Quranic root
زنم
z · n · m
The root centers on attaching or hanging one thing from another, including a person attached to a group without truly belonging to it.
The physical image of a dangling ear appendage or wattle extends to marks and excrescences, then figuratively to an outsider attached to a people and to the epithet زَنِيمٌ for a base or socially illegitimate person.
- Maqāyīs · row 2304
- Mufradāt · row 632
- 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.
زَنِيمٌ
zanīmun
- 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.
An outsider attached or adopted into a people without belonging to them; an intruder or socially claimed person.
A Quranic epithet in 68:13, explained through the image of something hanging onto a group and through the sense of a person regarded as attached to people who are not his own.
- Lane · entry 31731
- Mufradāt · row 632
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:13word 4
“utterly useless”
Base, ignoble, or marked by an evil character.
A figurative Quranic epithet in 68:13, expressing recognizable baseness or bad character by analogy with a distinguishing appendage.
- Lane · entry 31731
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:13word 4
“utterly useless”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 68:13زَنِيمٍutterly useless
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 26 Classical meanings
تَزْنِيمٌ
Cutting a small portion from the ear of a camel or other animal and leaving it hanging; also the resulting mark or sign, including a particular mark made on camels.
A Form II verbal noun and substantive use referring both to the act of marking and to the mark itself.
- Lane · entry 31722
- Lane · entry 31735
تَزْنِيمٌ
Conjoining a person with a people or party to which he does not belong.
A Form II construction describing the act of attaching an outsider to a group.
- Lane · entry 31722
تَزْنِيمٌ
Sending an adversary to someone so that he may contend, dispute, or litigate with him.
Attested in the construction زَنَّمُوا إِلَيَّ هٰذَا الخَصْمُ.
- Lane · entry 31722
ازْنَمَ
Of a tree, to develop an excrescence resembling an animal's dangling appendage.
A Form IV intransitive use.
- Lane · entry 31723
زَنَمٌ
The projecting part behind a cloven hoof.
A lexical variant of زَلَمٌ.
- Lane · entry 31724
زَنِمٌ
A camel whose ear has had a portion cut away and left hanging.
The practice is especially associated with camels of generous or distinguished breed.
- Lane · entry 31725
زَنِمٌ
In the expression ضَائِنَةٌ زَنِمَةٌ, a ewe held in high estimation.
A figurative or exceptional usage explicitly presented as such in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 31725
زَنْمَةً
In the expression هُوَ العَبْدُ زَنْمَةً, describing someone as having the form or conformation of a slave; one reported interpretation takes the expression to mean “truly.”
An idiomatic expression with variant explanations in the classical evidence.
- Lane · entry 31726
زُنْمَةٌ
A certain leafless tree, or a tree excrescence resembling the dangling appendage of an animal.
The tree use is connected by likeness to the animal appendage.
- Lane · entry 31727
- Lane · entry 31728
زَنَمَةٌ
A cut portion of a camel's ear left hanging, or a fleshy wattle hanging beneath the ear of a sheep or goat.
A concrete anatomical or animal-marking term; the animal examples identify attested referents rather than a general semantic restriction.
- Lane · entry 31728
زَنَمَةٌ
A small projection of the human ear, including the antitragus or a nearby prominence.
An anatomical use referring to the paired projections beside the ear lobule.
- Lane · entry 31728
زَنَمَةٌ
A mark, sign, or token.
A figurative extension from an appendage or cut ear serving to distinguish an animal.
- Lane · entry 31728
زَنَمَةٌ
One of the two edges or cusps of an arrow's notch between which the bowstring is placed.
A technical archery term, also called شَرْخَا الفُوقِ.
- Lane · entry 31728
زَنَمَةٌ
A certain herb or leguminous plant resembling an ear appendage.
A rare plant name; the plant is described as growing in plains or soft ground.
- Lane · entry 31728
زُنَامٌ
A calamity, misfortune, or evil accident.
- Lane · entry 31730
زَنِيمٌ
Of a goat, and apparently also of a sheep, having two wattles or dangling appendages.
A concrete animal description, distinct from the Quranic figurative epithet.
- Lane · entry 31731
زَنِيمٌ
The son of an adulterous woman or a fornicator.
A classical figurative or genealogical usage, kept distinct from the Quran-attested senses.
- Lane · entry 31731
زَنِيمٌ
A commissioned agent, factor, or deputy.
- Lane · entry 31731
زَنِيمٌ
A lion, in the epithet الأَبَدُّ الزَّنِيمُ.
An idiomatic animal epithet.
- Lane · entry 31731
زُنَامِيٌّ
A type of flute or reed instrument.
The name is explained as deriving from the person associated with its invention; a vulgar variant is also reported.
- Lane · entry 31732
أَزْنَمُ
In الأَزْنَمُ الجَذَعُ, time or fortune to which trials are attached; according to another explanation, a hard or rigorous course.
A figurative expression with variant interpretations.
- Lane · entry 31733
أَزْنَمِيٌّ
A camel belonging to the group known as الأَزْنَمِيَّةُ, associated with a named tribal subdivision.
A tribal or genealogical nisbah.
- Lane · entry 31734
مُزَنَّمٌ
One attached or added to a people without belonging to them.
A derived form sharing the outsider sense of زَنِيمٌ in Quran-focused lexical discussion.
- Mufradāt · row 632
مُزَنَّمٌ
Small in body.
A classical descriptive use, compared with مُزَلَّمٌ.
- Lane · entry 31736
مُزَنَّمٌ
The young ones of camels.
A substantivized plural use reported in Classical Arabic.
- Lane · entry 31736
مُزَنَّمٌ
A particular stallion camel, or a camel described by this term in a poetic reading.
Attested in a variant reading of a line of poetry, with the form used adjectivally by poetic license.
- Lane · entry 31736
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quran has one occurrence of زَنِيمٌ, while the lexical evidence records several interpretations of the epithet, including attachment to a people and baseness of character.
The contextual rendering “utterly useless” is supporting context and is not treated as an independent lexical sense.