Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 85 in the Quran · 175 in 26 texts of the library

أحدIbn Fāris classes ʾ-ḥ-d as secondary and refers it to w-ḥ-d, oneness or being alone. His … (root hd)

الهمزة والحاء والدال فرع والأصل الواو وحد وقد ذكر في الواو وقال الدريدي ما استأحدت بهذا الأمر أي ما انفردت به

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

أحد

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

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

20 words3 verbs2 verbal nouns1 participle2 intensives and elatives8 other nouns3 plurals1 relative or abstract

  • أَحَدthe fem
  • إِحْدَى—
  • اِتِّحادunion
  • مُتَّحِدunited
  • أَحَدّsharper
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs3اِتَّحَدَ · أحّدَ · استأحدَ

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

  • اِتَّحَدَbe united; agreeautoForm VIIIlibrary ×1Lane
  • أحّدَhe made it oneLaneForm IILane
  • استأحدَhe was, or became, alone, by himself, apart from others, or solitaryLaneForm XLane
Verbal nouns2اِتِّحاد · تَأْحِيد

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

  • اِتِّحادunionautoForm VIIIlibrary ×5
  • تَأْحِيدForm II · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles1مُتَّحِد

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

  • مُتَّحِدunitedautoactive, Form VIIIlibrary ×3
Intensives, qualities and the elative2أُحَيِّد · أُحَيْد

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

  • أُحَيِّدquality (faʿīl)Lane
  • أُحَيْدquality (faʿīl)Lane
Other nouns8أَحَد · إِحْدَى · أَحَدّ

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

Plurals3آحَاد · أٌحْدَان · مُتَّحِدات

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

  • آحَادplural of the femfrom the singularbroken plural of أَحَدLane
  • أٌحْدَانplural of the femfrom the singularbroken plural of أَحَدLane
  • مُتَّحِداتplural of unitedfrom the singularsound plural of مُتَّحِدlibrary ×1
Relative and abstract1أَحَدِيَّة

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

  • أَحَدِيَّةabstract noun (-iyya)Lane

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 10 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 ح دمَأْحَدَة

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-Jawharī · 393Aḥad (أحد) in the sense of wāḥid (واحد, 'one'), the first of the numbers.

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

    Aḥad (أحد) in the sense of wāḥid (واحد, 'one'), the first of the numbers. You say: 'aḥad wa-ithnān' (one and two), 'aḥada 'ashar' and 'iḥdā 'ashrata' (eleven). As for His saying, exalted: 'Say, He is God, One' [al-Ikhlāṣ 112:1] — here aḥad is a substitute for 'Allāh,' since an indefinite noun may substitute for a definite one, as when it is said [of]: 'We will surely drag him by the forelock — a lying, sinful forelock.' Al-Kisā'ī said: if you introduce the definite article into a compound numeral, you must introduce it throughout, so you say 'mā fa'alta al-aḥada al-'ashara al-alfa al-dirham'; the Baṣrans place it only at the start: 'mā fa'alta al-aḥada 'ashara alfa dirham.' You say 'lā aḥada fī al-dār' (no one is in the house); do not say [merely] 'fīhā aḥad.' Yawm al-aḥad (Sunday) is pluralized as āḥād. As for their saying 'mā fī al-dār aḥad', here [aḥad] is a noun for anyone who may be addressed, applying equally to singular, plural, and feminine. God, exalted, said: 'You are not like any one among women' and 'there is not one among you who could withhold [punishment] from him.' 'The man istaʾḥada': became solitary. They came 'āḥāda aḥāda' (one by one), both indeclinable, being both diverted in wording and meaning. Uḥud: a mountain in Medina. Al-Farrā' related from some Bedouin: 'ma'ī 'asharatun fa-aḥidhunna' (I have ten, so make them eleven), meaning make them into eleven. And in the ḥadīth: he said to a man who pointed with his two index fingers in the tashahhud: 'Aḥad, aḥad!' [One, One!]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    أحد بمعنى الواحد، وهو أول العدد. تقول: أحد واثنان، وأحد عشر وإحدى عشرة. وأما قوله تعالى: (قل هو الله أحد) *، فهو بدل من الله، لأن النكرة قد تبدل من المعرفة، كما يقال: (لنسفعا بالناصية. ناصية) *. قال الكسائي: إذا أدخلت في العدد الالف واللام فأدخلهما في العدد كله. فتقول: ما فعلت الاحد العشر الالف الدرهم. والبصريون يدخلونها في أوله فيقولون: ما فعلت الاحد عشر الالف درهم. وتقول: لا أحد في الدار، ولا تقل فيها أحد. ويوم الاحد يجمع على آحاد. وأما قولهم: ما في الدار أحد، فهو اسم لمن يصلح أن يخاطب، يستوي فيه الواحد والجمع والمؤنث. وقال تعالى: (لستن كأحد من النساء) * وقال: (فما منكم من أحد عنه حاجزين) *. واستأحد الرجل: انفرد. وجاءوا آحاد أحاد غير مصروفين، لأنهما معدولان في اللفظ والمعنى جميعا. وأحد: جبل بالمدينة. وحكى الفراء عن بعض الاعراب: معى عشرة فأحدهن، أي صيرهن أحد عشر. وفى الحديث أنه قال لرجل أشار بسبابتيه في التشهد: أحد أحد.

