Quranic root
تفث
t · f · th
A root centered on accumulated bodily dirt and unkemptness, especially the condition produced by suspended grooming.
The lexical development extends from dirt on the nails and body, and matted or dusty hair, to the pilgrimage expression قضاء التفث: removing that condition through cleansing, grooming, and related acts of release from ihram restrictions.
- Maqāyīs · row 940
- Mufradāt · row 186
- Lane · entry 16702
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَفَثٌ
tafathun
- 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.
Accumulated bodily dirt and unkemptness, including matted or dusty hair and neglected bodily grooming.
In the Quranic pilgrimage context, this is the condition to be removed after the period of ihram-related grooming restrictions; the term can also denote bodily dirt more generally.
- Lane · entry 16702
- Mufradāt · row 186
The cleansing and grooming acts that remove pilgrimage-related unkemptness and complete the transition out of ihram.
Used especially in the construction قضاء التفث. Explanations include shaving or shortening hair, trimming the moustache, paring the nails, removing unwanted hair, and related acts; some explanations extend it to associated pilgrimage rites and release from ihram restrictions.
- Lane · entry 16702
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:29word 3
“their prescribed duties”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 22:29تَفَثَهُمْtheir prescribed duties
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 3 Classical meanings
تَفِثَ
To become dirty or unkempt after leaving off anointing oneself and grooming the body.
Form I verb; the described condition includes neglected anointing and shaving or other grooming, particularly in the pilgrimage setting.
- Lane · entry 16702
تَفِثٌ
Dusty, matted-haired, and altered in odour; unkempt from lack of anointing and grooming.
An adjectival description of a person or one exhibiting this unkempt condition.
- Lane · entry 16703
تَفَثَتِ الدِّمَاءُ مَكَانَهُ
To contaminate or soil a place, as blood does in the cited expression.
Attested as a reported idiomatic expression and distinct from the pilgrimage-related dirt and cleansing usage.
- Lane · entry 16702
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The single Quran occurrence is in قضاء التفث. Classical explanations differ over whether the expression emphasizes the dirt or unkempt condition itself, the grooming acts that remove it, or a wider set of pilgrimage completion rites.