Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 28 in the Quran · 68 in 19 texts of the library

أبدPer Ibn Fāris: prolonged duration of time, paired with wildness/untamedness. (root bd)

الهمزة والباء والدال يدل بناؤها على طول المدة وعلى التوحش قالوا الأبد الدهر وجمعه آباد والعرب تقول أبد أبيد كما يقولون …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

أبد

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

The words of أ ب د that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

20 words3 verbs3 verbal nouns2 participles2 intensives and elatives7 other nouns1 plural2 relatives and abstracts

  • أَبَدthe time became long to Lubad, the last, and the longest of life, of Luk- …
  • أَبَدِيّeternal; infinite
  • أبّدَhe made, or rendered, perpetual
  • مُؤَبَّدmade, or rendered, perpetual
  • آبِدremaining, staying, abiding, or dwelling, constantly, continually, or …
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs3أَبَدَ · أبّدَ · تأبّدَ

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

Form I vowels: فَعَلَ يَفْعِلُ (a – i; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

Verbal nouns3أَبَد · أُبُود · تَأْبِيد

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

  • أَبَدthe time became long to Lubad, the last, and the longest of life, of Luk- …LaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×43LaneIbn Fāris
  • أُبُودForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • تَأْبِيدForm II · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles2مُؤَبَّد · مُتَأَبِّد

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • مُؤَبَّدmade, or rendered, perpetualLanepassive, Form IILane
  • مُتَأَبِّدactive, Form VLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative2أَبِيد · أَبُود

The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →

  • أَبِيدquality (faʿīl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَبُودintensive (faʿūl)Lane
Other nouns7آبِد · آبِدَة · أَبِد

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

  • آبِدremaining, staying, abiding, or dwelling, constantly, continually, or …LanenounLaneIbn Fāris
  • آبِدَةnounLaneIbn Fāris
  • أَبِدunsocial, unsociable, unfamiliar, or shyLanenounLaneIbn Fāris
  • أَبِدَةnounLaneIbn Fāris
Plurals1أَوَابِد

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

  • أَوَابِدbroken plural of آبِدَةLaneIbn Fāris
Relative and abstract2أَبَدِيّ · أَبَدِيَّة

-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →

  • أَبَدِيّeternal; infiniteautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×5Lane
  • أَبَدِيَّةthe quality, or attribute, of unlimited, indivisible, or endless, durationLaneabstract noun (-iyya)Lane

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 13 patterns does

What each pattern does. The pattern gives a tendency, not a rule: many words have drifted into meanings of their own.

The pattern machinePour the root into a pattern; see whether the word exists

Choose a pattern; the root's letters pour into it. Then see whether the word exists in our sources. The machine makes shapes; only usage makes words.

مَفْعَلَةأ ب دمَأْبَدَة

Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.

The grammarians on this pattern (4)

  • ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة

    Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)'

    Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس

    and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule

    Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
  • “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain

This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.

About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

The dictionaries

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Atānun abid (أتان أبد) [a she-ass called abid]: one that gives birth every year.

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    Atānun abid (أتان أبد) [a she-ass called abid]: one that gives birth every year. It is also said: al-ibd (الإبد) means wild animals. And it is said: ibilun abid (أبل أبد). There is no [verbal pattern] faʿula in the speech of the Arabs [for this root] except that someone might artificially coin a new word on the pattern faʿula and speak with it; as for what has genuinely come from the Arabs, that is what we have collected; and one says: ibil (إبل), khaṭaba (خطب), nakaḥa (نكح) [as parallel examples]. Ābād al-dahr (آباد الدهر): the long ages of time; al-abīd (الأبيد) is like al-ābād. Al-ābidah (الآبدة): a strange/rare expression [in speech], plural awābid (أوابد); and al-awābid [also] means: wild game animals. Taʾabbada fulān (تأبد فلان): his exile grew long. Taʾabbadat al-dār (تأبدت الدار): the house became empty of its inhabitants.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    وأتان أبد: في كل عام تلد «262» ، وقيل: الإبد الوحشية، ويقال: أبل «263» أبد، وليس في كلام العرب فعل إلا أن يتكلف متكلف فيبني كلمة محدثة على فعل فيتكلم بها، فأما ما جاء عن العرب فهو الذي جمعناه، ويقال: إبل وخطب ونكح. وآباد الدهر: طوال الدهر، والأبيد مثل الآباد. والآبدة: الغريبة من الكلام، والجميع أوابد، والأوابد: الوحش. وتأبد فلان: طالت غربته. وتأبدت الدار: خلت من أهلها.

    al-Khalīl · 170 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 8, p. 85) ↗
  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-abad (الأبد): time/eternity, plural ābād and abūd.

    al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.