    al-Jawharī · 393 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 2, p. 440) ↗
  • Ibn Fāris · 395Hamza, ḥā', and dāl form a branch, the origin being with wāw: waḥada (وحد), already discussed under wāw.

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

    Hamza, ḥā', and dāl form a branch, the origin being with wāw: waḥada (وحد), already discussed under wāw. Al-Duraydī said: 'mā istaʾḥadtu bi-hādhā al-amr' (ما استأحدت بهذا الأمر), meaning 'I was not alone in this matter.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الهمزة والحاء والدال فرع والأصل الواو وحد وقد ذكر في الواو وقال الدريدي ما استأحدت بهذا الأمر أي ما انفردت به

    Ibn Fāris · 395 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 67) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502The two [forms] — 'hama' and ājartuhu (آجرته) — are used when the two respective verbal forms are considered, and both refer back to one meaning;

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

    The two [forms] — 'hama' and ājartuhu (آجرته) — are used when the two respective verbal forms are considered, and both refer back to one meaning; one says 'ājarahu Allāh' and 'ajarahu Allāh' [may God reward him]. Al-ajīr (الأجير): fa'īl in the sense of fā'il or mufā'il. Al-isti'jār (الاستئجار): seeking a thing for a wage, then used to express taking/receiving something for a wage — like al-istījāb (الاستيجاب) used metaphorically for al-ījāb (الإيجاب, 'offer'). Accordingly is His saying, exalted: 'hire him; indeed the best one you can hire is the strong, the trustworthy' [al-Qaṣaṣ 28:26].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    هما، وآجرته يقال إذا اعتبر فعلاهما «1» ، وكلاهما يرجعان إلى معنى واحد، ويقال: آجره الله وأجره الله. والأجير: فعيل بمعنى فاعل أو مفاعل، والاستئجار: طلب الشيء بالأجرة، ثم يعبر به عن تناوله بالأجرة، نحو: الاستيجاب في استعارته الإيجاب، وعلى هذا قوله تعالى: استأجره إن خير من استأجرت القوي الأمين [القصص/ 26] .

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 65) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Among the names of God, exalted: al-Aḥad (الأحد), He who is the Solitary One who has ever been alone, with none beside Him;

