Quranic root
زهد
z · h · d
The root centers on smallness, paucity, and having little.
This orientation extends to limited quantity or property, taking little, and being satisfied with little or turning away from something. Related Classical extensions concern scant water and estimating amounts.
- Maqāyīs · row 2306
- Lane · entry 31755
- Lane · entry 31764
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
زَاهِدٌ
zāhidun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Disinclined to something; not desiring it and willing to accept only little of it.
The Quranic occurrence uses the construction زَاهِدِينَ فِيهِ, describing people who were not interested in Joseph and accepted little for him. The sense can express either turning away from something or contentment with only a small amount of it.
- Lane · entry 31755
- Lane · entry 31766
- Mufradāt · row 633
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:20word 9
“those keen to give up”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 12:20ٱلزَّٰهِدِينَthose keen to give up
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 20 Classical meanings
زُهْدٌ / زَهَادَةٌ
Ascetic abstinence, especially from worldly pleasures; devotion expressed through religious service and devotional exercises.
Some usage distinguishes زَهَادَةٌ as abstinence concerning worldly matters and زُهْدٌ as abstinence in religion. In a religious application, it may involve taking only the minimum of a lawful thing and leaving the remainder to God.
- Lane · entry 31755
زُهْدٌ / زَهَادَةٌ
Abstinence in eating; eating little.
- Lane · entry 31755
زَهَدَ
To restrict or straiten one's household through niggardliness or poverty.
- Lane · entry 31755
زَهَدَ / زَهَدَهُ
To estimate or conjecturally compute an amount, measure, size, extent, or number, especially the produce of palm trees or the amount of property or livestock.
A specialized usage concerning palm trees and property.
- Lane · entry 31755
زَهَّدَ
To cause someone to abstain from, relinquish, shun, or become disinclined to something.
Used transitively with فِي or عَنْهُ; it is the causative counterpart of زَهِدَ فِيهِ or زَهِدَ عَنْهُ.
- Lane · entry 31756
زَهَّدَ
To impute niggardliness or stinginess to someone; to charge someone with being a miser.
A figurative interpersonal usage.
- Lane · entry 31756
أَزْهَدَ
To possess little property, so that one's possessions are not desired.
Describes a person whose property is scant enough to attract no desire.
- Lane · entry 31757
تَزَهَّدَ
To make a display of ascetic abstinence; to devote oneself to religious service or devotional exercises.
The verb may emphasize either the outward manifestation of asceticism or engagement in devotion.
- Lane · entry 31758
تَزَاهَدَ
To contemn or despise something, holding it in little or mean estimation.
Reported in plural constructions and applied to treating a matter or prescribed penalty as insignificant.
- Lane · entry 31759
اِزْدَهَدَ
To reckon something little or of small account, including another person's gift.
Used of evaluating an object, amount, or gift as insignificant.
- Lane · entry 31760
زَهْدٌ
A small quantity; as much as is sufficient.
Used in the expression خُذْ زَهْدَ مَا يَكْفِيكَ, “take the small amount sufficient for you.”
- Lane · entry 31761
زَهَدٌ
The poor-rate, or zakāt, regarded as the small portion due from property.
A technical usage reported as an alternative designation for زَكَاةٌ.
- Lane · entry 31762
زَهَادٌ
Land or small watercourses characterized by limited water-flow.
Descriptions vary: the land is explained either as flowing only after much rain or as flowing after the least rain. The expression زَهَادُ التِّلَاعِ refers to small watercourses.
- Lane · entry 31763
زَهِيدٌ
A person who eats little.
Applied to a person, including in expressions such as زَهِيدُ الأَكْلِ and زَهِيدُ الطَّعْمِ.
- Lane · entry 31764
زَهِيدٌ
Small in quantity or number, especially a small gift.
Applied to an amount, number, or gift.
- Lane · entry 31764
زَهِيدٌ
Contemptible, paltry, mean, or niggardly; a person possessing or doing little good.
May describe a thing as paltry or a person as low, ungenerous, narrow in disposition, or sordid.
- Lane · entry 31764
زَهِيدٌ
Content with little; not desirous of more.
Used in the construction هُوَ زَهِيدُ العَيْنِ or لَهُ عَيْنٌ زَهِيدَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 31764
زَهِيدٌ
A narrow valley or tract of land that receives or releases little water.
The term may describe a valley made to flow by only a slight quantity of water, or land from which little water comes forth.
- Lane · entry 31764
زَاهِدٌ
One who abstains, especially from worldly pleasures; an ascetic or devotee.
The active participle may describe general abstinence and, more particularly, a person engaged in religious devotion.
- Lane · entry 31766
مُزْهِدٌ
A person possessing little property, so that it is not desired.
Describes a believer or other person whose possessions are scant.
- Lane · entry 31767
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form is attested once, as the plural active participle in 12:20. The additional entries are broader Classical Arabic usages and are not automatically Quranic attestations.
The geographical usage has variant descriptions of how little or readily water flows; these alternatives are preserved rather than resolved.