    Al-abad (الأبد): time/eternity, plural ābād and abūd. It is said: abadun abīd (أبد أبيد), as one says dahrun dāhir. [One says:] 'I will never do it' — abada l-abīd, abada l-ābidīn, as one says dahra l-dāhirīn and ʿawḍa l-ʿāʾiḍīn. Al-abad also means: the permanent. Al-taʾbīd (التأبيد): making eternal. Abida bi-l-makān (أبد بالمكان), yaʾbidu, with kasra, abūdan: he settled there and remained. Abidat al-bahīmah (أبدت البهيمة), taʾbudu/taʾbidu: it became wild. Al-awābid: wild animals. Al-taʾbīd [in this reading]: becoming wild. Taʾabbada al-manzil: it became deserted and wild animals grew accustomed to it. 'Jāʾa fulānun bi-ābidah' (جاء فلان بآبدة): he came up with an extraordinary thing whose mention endures forever. Rare/stray rhyme-words [in poetry] are called awābid. Al-Farazdaq said: 'You will never attain my generosity despite your fathers' baseness, nor my rare verses (awābidī) through plagiarizing poems.' Abida al-rajul (أبد الرجل), with kasra: he became angry. Abida also: became wild, so he is [called] abid. Abū Dhuʾayb said: 'Then a swift she-camel became fertile after the completion of her thirst-interval, like a club, with her second calving being her first wild-born calf (abid)' — i.e. her first offspring had grown wild with her. Al-ibd (الإبد), on the pattern of al-ibil: a prolific female, whether slave-woman or she-ass. And their saying: 'Ill fortune will not be removed except by the fortune of the one possessed of al-ibd, who gives birth every single year' — here al-ibd means the slave-woman, since her fecundity is [really] a burden, not good fortune; i.e., she only increases in trouble.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأبد: الدهر، والجمع آباد وأبود. يقال أبد أبيد، كما يقال دهر داهر (1) . ولا أفعله أبد الا بيد، وأبد الآبدين كما يقال: دهر الداهرين، وعوض العائضين. والأبد أيضا: الدائم. والتأبيد: التخليد. وأبد بالمكان يأبد بالكسر أبودا، أي أقام به. وأبدت البهيمة تأبد وتأبد، أي توحشت. والأوابد: الوحوش. والتأبيد (2) : التوحش. وتأبد المنزل، أي أقفر وألفته الوحوش. وجاء فلان بآبدة، أي بداهية يبقى ذكرها على الأبد. ويقال للشوارد من القوافي، أوابد. قال الفرزدق: لن تدركوا كرمي بلؤم أبيكم * وأوابدي بتنحل الأشعار - وأبد الرجل، بالكسر: غضب. وأبد أيضا: توحش، فهو أبد. قال أبو ذؤيب: فافتن بعد تمام الظمء ناجية * مثل الهراوة ثنيا بكرها (1) - أبد أي ولدها الاول قد توحش معها. والابد، على وزن الابل الولود، من أمة أو أتان. وقولهم: ان يقلع الجد النكد * إلا بجد ذى الابد * في كل ما عام تلد * والابد ههنا: الامة: لان كونها ولودا حرمان وليس بجد، أي لا تزداد إلا شرا.

    al-Jawharī · 393 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 2, p. 439) ↗
  • Ibn Fāris · 395The hamza, bāʾ, and dāl — their construction indicates length of duration and wildness.

    Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).

    The hamza, bāʾ, and dāl — their construction indicates length of duration and wildness. They said: al-abad (الأبد) means time/eternity, and its plural is ābād (آباد). The Arabs say abadun abīd (أبد أبيد) just as they say dahrun dahīr (دهر دهير). Al-ubdah (الأبدة) is a deed that endures forever. Taʾabbada (تأبد) the camel means it became wild. In the hadith: 'Indeed these animals have wild strays (awābid) like the wild strays of game animals.' Taʾabbada al-manzil (تأبد المنزل) means the dwelling became empty/deserted. Labīd said: 'The dwelling places have been effaced, their site and their station... At Minā its ghawl and its rijām have become desolate (taʾabbada).' Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: al-ibd (الإبد) refers to a breeding female of property, like a female slave, a mare, or a she-ass, because they bear young (yaḍnaʾna) every year, i.e., give birth. It is said: taʾabbada wajhuhu (تأبد وجهه) means his face became blemished/freckled (kalifa).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الهمزة والباء والدال يدل بناؤها على طول المدة وعلى التوحش قالوا الأبد الدهر وجمعه آباد والعرب تقول أبد أبيد كما يقولون دهر دهير والأبدة الفعلة تبقى على الأبد وتأبد البعير توحش وفي الحديث ( إن هذه البهائم لها أوابد كأوابد الوحش ) وتأبد المنزل خلا قال لبيد — عفت الديار محلها فمقامها … بمنى تأبد غولها فرجامها … وقال ابن الأعرابي الإبد ذات النتاج من المال كالأمة والفرس والأتان لأنهن يضنأن في كل عام أي يلدن ويقال تأبد وجهه كلف

    Ibn Fāris · 395 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 34) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502God Most High said: 'abiding therein forever (abadan)' [al-Nisāʾ 4:122].

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    God Most High said: 'abiding therein forever (abadan)' [al-Nisāʾ 4:122]. Al-abad is an expression for the extended, indivisible span of time, unlike ordinary time which can be divided into parts — one says 'a time of such-and-such' but not 'an abad of such-and-such.' Properly it should not be dualized or pluralized, since another abad to join to it is inconceivable; yet ābād has been said, according to its being restricted in some of what it encompasses, like restricting a genus-noun to some instances, which is then dualized and pluralized — though some scholars noted that ābād is a post-classical coinage, not from the pure speech of the Arabs. It is also said: abadun ābid and abīd, meaning permanent, for emphasis. Taʾabbada al-shayʾ: it remained forever; used loosely for what remains a long time. Al-ābidah: the wild cow; al-awābid: wild female animals. Taʾabbada al-baʿīr: the camel became wild, becoming like the awābid. Taʾabbada wajhu fulān: his face became wild/harsh; and abida likewise, explained also as 'he became angry.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    قال تعالى: خالدين فيها أبدا [النساء/ 122] . الأبد: عبارة عن مدة الزمان الممتد الذي لا يتجزأ كما يتجرأ الزمان، وذلك أنه يقال: زمان كذا، ولا يقال: أبد كذا. وكان حقه ألا يثنى ولا يجمع إذ لا يتصور حصول أبد آخر يضم إليه فيثنى به، لكن قيل: آباد، وذلك على حسب تخصيصه في بعض ما يتناوله، كتخصيص اسم الجنس في بعضه، ثم يثنى ويجمع، على أنه ذكر بعض الناس أن آبادا مولد وليس من كلام العرب العرباء. وقيل: أبد آبد وأبيد أي: دائم «2» ، وذلك على التأكيد. وتأبد الشيء: بقي أبدا، ويعبر به عما يبقى مدة طويلة. والآبدة: البقرة الوحشية، والأوابد: الوحشيات، وتأبد البعير: توحش، فصار كالأوابد، وتأبد وجه فلان: توحش، وأبد كذلك، وقد فسر بغضب.