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

    Among the names of God, exalted: al-Aḥad (الأحد), He who is the Solitary One who has ever been alone, with none beside Him; a noun constructed to negate whatever number might be mentioned with it — you say 'mā jā'anī aḥad' (no one came to me). The hamza is a substitute for wāw, its origin being waḥad, since it derives from al-waḥda (oneness). Al-aḥad: in the sense of al-wāḥid, the first of the numbers; you say 'aḥad wa-ithnān,' 'aḥada 'ashar,' 'iḥdā 'ashrata.' As for His saying, exalted: 'Say, He is God, One' — here it is a substitute for 'Allāh,' since an indefinite noun may substitute for a definite one, as God said: 'We will surely drag him by the forelock — a lying, sinful forelock.' Al-Kisā'ī said: if you introduce the definite article into the numeral, you introduce it throughout, saying 'mā fa'alta al-aḥada 'ashara al-alfa al-dirham'; the Baṣrans place it only at the start: 'mā fa'alta al-aḥada 'ashara alfa dirham.' You say 'lā aḥada fī al-dār,' not [merely] 'fīhā aḥad.' Their saying 'mā fī al-dār aḥad' — here [aḥad] is a noun for anyone who may be addressed, applying equally to singular, plural, feminine, and masculine. God, exalted, said: 'You are not like any one among women' and 'there is not one among you who could withhold [punishment] from him.' They came 'āḥāda aḥāda,' both indeclinable, being diverted in both wording and meaning. It is related from some Bedouin: 'ma'ī 'asharatun fa-aḥidhunna,' meaning make them into eleven. In the ḥadīth: he said to a man pointing with his two index fingers in the tashahhud: 'Aḥad, aḥad!' And in the ḥadīth of Sa'd concerning supplication: he said to Sa'd, who was pointing with two fingers in his supplication: 'Aḥad, aḥad!' meaning: point with a single finger, for the One you call upon is One, namely God, exalted. Al-aḥad among the days [of the week] is well known; one says 'maḍā al-aḥad bimā fīhi' (Sunday passed with what was in it), treated as singular/masculine, according to al-Liḥyānī; plural āḥād and aḥdān. 'The man istaʾḥada': became solitary. 'Mā istaʾḥada bi-hādhā al-amr': he was unaware of it — a Yemeni [dialectal] usage. Uḥud: a mountain in Medina. Iḥdā al-iḥad (إحدى الإحد): a grave, terrible matter; he said: 'At 'Ukāẓ they committed one of the [gravest] outrages (iḥdā al-iḥad).' In the ḥadīth of Ibn 'Abbās: he was asked about a man upon whom two [consecutive] Ramadans had passed [unfasted], and he said: 'Iḥdā min sab'' (one of the seven) — meaning the matter had become severe, referring to one of the seven barren years of the Prophet Joseph, peace be upon him and upon our Prophet Muhammad, his situation being likened to them in severity; or [referring] to the seven nights in which God, exalted, sent the punishment upon [the people of] 'Ād.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    في أسماء الله تعالى: الأحد وهو الفرد الذي لم يزل وحده ولم يكن معه آخر، وهو اسم بني لنفي ما يذكر معه من العدد، تقول: ما جاءني أحد، والهمزة بدل من الواو وأصله وحد لأنه من الوحدة. والأحد: بمعنى الواحد وهو أول العدد، تقول أحد واثنان وأحد عشر وإحدى عشرة. وأما قوله تعالى: قل هو الله أحد ؛ فهو بدل من الله لأن النكرة قد تبدل من المعرفة كما قال الله تعالى: لنسفعا بالناصية ناصية؛ قال الكسائي: إذا أدخلت في العدد الألف واللام فأدخلهما في العدد كله، فتقول: ما فعلت الأحد عشر الألف الدرهم. والبصريون يدخلونهما في أوله فيقولون: ما فعلت الأحد عشر ألف درهم. وتقول لا أحد في الدار ولا تقول فيها أحد. وقولهم ما في الدار أحد فهو اسم لمن يصلح أن يخاطب يستوي فيه الواحد والجمع والمؤنث والمذكر. وقال الله تعالى: لستن كأحد من النساء ؛ وقال: فما منكم من أحد عنه حاجزين . وجاؤوا أحاد أحاد غير مصروفين لأنهما معدولان في اللفظ والمعنى جميعا. وحكي عن بعض الأعراب: معي عشرة فأحدهن أي صيرهن أحد عشر. وفي الحديث: أنه قال لرجل أشار بسبابتيه في التشهد: أحد أحد. وفي حديث سعد في الدعاء: أنه قال لسعد وهو يشير في دعائه بإصبعين: أحد أحد أي أشر بإصبع واحدة لأن الذي تدعو إليه واحد وهو الله تعالى. والأحد من الأيام، معروف، تقول مضى الأحد بما فيه؛ فيفرد ويذكر؛ عن اللحياني، والجمع آحاد وأحدان. واستأحد الرجل: انفرد. وما استأحد بهذا الأمر: لم يشعر به، يمانية. وأحد: جبل بالمدينة. وإحدى الإحد: الأمر المنكر الكبير؛ قال: بعكاظ فعلوا إحدى الإحد وفي حديث ابن عباس: وسئل عن رجل تتابع عليه رمضانان فقال: إحدى من سبع ؛ يعني اشتد الأمر فيه ويريد به إحدى سني يوسف النبي، على نبينا محمد وعليه الصلاة والسلام، المجدبة فشبه حاله بها في الشدة أو من الليالي السبع التي أرسل الله تعالى العذاب فيها على عاد.

