Quranic root
يمم
y · m · m
Directed intention: aiming at, deliberately intending, or choosing a target.
The supplied root analysis develops from قصد and تعمد toward directing intention at a specified object. It explicitly treats the sea term as separate from this core analogy.
- Maqāyīs · row 5265
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 11
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَيَمَّمَ
tayammama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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.
To aim at, intend, or deliberately turn toward a chosen object.
In the Quranic purification construction, the intended object is clean earth (ṣaʿīd); this is a constructional application of the sense of deliberate aiming or seeking rather than a separate lexical meaning. The same form also denotes directing one's aim toward good things.
- Lane · entry 12184
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:267تَيَمَّمُوا۟aim (at)
- 4:43فَتَيَمَّمُوا۟then do tayammum
- 5:6فَتَيَمَّمُوا۟then do tayyammum
- 7:136ٱلْيَمِّthe sea
- 20:39ٱلْيَمِّthe river
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 4 Classical meanings
يَمّ
The sea; a large body of water.
A nominal lexical item treated separately from the root's core analogy of directed intention.
- Maqāyīs · row 5265
مُيَمَّمٌ
One who obtains whatever he seeks; hence, one toward whom good is directed.
A descriptive use for a person, including a poetic application in which good is directed toward him.
- Maqāyīs · row 5265
مَيْمُومٌ
One who has fallen into the sea and drowned.
A reported derived descriptive form for a person who meets this fate.
- Maqāyīs · row 5265
يَمَامٌ
A bird, described as one that breeds in houses.
A separate nominal lexical item, not a direct extension of the core meaning of directed intention.
- Maqāyīs · row 5265
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic nominal group يَمّ has contextual glosses meaning “the sea” and “the river,” but it is not assigned a numbered Quranic sense because the packet lacks qualifying direct form-level lexical evidence.
Several Lane entries are only pointers to omitted articles, so their referenced Form II and technical constructions are not expanded beyond what the supplied text securely establishes.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The eight Quranic occurrences of يَمّ are supported here only by contextual English glosses (“the sea” and “the river”) and by a Maqayis discussion; because Maqayis alone cannot establish a direct Quran-form sense, the QAC nominal group is excluded from the public Quranic forms.
The Form II phrase يَمَّمَ المَرِيضَ والمَيِّتَ in lane:entry:12183 is cross-referenced to an unsupplied article, so its precise lexical construction cannot be assigned confidently.
الفَرِيضَةُ اليَمِّيَّةُ in lane:entry:12185 is recorded only as a cross-reference to المُشَرَّكَةُ; the supplied packet does not define this technical expression.