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 59) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Al-abad: time/eternity, plural ābād and abūd.

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Al-abad: time/eternity, plural ābād and abūd. In the hadith on the Hajj, Suraqah ibn Mālik said: 'Is this mutʿah of ours for this year only, or forever (li-l-abad)?' He replied: 'Rather, it is forever.' In another version: 'For this year, or forever?' He said: 'Rather, forever and ever (li-abadi abad).' In another: 'Rather, to the end of eternity (li-abadi l-abad),' i.e. to the end of time. Abadun abīd is like dahrun dahīr. [One says:] 'I will never do that' — abada l-abīd, abada l-ābād, abada l-dahr, abīda l-abīd, abada l-abadiyyah; and abada l-abadayn (أبد الأبدين) is not formed by relational suffixation (nisbah), for that would require al-abadiyyayn. Ibn Sīdah said: 'We have not heard this form'; he said: 'In my view it is the plural of al-abad with wāw and nūn, for emphasis/magnification, as they said arḍūn.' Their saying 'lā afʿaluhu abada l-ābidīn' is like 'dahra l-dāhirīn' and 'ʿawḍa l-ʿāʾiḍīn.' The proverb: 'ṭāla l-abadu ʿalā Labad' ('eternity grew long upon Labad') is applied to anything outdated. Al-abad: the permanent. Al-taʾbīd: making eternal. Abida bi-l-makān, yaʾbidu, kasra, abūdan: he settled there and did not leave. Abidat bihi, ābid, abūdan: likewise. Abidat al-bahīmah, taʾbudu/taʾbidu: became wild. Abidat al-waḥsh, taʾbudu/taʾbidu, abūdan, and taʾabbadat, taʾabbudan: became wild. Al-taʾabbud: becoming wild. Abida al-rajul, kasra: became wild, so he is abid. Abū Dhuʾayb said: 'Then a swift she-camel became fertile after the completion of her thirst-interval, like a club, with her second calving being her first wild-born calf (abid)' — meaning her first offspring had grown wild with her. Al-awābid and al-abid [collectively]: wild game; male ābid, female ābidah; said to be so named because of their enduring wildness forever. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: 'No wild animal ever dies a natural death; its death only comes by mishap — likewise the snake, as they claim.' ʿAdī ibn Zayd said: 'And [rain from] a cloud rich in lightning-flashes, with a morning shower, that nourishes wild mothers (awābid) whose foals (amhār) have already been weaned' — by amhār he means their foals; aflayna means: they reached the point their young grew and became independent. Al-abūd is like al-awābid. Sāʿidah ibn Juʾayyah said: 'I see that time does not spare, despite its passing events, any wild game (abūd) at the edges of al-Mathāʿid, tough as it is.' Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj said: 'We seized plundered camels, one bolted, a man shot it with an arrow and thereby detained it. The Messenger of God said: Indeed these camels have wild strays (awābid) like the wild strays of game; so if one escapes you, do with it thus.' Al-awābid is plural of ābidah — one that has grown wild and shied from people; hence a dwelling, once its people leave and wild animals take over, is said to have 'become wild' (taʾabbadat). Labīd said: 'At Minā its ghawl and its rijām have become desolate (taʾabbada).' Taʾabbada al-manzil: it became deserted and wild animals grew accustomed to it. In the hadith of Umm Zarʿ: 'So he brought me back, from every kind of grazing livestock, a pair, and from every wild stray (ābidah)...' [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأبد: الدهر، والجمع آباد وأبود؛ وفي حديث الحج قال سراقة بن مالك: أرأيت متعتنا هذه ألعامنا أم للأبد؟ فقال: بل هي للأبد ؛ وفي رواية: ألعامنا هذا أم لأبد؟ فقال: بل لأبد أبد؛ وفي أخرى: بل لأبد الأبد أي هي لآخر الدهر. وأبد أبيد: كقولهم دهر دهير. ولا أفعل ذلك أبد الأبيد وأبد الآباد وأبد الدهر وأبيد الأبيد وأبد الأبدية؛ وأبد الأبدين ليس على النسب لأنه لو كان كذلك لكانوا خلقاء أن يقولوا الأبديين؛ قال ابن سيده: ولم نسمعه؛ قال: وعندي أنه جمع الأبد بالواو والنون، على التشنيع والتعظيم كما قالوا أرضون، وقولهم لا أفعله أبد الآبدين كما تقول دهر الداهرين وعوض العائضين، وقالوا في المثل: طال الأبد على لبد؛ يضرب ذلك لكل ما قدم. والأبد: الدائم والتأبيد: التخليد. وأبد بالمكان يأبد، بالكسر، أبودا: أقام به ولم يبرحه. وأبدت به آبد أبودا؛ كذلك. وأبدت البهيمة تأبد وتأبد أي توحشت. وأبدت الوحش تأبد وتأبد أبودا وتأبدت تأبدا: توحشت. والتأبد: التوحش. وأبد الرجل، بالكسر: توحش، فهو أبد؛ قال أبو ذؤيب: فافتن، بعد تمام الظمء، ناجية، ... مثل الهراوة ثنيا، بكرها أبد أي ولدها الأول قد توحش معها. والأوابد والأبد: الوحش، الذكر آبد والأنثى آبدة، وقيل: سميت بذلك لبقائها على الأبد؛ قال الأصمعي: لم يمت وحشي حتف أنفه قط إنما موته عن آفة وكذلك الحية فيما زعموا؛ وقال عدي بن زيد: وذي تناوير ممعون، له صبح، ... يغذو أوابد قد أفلين أمهارا يعني بالأمهار جحاشها. وأفلين: صرن إلى أن كبر أولادهن واستغنت عن الأمهات. والأبود: كالأوابد؛ قال ساعدة بن جؤية: أرى الدهر لا يبقى، على حدثانه، ... أبود بأطراف المثاعد جلعد قال رافع بن خديج: أصبنا نهب إبل فند منها بعير فرماه رجل بسهم فحبسه، فقال رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم: إن لهذه الإبل أوابد كأوابد الوحش، فإذا غلبكم منها شيء فافعلوا به هكذا ؛ الأوابد جمع آبدة؛ وهي التي قد توحشت ونفرت من الإنس؛ ومنه قيل للدار إذا خلا منها أهلها وخلفتهم الوحش بها؛ قد تأبدت؛ قال لبيد: بمنى، تأبد غولها فرجامها وتأبد المنزل أي أقفر وألفته الوحوش. وفي حديث أم زرع: فأراح علي من كل سائمة زوجين، ومن كل آبدة اثنتين ؛ تريد أنواعا من ضروب الوحش؛ ومنه قولهم: جاء بآبدة أي بأمر عظيم ينفر منه ويستوحش. وتأبدت الدار: خلت من أهلها وصار فيها الوحش ترعاه. وأتان أبد: وحشية. والآبدة: الداهية تبقى على الأبد. والآبدة: الكلمة أو الفعلة الغريبة. وجاء فلان بآبدة أي بداهية يبقى ذكرها على الأبد. ويقال للشوارد من القوافي أوابد؛ قال الفرزدق: لن تدركوا كرمي بلؤم أبيكم، ... وأوابدي بتنحل الأشعار ويقال للكلمة الوحشية: آبدة، وجمعها الأوابد. ويقال للطير المقيمة بأرض شتاءها وصيفها: أوابد من أبد بالمكان يأبد فهو آبد، فإذا كانت تقطع في أوقاتها فهي قواطع، والأوابد ضد القواطع من الطير. وأتان أبد: في كل عام تلد. قال: وليس في كلام العرب فعل إلا أبد وأبل وبلح ونكح وخطب إلا أن يتكلف متكلف فيبنى على هذه الأحرف ما لم يسمع عن العرب؛ ابن شميل: الأبد الأتان تلد كل عام؛ قال أبو منصور: أبل وأبد مسموعان، وأما نكح وخطب فما سمعتهما ولا حفظتهما عن ثقة ولكن يقال نكح وخطب. وقال أبو مالك: ناقة أبدة إذا كانت ولودا، قيد جميع ذلك بفتح الهمزة؛ قال الأزهري: وأحسبهما لغتين أبد وإبد. الجوهري: الإبد على وزن الإبل الولود من أمة أو أتان؛ وقولهم: لن يقلع الجد النكد، ... إلا بجد ذي الإبد، في كل ما عام تلد والإبد هاهنا: الأمة لأن كونها ولودا حرمان وليس بجد أي لا تزداد إلا شرا. والإبد: الجوارح من المال، وهي الأمة والفرس الأنثى والأتان ينتجن في كل عام. وقالوا: لن يبلغ الجد النكد، إلا الإبد، في كل عام تلد؛ يقول: لن يصل إليه فيذهب بنكده إلا المال الذي يكون منه المال. ويقال: وقف فلان أرضه وقفا مؤبدا إذا جعلها حبيسا لا تباع ولا تورث. وقال عبيد بن عمير: الدنيا أمد والآخرة أبد. وأبد عليه أبدا: غضب كعبد وأمد ووبد وومد عبدا وأمدا ووبدا وومدا. وأبيدة: موضع؛ قال: فما أبيدة من أرض فأسكنها، ... وإن تجاور فيها الماء والشجر ومأبد: موضع؛ قال ابن سيده: وعندي أنه مابد على فاعل، وستذكره في مبد. والأبيد: نبات مثل زرع الشعير سواء وله سنبلة كسنبلة الدخنة فيها حب صغير أصغر من الخردل وهي مسمنة للمال جدا.