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 3, p. 70) ↗
  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    أحّدهُ

    2. أحّدهُ, [inf. n. تَأْحِيدٌ,] He made it one; or called it one: as also وحّدهُ. (TA in art. وحد.) You say, أَحِّدِ الِاثْنَيْنِ Make thou the two to become one. (K.) It is related in a trad., that Mohammad said to a man who was making a sign with his two fore fingers in repeating the testimony of the faith, [There is no deity but God, &c.,] أَحِّدْأَحِّدْ [meaning that he should make the sign with one finger only]. (S.) And أَحَدَّ اللّٰهَ means He declared God to be one; he declared, or professed, the unity of God; as also وحّدهُ. (T and L in art. وحد.) أَحِّدِ العَشَرَةَ, (S, K,) inf. n. تَأْحِيدٌ, (K,) Make thou the ten to become eleven, (S, K,) is a phrase mentioned by Fr on the authority of an Arab of the desert. (S.)

    اِتَّحَدَ

    8. اِتَّحَدَ: see art. وحد: and see what here next follows.

    استأحد

    10. استأحد He (a man, S) was, or became, alone, by himself, apart from others, or solitary; syn. اِنْفَرَدَ; (S, K;) as also ٱتَّحَدَ [written with the disjunctive alif اِتَّحَدَ, originally اِئْتَحَدَ or اِوتَحَدَ], (K, TA,) or تَوَحَّدَ. (CK.) مَا ٱسْتَأْحَدَ بِهِ He did not know it; did not know, or had not knowledge, of it; did not understand it; did not know the minute circumstances of it; or did not perceive it by any of the senses; syn. لَمْ يَشْعُرْ بِهِ; (L, K;) i. e., a thing, or an affair: of the dial. of El-Yemen. (L.)

