrant sprigs.
- Lane · entry 40794
مِسَرَّة
An instrument for speaking secretly, like a scroll or confidential writing.
A specialized object noun.
- Lane · entry 40795
مَسْرُور
Having had the navel-string cut.
An anatomical passive-participial use distinct from the emotional sense.
- Lane · entry 40796
مَسْرُور
Of a jar, having a central perforation or navel-like opening.
A specialized description of a jar designed with a drinking tube.
- Lane · entry 40796
مُسْتَسَرّ
A hidden or secret affair.
In the expression وَقَفْتُ عَلَى مُسْتَسَرِّهِ, it denotes becoming acquainted with someone’s concealed matter.
- Lane · entry 40797
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
أَسَرَّ has a reported but disputed contrary interpretation meaning “manifest” or “publish” in the expression about regret; the concealment interpretation is also explicitly supported and is generally preferred.
The Quranic marriage-related use of سِرّ in 2:235 has varying classical interpretations, including discreet marriage proposal, private sexual union, and—according to some authorities—illicit intercourse.
The public headwords سَرِير and سَرِيرَة are normalized singular citation forms for Quranic plural forms سُرُر and سَرَائِر.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:srr:40763:g1:main reports contrary meanings for سَرَّهُ but explicitly treats the passage as a likely mistranscription of أَسَرَّهُ; it is retained as an editorial note rather than assigned as an accepted lexical branch.