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 3, p. 68) ↗
  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    أَبَدَ

    1. أَبَدَ, aor. اَبِدَ , inf. n. أُبُودٌ, He remained, stayed, abode, or dwelt, (T, S, M, K,) constantly, continually, or permanently, without quitting, (T, L,) بِمَكَانٍ in a place; (T, S, M, K;) and so أَبَدَ having for its aor. اَبُدَ . (TA.) أَبَدَ, (S, M, A, &c.,) aor. اَبِدَ and اَبُدَ , (T, S, M, L, Msb, K,) inf. n. أُبُودٌ; (M, L, Msb;) and تأبّد; (T, M, A, Mgh, L;) He (a beast) became wild, or sky; syn. تَوَحَّشَ: (S, M, A, Mgh, L, Msb, K:) [because wild animals live long, unless killed by accident; accord. to what is said by As and others in explanation of أوَابِدٌ (sing. آبِدَةٌ) applied to animals, as meaning wild:] took fright, and fled, or ran away at random: (Mgh:) took fright at, and shunned, mankind. (T, Msb.) أُبُودٌ also signifies The shrinking from a thing, or shunning it; syn. نُفُورٌ. (Kull pp. 30 and 31.) And أَبِدَ, (S, K,) aor. اَبَدَ ; (K;) and تأبّد; (A, K;) He (a man, S, A,) became unsocial, unsociable, unfamiliar, or sky; like a wild animal; syn. توحّش. (S, A, K.) [Hence,] أَبَدَ, (K,) aor. اَبِدَ , inf. n. أُبُودٌ, (TA,) (tropical:) He (a poet) made use, in his verses, of words, or phrases, strange, unusual, unfamiliar, or far from being intelligible, (K, * TA,) such as were not understood (K) at first sight, or on first consideration. (TA.) [And perhaps from أَبِدَ in the sense explained above, but more probably, I think, by the substitution of أ for و,] أَبِدَ, aor, اَبَدَ , (T, S, &c.,) inf. n. أَبَدٌ, (L,) He (a man, S) was angry; (T, S, M, L, K;) as also أَمِدَ and وَبِدَ and وَمِدَ and عَبِدَ. (T, L.) You say, أَبِدَ عَلَيْهِ He was angry with him. (L.)

    أبّد

    2. أبّد, inf. n. تَأْبِيدٌ, He made, or rendered, perpetual. (S, K.) [See also the pass. part. n. below.] لَمْ أَفْعَلْ تَأْبِيدًا is a phrase used as though meaning لَمْ آتِ بِآبِدَةٍ [I did not a deed ever to be remembered, or mentioned]. (Ham p. 191.) He, or it, made [a beast] to take fright; to become wild, or sky. (KL.)

    تأبّد

    5. تأبّد: see 1, in two places. He (a man) was long distant from his home; expl. by طَالَتْ غُرْبَتُهُ; (K;) or was long in a state of celibacy; طالت عُزْبَتُهُ, as in one copy of the K; (TA;) and became little in need, or little desirous, of women. (K.) It (a place of abode or sojourning) became deserted [by mankind]: (T, M, K:) and became inhabited by wild animals. (T, M, A.)

    إِبْدٌ

    إِبْدٌ: see إِبِدٌ

    أَبَدٌ

    أَبَدٌ Time, syn. دَهْرٌ, (S, M, Msb, K,) in an absolute sense: (TA:) or a long time, syn. دَهْرٌ طَوِيلٌ: (A, and Mgh: [and this may be meant in the S &c. by the syn. دَهْرٌ alone, q. v.:]) or, properly, a long time (دهر طويل) that is unlimited: (Msb, TA:) or an extended space of time that is indivisible; for you say زَمَانُ كَذَا: “ the time of such a thing,” but not أَبَدُ كَذَا: (Er-Rághib:) [and generally, time, or duration, or continuance, or existence, without end; endless time, &c.; prospective eternity; opposed to أَزَلٌ, which signifies “ time, or duration, &c., without beginning: ” (see the latter word for further explanations, &c.:) each of these significations may be meant by the explanation in the S and M and K, which is also given in the Msb: each correctly applies in particular instances:] pl. [of pauc.] آبَادٌ (S, M, Msb, K) and [of mult.] أُبُودٌ (S, M, K) [and أَبَدُونَ, of which an ex. will be found below]: but the use of these pls. is restricted to particular cases, to signify portions of time, or to serve as corroboratives to the sing.: (MF:) as signifying an extended indivisible space of time, [or the like,] أَبَدٌ should have neither dual nor pl.; but آبَادٌ is sometimes said, when the sing. is restricted to denote a particular part, or portion, of the whole of that to which it applies, in like manner as a generic noun is restricted to a special and partial signification: some, however, have mentioned آبَادٌ as being post-classical; not of the language of the Arabs called العَرَبُ العَرْبَآءُ. (Er-Rághib.) طَالَ الأَبَدْ عَلَى لُبَدْ [The time became long to Lubad, the last, and the longest of life, of Luk- mán's seven vultures, to the term of the life of which his own term of life was decreed to extend,] is a proverb applied to any thing that has been of long duration. (M.) And you say, رَزَقَكَ ٱللّٰهُ عُمُرًا طَوِيلَ الآبَادِ بَعِيدَ الآمَادِ [May God grant thee a life long in duration (lit. durations, the pl. form being used not in its proper sense, but to give intensiveness of signification), and remote in limit (lit. limits)]. (A.) And كَانَ هٰذَا فِى آبَادِ الدَّهْرِ This was a long time ago. (Mgh.) And أَبَدٌ آبِدٌ (TA) and أَبَدٌ أَبِيدٌ, (S, M, TA,) meaning دَائِمٌ [in an intensive sense]; (TA;) [A long, or an endless, period of time;] like as you say, دَهْرٌ دَاهِرٌ (S) or دَهْرٌ دَهِيرٌ. (M.) [In each of these phrases, the latter word is added as a corroborative, or to give intensiveness to the signification.] لِلْأَبِدَ and لِأَبِدٍ and [in an intensive sense, as will be seen below,] لِأَبِدَ أَبَدٍ and لِأَبَدِ الأَبَدِ, accord. to different recitals of a trad., signify To the end of time; for ever; and for ever and ever. (TA.) أَبَدًا is an adv. n., of which the signification includes all future time; [meaning Ever; like قَطُّ in relation to past time;] (El-Khafájee, El-Bedr Ed-Demámeenee, MF;) and عَلَى الأَبَدِ signifies the same. (TA.) [So, too, does الأَبَدَ, unless used in a limited sense known to the hearer.] When you say, لَا أُكَلِّمُهُ أَبَدًا, you mean, [I will not speak to him as long as I live, or henceforth, or ever; or I will never speak to him; i. e.,] from the time of your speaking to the end of your life. (Msb.) [In this case, أَبَدًا may also be considered as a mere corroborative. It is used in both these ways (للتَّأْسِيسِ and لِلتَّوْكِيدِ) in affirmative as well as negative sentences. For exs. of its use in affirmative sentences, see the Kur xviii. 2 and iv. 60, &c.] One also says, لَا أَفْعَلُهُ, (S, M, A,) and لَا آتِيهِ, (T, K,) أَبَدَ الآبَادِ, (T, M, A, K,) which, though of classical authority, is said to be no evidence of the use of آباد as a pl. of أَبَدٌ in a general way by the Arabs of the classical ages, as it is here added merely as a corroborative, as آزال is in the phrase أَزَلَ الآزَالِ; (MF;) and أَبَدَ الأَبَدِينَ, (M, A, K,) in which the latter word is not a rel. n., for if so it would be الأَبَدِيِّينَ, but app. a pl., (M,) like أَرَضُونَ; (M, K;) and أَبَدَ الآبِدِينَ, (S, K,) like as you say, دَهْرَ الآبِدِينَ; (S;) and أَبَدَ الأَبَدِيَّةِ; (M, K;) and أَبَدَ الأَبِيدِ; (T, S, M, A, K;) and أَبِيدَ الأَبِيدِ; (M, K;) and أَبَدَ الأَبَدِ; (K;) and أَبَدَ الدَّهْرِ; (M, K; [in the T يَدَ الدَّهْرِ;]) all of which phrases are the same in meaning; (K;) [i. e. I will not do it, and I will not come to him, (or لا آتيه may here mean the same as لا افعله,) during the endless space of all future times, or time; or the like; or for ever and ever; εἰς αἰῶνα τῶν αἰώνων???; in seculum seculorum; in omne ævum;] the last word in every case being a corroborative. (MF.) Also, [for ذُو أَبَدٍ, and (applied to a fem. n.) ذَاتُ أَبَدٍ,] Lasting: or everlasting. (S, A, K.) So in the saying, الدُّنيَاء أَمَدٌ وَالآخِرَةُ أَبَدٌ [The present state of existence is limited in duration, but the final state of existence is everlasting]. ('Obeyd Ibn-'Omeyr and L.) And الأَبَدُ signifies [The Everlasting; i. e. God; because He alone is البَاقِى الأَبَدِيّ The Enduring without end or cessation; for the Muslims hold that all living creatures (even the angels) must die, and be raised again to life: or] The Ancient without beginning. (K.) Also Offspring that is a year old. (K.)