    أَحَدٌ

    أَحَدٌ, originally وَحَدٌ, the و being changed into أ, (Msb,) One; the first of the numbers; (S;) syn. [in many cases] with وَاحِدٌ; (S, Msb, K;) with which it is interchangeable in two cases, to be explained below: (Msb:) pl. آحَادٌ and أٌحْدَانٌ (K) and أَحَدُونَ, which last occurs in a phrase hereafter to be mentioned; (TA;) or it has no pl. in this sense; (Msb, K, * TA;) and as to آحَادٌ, it may be pl. of وَاحِدٌ, [and originally أَوْحَادٌ,] like أَشْهَادٌ as pl. of شَاهِدٌ, (Th, Msb,) a pl. of pauc. (Msb.) The fem. is إِحْدَى only; and this is only used in particular cases, to be shown below: (Msb:) most agree that the ى in this word is the characteristic of the fem. gender: but some say that it is to render it quasi-coordinate to the quadriliteral-radical class: [this, however, is inconsistent with its pronunciation, which is invariably إِحْدَى, not إِحْدَّى:] (TA:) its pl. is إِحَدٌ, as though the sing. were إِحْدَةٌ, like as is said of ذِكَرٌ as pl. of ذِكْرَى: one of the expositors of the Tes-heel writes it أُحَدٌ, with damm and then fet-h; but a pl. of this measure is not applicable to a sing. of the measure فِعْلَى, with kesr. (MF.) The dim. of أَحَدٌ is أُحَيْدٌ; and that of إِحْدَى is أُحَيْدَى. (L in art. وحد.) It is interchangeable with وَاحِدٌ in two cases: first, when it is used as an epithet applied to God: (Msb:) for الأَحَدُ, as an epithet, is applied to God alone, (Msb, K,) and signifies The One; the Sole; He who has ever been one and alone: or the Indivisible: or He who has no second [to share] in his lordship, nor in his essence, nor in his attributes: (TA:) you say, هُوَ الوَاحِدُ and هُوَ الأَحَدُ: and in like manner, أَحَدٌ, without the article, is used as an epithet specially in relation to God, and is interchangeable in this case [but not in other cases] with وَاحِدٌ: therefore you do not say رَجُلٌ أَحَدٌ nor دِرْهَمٌ أَحَدٌ and the like [but رَجُلٌ وَاحدٌ and دِرهَمٌ وَاحِدٌ &c.] (Msb.) [See also وَاحِدٌ, in art. وحد.] In the phrase in the Kur [cxii. 1], قُلْ هُوَ اللّٰهُ أَحَدٌ [Say, He is God, One God], أَحَدٌ is a substitute for اللّٰهُ; for an indeterminate noun is sometimes a substitute for a determinate noun, as in another passage in the Kur, xcvi. 15 and 16. (S.) Secondly, it is interchangeable with وَاحِدٌ in certain nouns of number: (Msb:) you say أَحَدَ عَشَرَ [masc.] and إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ [fem.] (S) [meaning Eleven: and in these two cases you may not substitute وَاحِدٌ and وَاحِدَةٌ for أَحَدٌ and إِحْدَى: but] in أَحَدٌوعَشْرُونَ [One and twenty, and the like,] أَحَدٌ is interchangeable with وَاحِدٌ. (Msb.) Ks says, When you prefix the article ال to a number, prefix it to every number; therefore you should say, مَا فَعَلَتِ الأَحَدَ العَشَرَ الأَلْفَ الدِّرْهَمَ [What did the eleven thousand dirhems?]: but the Basrees prefix it to the first only, and say, ما فعلت الأَحَدَ عَشَرَ أَلْفَ دِرْهَمٍ. (S.) In [most] cases differing from these two, there is a difference in usage between أَحَدٌ and وَاحِدٌ: the former is used in affirmative phrases as a prefixed noun only, governing the noun which follows it in the gen. case; [as in exs. which will be found below;] and is used absolutely in negative phrases; [as will also be seen in exs. below;] whereas وَاحِدٌ is used in affirmative phrases as a prefixed noun and otherwise: the fem. إِحْدَى, also, is only used as a prefixed noun, except in numbers (Msb) [and in one other instance, which see below]. Using أَحَدٌ and its fem. in affirmative phrases as prefixed nouns, you say, قَامَ أَحَدُ الثَّلَاثَةِ [One of the three stood]; and قَالَتْ إِحْدَا هُمَا [One of them two (females) said]; and خُذْ إِحْدَى الثَّلَاثَةِ [Take thou one of the three]. (TA.) The phrase إِحْدَى بَنَاتِ طَبَقٍ means A calamity: (K:) or, as some say, (TA, but in the K “ and, ”) a serpent; (K, TA;) so called because it twists itself round so as to become like a طَبَق. (TA.) And the phrase إِحْدَى الإِحَدِ, (L, K, TA,) in which the latter word has kesr to the إ and fet-h to the ح, and is pl. of the former, also written الأُحَدِ, but this form is disapproved by MF, as has been shown above, (TA, [in several copies of the K incorrectly written الأَحَدِ,]) [lit. means One of the ones; and] is applied to a great, or mighty, event; (L, K, TA;) one that is difficult, distressing, grievous, or terrible. (L, TA.) You say, أَتَى بِإِحْدَى الإِحَدِ [the last of which words is here again written in several copies of the K الأَحَدِ] He brought to pass a grievous, and great, or mighty, event, (K, TA,) when you desire to express the greatness and terribleness of an event. (TA.) You also say, فُلَانُ أَحَدُ الأَحَدِينَ, and وَاحِدُ الأَحَدِينَ, (K, TA,) the latter in one copy of the K written وَاحِدُ الوَاحِدِينَ, in which the latter word is pl. of the former, (TA,) and وَاحِدُ الآحَادِ, and إِحْدَى الإِحَدِ, (K, TA,) like a phrase before mentioned, only the former is applied to a calamity, and this to an intelligent being, and written in the two manners before mentioned, the difference being only in application, (TA, [in