الوَزْن وَالمِيزَان الصَّرْفِيّPatterns: weighing a word
al-wazn
Take any word, find its root letters, and replace them with ف ع ل in order: كَاتِب → فَاعِل, مَكْتُوب → مَفْعُول, اِسْتَخْلَفَ → اِسْتَفْعَلَ. The pattern tells you what kind of word it is (a doer, a thing done, a place, an intensive) before you know the root; the root tells you what it is about. Every word card in the reader now shows the pattern. For roots with weak letters we show the regular pattern and mark it as such. AI
The words behind the terms
وَزْنpatternwazn
Root و ز ن · weighing; a weight
A word is 'weighed' against the model root f-ʿ-l: its root letters are replaced by fāʾ, ʿayn and lām, and everything else stays.
فَعَلَthe model rootfaʿala
Root ف ع ل · to do
The grammarians chose the root meaning 'to do' as the measure of all words.
In the texts (1041 occurrences; 24 distinct shown)
- ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِفَعْلَانرحمQuran 1:1:3
- ٱلرَّحِيمِفَعِيلرحمQuran 1:1:4
- ٱلْحَمْدُفَعْلحمدQuran 1:2:1
- ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَفَاعَلِينعلمQuran 1:2:4
- مَـٰلِكِفَاعِلملكQuran 1:4:1 · active participle · Form I
- يَوْمِفَعْليومQuran 1:4:2
18 more
- ٱلدِّينِفِعلدينQuran 1:4:3
- نَعْبُدُفَعَلَعبدQuran 1:5:2 · Form I
- نَسْتَعِينُاِسْتَفْعَلَعونQuran 1:5:4 · Form X
- ٱهْدِنَافَعَلهديQuran 1:6:1 · Form I
- ٱلصِّرَٰطَفِعَالصرطQuran 1:6:2
- ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَمُسْتَفْعِلقومQuran 1:6:3 · active participle · Form X
- صِرَٰطَفِعَالصرطQuran 1:7:1
- أَنْعَمْتَأَفْعَلَنعمQuran 1:7:3 · Form IV
- غَيْرِفَعْلغيرQuran 1:7:5
- ٱلْمَغْضُوبِمَفْعُولغضبQuran 1:7:6 · passive participle · Form I
- شَاءَفعلشيأFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · Form I
- سُبْحَانَهُفُعْلانسبحFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · intensive adjective (faʿlān)
- الحُسْنَىأَفْعَلحسنFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · elative / colour adjective
- يَبْلُغُهَافَعَلبلغFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · Form I
- يَرَىفَعَلرأيFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · Form I
- أَعْيَانَهَاأَفْعالعينFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1
- شِئْتَفعلشيأFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · Form I
- قُلْتَفعلقولFaṣṣ Ādam ¶1 · Form I
Reference
In the classics2 books · disputed · definitions
- The AlfiyyaIbn MālikMorphology (at-Taṣrīf) (vv. 915–937)The Patterns of Verbal Nouns (Maṣdars) (vv. 440–456)The Patterns of Active Participles, Passive Participles, and the Adjectives Resembling Them (vv. 457–466)with Ibn ʿAqīl's commentary under each verse
- al-ShāfiyaIbn al-ḤājibThe morphological scale (fāʾ, ʿayn, lām)Kinds of word patterns: triliteral, quadriliteral, quinqueliteral rootsPatterns of the unaugmented triliteral nounPatterns of the augmented noun
- DisputedIbn al-Anbārī, al-Inṣāf
What is the pattern of insān (‘human’), and where does it come from?Kufa: ifʿān, from nisyān, ‘forgetting’ · Basra: fiʿlān, from ins, ‘humankind’ (‘being seen’, or ‘being at home with’) · he sides with Basra
Question 117: مسألة وزن إنسان وأصل اشتقاقه
ذهب الكوفيون إلى أن إنسان وزنه إفعان
KufaThe Kufans held that insān is on the pattern ifʿān. al-Inṣāf, line 8888 (vol. 2, p. 809) ↗
وذهب البصريون إلى أن وزنه فعلان
BasraThe Basrans held that its pattern is fiʿlān. al-Inṣāf, line 8888 (vol. 2, p. 809) ↗
لأن الأصل في إنسان إنسيان على إفعلان من النسيان
[The Kufans:] because insān was originally insiyān, on the pattern ifʿilān, from nisyān, forgetting. al-Inṣāf, lines 8890–8891 (vol. 2, p. 809) ↗
لأن إنسان مأخوذ من الإنس وسمى الإنس إنسا لظهورهم كما سمى الجن جنا لاجتنانهم أى استتارهم
[The Basrans:] because insān is taken from ins; humankind is called ins because they are seen, as the jinn are called jinn because they are hidden. al-Inṣāf, lines 8903–8905 (vol. 2, p. 811) ↗
VerdictHe gives the Basran proofs, then answers the Kufans’ arguments one by one; that is how he sides with Basra:
وأما الجواب عن كلمات الكوفيين
As for the answer to the Kufans' arguments… al-Inṣāf, line 8911 (vol. 2, p. 812) ↗
English: AI translation AI The summary lines are ours.
Ibn al-Anbārī (d. 577/1181), al-Inṣāf fī masāʾil al-khilāf bayna al-naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn wa-l-Kūfiyyīn, ed. Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr; year not recorded by OpenITI). Digital text: 0577AbuBarakatAnbari.InsafFiMasail.JK001424-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
What is the pattern of ashyāʾ (‘things’)?Kufa: afʿāʾ, from afʿilāʾ · Basra: lafʿāʾ, from faʿlāʾ (the hamza moved to the front) · he sides with Basra
Question 118: مسألة وزن أشياء
ذهب الكوفيون إلى أن أشياء وزنه أفعاء والأصل أفعلاء
KufaThe Kufans held that ashyāʾ is on the pattern afʿāʾ, originally afʿilāʾ. al-Inṣāf, line 8923 (vol. 2, p. 812) ↗
وذهب البصريون إلى أن وزنه لفعاء والأصل فعلاء
BasraThe Basrans held that its pattern is lafʿāʾ, originally faʿlāʾ. al-Inṣāf, line 8925 (vol. 2, p. 813) ↗
VerdictHe gives the Basran proofs, then answers the Kufans’ arguments one by one; that is how he sides with Basra:
وأما الجواب عن كلمات الكوفيين
As for the answer to the Kufans' arguments… al-Inṣāf, line 9006 (vol. 2, p. 818) ↗
al-Akhfash, a Basran, sided with Kufa; some Kufans said afʿāl.
English: AI translation AI The summary lines are ours.
Ibn al-Anbārī (d. 577/1181), al-Inṣāf fī masāʾil al-khilāf bayna al-naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn wa-l-Kūfiyyīn, ed. Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr; year not recorded by OpenITI). Digital text: 0577AbuBarakatAnbari.InsafFiMasail.JK001424-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt · 2 definitions
الثلاثي: ما كان ماضيه على ثلاثة أحرف أصول.
The triliteral [al-thulāthī]: that whose past tense consists of three radical letters. AI
OpenITI · Taʿrīfāt, line 1472الرباعي: ما كان ماضيه على أربعة أحرف أصول.
The quadriliteral [al-rubāʿī]: that whose past tense consists of four radical letters. AI
OpenITI · Taʿrīfāt, line 2215
Arabic texts from OpenITI (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); English titles and translations are AI. All the classics →