    أَبِدٌ

    أَبِدٌ Unsocial, unsociable, unfamiliar, or shy; like a wild animal; applied to a man, and to a young camel: (S, L:) and إِبِدٌ, applied to a female slave, and to a she-ass, signifies shunning mankind, shy, or wild. (K.) [See also آبِدٌ.] See also إِبِدٌ, in four places.

    إِبِدٌ

    إِبِدٌ: see أَبِدٌ. This word, (Lth, ISh, S, K,) said by Lth and ISh to be the only word of its measure heard from the Arabs except إِبِلٌ and نِكِحٌ and خِطِبٌ, but Az says that he had not heard the last two from any person worthy of reliance, and that they are pronounced نِكْحٌ and خِطْبٌ, (L,) [see إِبِلٌ,] and أَبِدٌ and إِبْدٌ, (K,) which are thought by Az to be dial. vars. of the first, (L,) applied to a female slave, and to a she-ass, signify Prolific; that breeds, or brings forth, plentifully; (S, K;) and أَبِدٌ and أَبِدَةٌ (Aboo-Málik, TA) and إِبِدَةٌ, (Aboo-Málik, K,) applied to a she-camel, signify the same: (Aboo-Málik, K, TA:) and إِبِدٌ (Lth, ISh, L) and أَبِدٌ, (M, L,) applied to a female slave, (M, L,) and to a she-ass, (Lth, ISh, M, L,) and to a mare, (M, L,) that brings forth every year; (Lth, ISh, L;) or applied as a pl. to the female slave and the mare and the she-ass, that breed, or bring forth: (M, L:) and الإِبِدَانِ the female slave and the mare. (K, TA.) In the following saying, [Hard fortune will not depart save with the fortune which is the necessary attendant of the possessor of the female slave, as long as he possesses her, (or, if we take ذى in the sense of هٰذِهِ, save with the fortune of this female slave,) who every year (ما being redundant) brings forth,] الابد means the female slave because her being prolific is an obstacle to prosperity, and is not good fortune; i. e., she only increases evil [and brings reproach upon her master by bearing him children; for the Arab in ancient times was considered as dishonoured by his having a child by a slave]. (S.) The Arabs also said, لَنْ يَبْلُغَ الجَدَّ النَّكِدْ الاَّ الأَبِدْ, meaning Nothing will attain to the object of removing hard fortune save female slaves and beasts or cattle which breed, or bring forth. (M, L: [in the latter of which is added, فِى كُلِّ عَامٍ تَلِدْ in every year bringing forth.])

    أَبِدَةٌ

    أَبِدَةٌ: see إِبِدٌ.

    إِبِدَةٌ

    إِبِدَةٌ: see إِبِدٌ.

    أَبَدِىٌّ

    أَبَدِىٌّ: see أَبَدٌ, last sentence but one.

    أَبَدِيَّةٌ

    أَبَدِيَّةٌ [The quality, or attribute, of unlimited, indivisible, or endless, duration; everlastingness]. (M, K.) See أَبَدٌ. أَبَدِيَّاتٌ a term applied to Sayings of which the following is an ex.: لَا آتِيكَ مَا بَلَّ بَحْرٌ صُوفَةً. (M in art. صوف [q. v.]; &c.)