several copies of the K here again written إِحْدَى الأَحَدِ, and in the CK اَحَدِىُّ الاَحَدِ,]) and إِحْدَى الأَحَدِينَ, (Et-Tes-heel,) and إِحْدَى الآحَادِ, (TA,) which are expressions of the utmost praise, (IAar, A Heyth, K,) [lit. Such a man is one of the ones; meaning] such a one is unique among the uniques; (TA;) one who has no equal; unequalled; incomparable. (IAar, Tes-heel.) It seems that the form of pl. used in the phrase أَحَدُ الأَحَدِينَ is used only as applied to rational beings; but it is said in the Expositions of the Tes-heel that this phrase signifies One of the calamities; the form of the rational pl. being given to nouns significant of things deemed great, mighty, or grievous. (AHeyth.) In the phrase إِحْدَى الإِحَدِ, the fem. forms are said to be used for the purpose of giving intensiveness to the signification, as though the meaning were دَاهِيَةُ الدَّوَاهِى, the word داهية being [an intensive epithet] from دَهَآءٌ as signifying intelligence, or intelligence mixed with craft or cunning and forecast; or by داهية being meant a calamity. (Expositions of the Fs, TA.) AHei thought أَحَدُ الأَحَدِينَ to be an epithet applied to a male, and إِحْدَى الإِحَدِ to be applied to a female: but his opinion has been refuted by EdDemámeenee in the Expos. of the Tes-heel: and this latter author there remarks, that in expressions meant to denote praise [of a man], أَحَدٌ and إِحْدَى are prefixed to their own proper pls., as أَحَدُونَ and إِحَدٌ; or to an epithet, as in the case of أَحَدُ العُلَمَآءِ [One of the learned]; but that they have not been heard prefixed to generic nouns. (TA.) You say likewise, هُوَ ٱبْنُ إِحْدَاهَا He is born of noble, or generous, ancestors, both on the father's and the mother's side; speaking of a man and of a camel. (L and K in art. وحد.) And لَا يَقُومُ بِهٰذَا الأَمْرِ إِلَّا ٱبْنُ إِحْدَاهَا None will manage this thing, or affair, but a noble, or generous, man. (AZ, L in art. وحد.) And لَا يَسْتَطِيعُهَا ٱبْنُ إِحْداتِهَا [None will be able to perform it but a noble, or generous, man]. (L in art. وحد.) One instance is mentioned, of the occurrence, in a trad., of إِحْدَى not used as a part of a number [i. e. not as a part of the compound إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ] nor as a prefixed noun; viz., إِحْدَى مِنْ سَبْعٍ [One of seven]; in which سبع is said to mean the nights of 'Ád [during which that tribe was destroyed], or the years of Joseph [during which Egypt was afflicted with dearth]. (MF, from the Fáïk &c.) Used in a negative phrase, أَحَدٌ signifies Any one with whom one may talk or speak: and in this manner it is used without variation as sing. and pl. and fem. (S) as well as masc. (Msb.) You say, لَا أَحَدَ فِي الدَّارِ [There is not any one in the house]: but you do not say, فِيهَا أَحَدٌ [as meaning the contrary]. (S.) We read in the Kur [lxix. 47, this ex. of its use as a masc. pl.], فَمَا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ عَنْهُ حَاجِزِينَ [And not any persons of you should have withheld me from punishing him]. (S.) And in the same [xxxiii. 32, we find this ex. of its use as a fem. pl.], لَسْتُنَّ كَأَحَدٍ مِنَ النِّسَآءِ [Ye are not like any others of women]. (S.) It is also used in interrogative phrases; as in the saying, هَلْ أَحَدٌ رَأَي مِثْلَ هٰذَا [Has any one seen the like of this?]; (A'Obeyd, L;) and in the saying, يَا حَدْ رَآهَا [for يَا أَحَدٌ, O, has any one seen her, or it?]. (L, from a trad.) It is [said to be] also used in the sense of شَىءٌ [meaning Anything], applied to an irrational being; as in the saying, مَا بِا لدَّارِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا حِمَارًا There is not in the house anything, rational or irrational, except an ass: so that the thing excepted is united in kind to that from which the exception is made [accord. to this rendering; but this instance is generally regarded as one in which the thing excepted is disunited in kind from that from which the exception is made]. (Msb.) So too in the Kur lx. 11, accord. to the reading of Ibn-Mes'ood: (Msb:) but others there read شَىْءٌ, which may mean any one or any thing. (Bd, Jel.) الأَحَدٌ, (K,) as also يَوْمَ الأَحَدِ, (S, Msb,) as a proper name, (Msb,) is applied to A certain day; (K;) [Sunday;] the first day of the week; or, as some say, [i. e. as some term it,] the second of the week; (TA;) for the Arabs are said, by IAar, to have reckoned the Sabbath, or Saturday, as the first, though they called Sunday the first of the days: (Msb in art. جمع:) it is sing., and masc.: (Lh:) pl. [as above, i. e.] آحَادٌ (S, Msb, K) and أُحْدَانٌ: (K:) or it has no pl. (K: [but in the TA this last observation is very properly restricted, as relating only to أَحَدٌ as syn. with وَاحِدٌ, and as applied to any unknown person.]) In this sense, it has no dim. (Sb, in S, art. امس.) الآحَادُ in lexicology signifies What have been transmitted by some of the lexicologists, but not by such a number of them as cannot be supposed to have agreed to a falsehood: what has been transmitted by this larger number is termed مُتَوَاتِرُ. (Mz 3rd نوع.)