    أَبُودٌ

    أَبُودٌ: see آبِدٌ.

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Look this root up elsewhere:Doha Historical Dictionary ↗Quranic Arabic Corpus ↗Arabic Almanac ↗Hawramani Arabic Lexicon ↗

The same letters, turned

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

أ ب د

الهمزة والباء والدال يدل بناؤها على طول المدة وعلى التوحش قالوا الأبد الدهر وجمعه آباد والعرب تقول أبد أبيد كما يقولون دهر دهير والأبدة الفعلة تبقى على الأبد وتأبد البعير توحش وفي الحديث ( إن هذه البهائم لها أوابد كأوابد …

ʾ-b-d: its structure denotes length of time and wildness; they said "al-abad" is time, and its plural is "ābād"; and the Arabs say "abad abīd" as they say "dahr dahīr"; "al-abada" is the deed that remains forever; "taʾabbada al-baʿīr": the camel became wild; and in the hadith: "inna hādhihi al-bahāʾim lahā awābid ka-awābid..."...

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×28

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

Reference

About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary

al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).

A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).

Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).

Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.

Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.

The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).

The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.

Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 6 of 643

Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.

Letters & sound

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.

Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)

16 more

Reference

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فأقصاها مخرجا: الهمزة والهاء والألف

The furthest of them [the three in the throat] in place: the hamza, the hāʾ and the alif. Sībawayh, line 26548 ↗

فأولها من أسفله وأقصاه، مخرج الهمزة والألف والهاء، هكذا يقول سيبويه

The first of them [in the throat], from its lowest and furthest part, is the place of the hamza, the alif and the hāʾ: so Sībawayh says. Ibn Jinnī, line 965 ↗

ب

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗

د

ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا مخرج الطاء، والدال، والتاء

From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26559 ↗

ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا، مخرج الطاء والدال والتاء

From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 982 ↗

Sībawayh, al-Kitāb (ed. Hārūn) and Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb; OpenITI digital texts (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Full credits on each letter's page.

In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

Nature (ch. 2)

وإلا الهاء والهمزة فإنهما باردتان رطبتان

And except hāʾ and hamza, for these two are cold and moist.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2583

ب

Level of existence: الجن · the jinn

Divine Name: اللطيف · al-Laṭīf, the Subtle

Lunar mansion: الفرع المقدم · al-Farʿ al-Muqaddam

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62118

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

Nature (ch. 2)

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582

د

Level of existence: السماء الدنيا · the lowest heaven (al-samāʾ al-dunyā)

Divine Name: المبين · the Clarifier (al-Mubīn)

Lunar mansion: الأكليل · al-Iklīl

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64682

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

Nature (ch. 2)

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى جميع الأشياء قلت أو كثرت، وتكون الإشارة في بعض الأحيان من المتكلم إلى ذاته ونفسه، وهذه الإشارة سالمة من القبض.

It is an indication of all things, whether few or many. At times the indication is from the speaker to his own essence and self, and this indication is free of contraction (qabḍ).

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب القليل.

It is an indication of the near, small thing.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب المناسب.

It is an indication of the near, fitting (congruent) thing.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ب

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي هو في غاية العز أو في غاية الذل.

It is an indication of the thing that is at the utmost of might or at the utmost of abasement.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة معها قبض.

It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى ما دخل أو هو داخل على الذات.

It is an indication of what has entered, or is entering, upon the self.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

د

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى خارج عن الذات.

It is an indication of something external to the self.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى ما هو قليل أو قبيح ومعه غضب فيهما.

It is an indication of what is small or ugly, accompanied by anger in both cases.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى ما في الذات أو إلى ما هو داخل عليها أو إلى ما هو قريب منها.

It is an indication of what is in the self, or what is entering upon it, or what is near to it.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
In the sister scriptsHebrew א ב דSyriac ܐ ܒ ܕ
Arabicأ ب د
Hebrewא ב ד
Syriacܐ ܒ ܕ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩨 𐩵
Phoenician𐤀 𐤁 𐤃

Letter for letter, by the regular sound correspondences of the Semitic languages (Arabic keeps several sounds the others merged). This shows how the root would be spelled; whether a related word exists is a separate question, answered in the Semitic lens. Where an Arabic sibilant (s, sh) continues two older sounds, both spellings are shown.

Lenses

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl (al-ʿAyn) already gives both poles together: the wild/breeding sense (atān abid) and tāʾabbud, a dwelling emptied of people and taken over by wild animals.well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    Al-Khalīl (al-ʿAyn) already gives both poles together: the wild/breeding sense (atān abid) and tāʾabbud, a dwelling emptied of people and taken over by wild animals. Al-Jawharī (Ṣiḥāḥ) fixes abad as dahr (time/eternity), plural ābād/ubūd, with intensified formulas like 'abad al-ābidīn' parallel to 'dahr al-dāhirīn,' while keeping tabaʾʾud as a beast's wildness. Ibn Fāris (Maqāyīs) states the governing bond explicitly: one root covers ṭūl al-mudda and tawaḥḥush, because an untouched place, left to abide without human company, reverts to wildness. Al-Rāghib (Mufradāt) sharpens the grammatical-philosophical point that abad, unlike zamān, names an undivided stretch of time and should properly resist dualization or plural, though he notes ābād as a later usage some consider postclassical. Ibn Manẓūr (Lisān) and Lane mainly consolidate this material, preserving the ḥajj-tamattuʿ ḥadīth ('li'l-abad') and Ibn Sīda's remark that 'abad al-ābidīn' is a plural of amplification rather than a true nisba plural.

    Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan · Lane

    • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, root ʾ-b-d
    • Lane's Lexicon, أبد
    • Wiktionary Arabic root appendix (link not verified)
  • Letters & soundNo entry is given for hamza in either scheme, so this letter is left without data here.speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    No entry is given for hamza in either scheme, so this letter is left without data here. For bāʾ, al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-gloss reads it as marking 'the utmost of might or the utmost of abasement,' and Ibn ʿArabī's Breath-correspondence assigns it to the jinn - both notions of an extremity, which a sound-symbolist might connect to abad's sense of time reaching a terminus beyond which nothing further follows. For dāl, al-Dabbāgh reads it as indicating 'something external to the self,' matching Ibn ʿArabī's assignment of dāl to the lowest heaven, which could be pressed toward the beast's tawaḥḥush - a moving outside, external to human company. This remains suggestive association only; mainstream historical linguistics does not treat individual Arabic phonemes as carrying stable independent meaning.

    Draws on: dabbagh_fatha · akbari198

  • Root structureIbn Fāris's own permutation survey of the three letters ʾ-b-d shows four attested Arabic roots: أبد (this root, duration/wildness), أدب (gathering people to food, hence hospitality and later 'adab'), بدأ (initiating, beginning something), and دأب (settled habit, constant application);plausible

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    Ibn Fāris's own permutation survey of the three letters ʾ-b-d shows four attested Arabic roots: أبد (this root, duration/wildness), أدب (gathering people to food, hence hospitality and later 'adab'), بدأ (initiating, beginning something), and دأب (settled habit, constant application); بأد and دبأ are not attested. Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar) would note, as a juxtaposition rather than a proven derivation, that these four permutations circle one idea-cluster: what begins (بدأ), becomes habitual (دأب), is civilized into custom (أدب), or persists altogether outside that circle, untouched (أبد).

    Draws on: permutations · ibnJinni

    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, chapter on al-ishtiqāq al-akbar (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsArabic ʾ-b-d (duration, permanence) sits beside the well-attested Northwest Semitic root ʾ-b-d meaning 'to perish, be lost' (Hebrew אבד, Aramaic/Syriac ʾbd, and the related Akkadian abātu 'to destroy');plausible

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    Arabic ʾ-b-d (duration, permanence) sits beside the well-attested Northwest Semitic root ʾ-b-d meaning 'to perish, be lost' (Hebrew אבד, Aramaic/Syriac ʾbd, and the related Akkadian abātu 'to destroy'); the three consonants match exactly though the sense is nearly reversed. Comparative Semitists generally treat this as one inherited root with a semantic split rather than an accidental match, the Arabic branch narrowing toward 'what remains, persists' while the West Semitic branch kept the pole of 'coming to an end.' No loanword scenario applies; this is inherited Semitic vocabulary.

    Draws on: comparative

  • Quranic exegesisAlmost all 28 Quranic occurrences are the adverb abadan closing khālidīna fīhā abadan, applied to both Paradise (4:57) and the Fire, and to the People of the Book's refusal to wish for death (2:95).plausible

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    Almost all 28 Quranic occurrences are the adverb abadan closing khālidīna fīhā abadan, applied to both Paradise (4:57) and the Fire, and to the People of the Book's refusal to wish for death (2:95). Al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī read abadan as removing ambiguity from khālidīn, blocking any reading of eternal dwelling as merely a very long finite period. Al-Rāzī takes up the theological stakes of abadan applied to punishment in the Fire, a point of dispute in later debates over whether hell's torment is strictly unending. Al-Rāghib's lexical claim that abad denotes an undivided stretch of time (given above) is the basis exegetes use to argue that abadan intensifies rather than merely repeats khālidīn.

    Draws on: quran · tafsir-paraphrase

  • Philosophy & kalāmAbad is not itself a primary kalām term like wujūd, but it forms a standard technical pair with azal: azalī (without beginning) and abadī (without end) became the shorthand for describing God's eternity a parte ante and a parte post.plausible

    The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

    Abad is not itself a primary kalām term like wujūd, but it forms a standard technical pair with azal: azalī (without beginning) and abadī (without end) became the shorthand for describing God's eternity a parte ante and a parte post. Mutakallimūn used this pair to distinguish God's necessary, unconditioned eternity from the contingent temporality of created things, and later thinkers debated whether abadiyya could also properly be predicated of the soul or of Paradise/Hell.

    Draws on: kalam-pair

  • Akbarian readingThe Faṣṣ Ādam passages pair abadī with ḥādith in describing the human being as 'the originated-eternal formation' (al-nashʾ al-dāʾim al-abadī) - a formula central to Ibn ʿArabī's claim that the Perfect Man unites the temporal pole of ḥudūth and the eternal pole of abad, which elsewhere stand opposed.well attested

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    The Faṣṣ Ādam passages pair abadī with ḥādith in describing the human being as 'the originated-eternal formation' (al-nashʾ al-dāʾim al-abadī) - a formula central to Ibn ʿArabī's claim that the Perfect Man unites the temporal pole of ḥudūth and the eternal pole of abad, which elsewhere stand opposed. A second passage speaks of an 'eternal sealing' (khatman abadiyyan) placed upon the storehouse of the Hereafter, using abad to mark the finality/closure of a cosmic dispensation rather than mere endless repetition. A third passage uses abadan as an absolute negator: nothing but God's own essential necessity (al-wujūb al-dhātī) belonging to His existence can ever be grasped by unveiling and witnessing, so the Real remains, from this aspect, permanently unknown by direct tasting.

    Draws on: fassAdam

Reference

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out