    إِحْدَي

    إِحْدَي: fems. of أَحَدٌ, q. v.

    إِحْدَاةٌ

    إِحْدَاةٌ: fems. of أَحَدٌ, q. v.

    أَحَدِيَّةٌ

    أَحَدِيَّةٌ The unity of God; (Msb;) as also وَحْدَانِيَّةٌ. (L and K in art. وحد.)

    أُحَادَ

    أُحَادَ [accus. of أُحَادُ] is imperfectly decl., because of its deviation from its original, (S, K,) both in form and in meaning; (S;) [being changed in form from وَاحِدًا, and in meaning from ٱوَاحِدًا: (see ثُلَاثَ:)] you say, جَاؤُوا أُحَادَ أُحَادَ, [احاد being repeated for the purpose of corroboration,] meaning, They came one [and] one, one [and] one; or one [by] one, one [by] one. (S, K.) The dim. of أُحَادُ is أُحَيِّدٌ, perfectly decl., like ثُلَيِّثٌ [q. v.] &c. (S, in art. ثلث.)

    أُحَيْدٌ

    أُحَيْدٌ dim. of أَحَدٌ, q. v.

    أُحَيِّدٌ

    أُحَيِّدٌ: see أَحَادَ.

    أُحَيْدَى

    أُحَيْدَى dim. of إِحْدَى fem. of أَحَدٌ, q. v.

    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 ح د

الهمزة والحاء والدال فرع والأصل الواو وحد وقد ذكر في الواو وقال الدريدي ما استأحدت بهذا الأمر أي ما انفردت به

ʾ-ḥ-d: is a branch, and the root is w-ḥ-d, which has already been mentioned under w; and al-Duraydī said "mā istaʾḥadtu bi-hādhā al-amr" meaning "I did not keep this matter exclusively to myself."

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×85

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 ↗

ح

ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗

ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗

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

ح

Level of existence: الجوهر الهبابي · the dust-like substance (spelled الهبابي in the text)

Divine Name: الآخر · al-Ākhir, the Last

Lunar mansion: الدبران · al-Dabarān

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62076

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

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

ح

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي تدل على الإحاطة والشمول للجميع.

It denotes encompassing and inclusion of everything.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي العدد الكثير الخارج عن بني آدم كالنجوم.

It is a great number external to the children of Adam, such as the stars.

With kasra ـِ

فهي العدد الداخل في الذات أو للذات عليه ولاية كملكية العبيد والدنانير والدراهم وغير ذلك.

It is a number contained within the self, or over which the self has authority, such as ownership of slaves, dinars, dirhams and the like.

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 ח דSyriac ܐ ܚ ܕ
Arabicأ ح د
Hebrewא ח ד
Syriacܐ ܚ ܕ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩢 𐩵
Phoenician𐤀 𐤇 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 lexiconNo entry from al-Khalīl or al-Rāghib is available here;well attested

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

    No entry from al-Khalīl or al-Rāghib is available here; the al-Rāghib excerpt supplied belongs to ʾ-j-r. Al-Jawharī equates aḥad with wāḥid, 'the first of number' (aḥad, ithnān, aḥad ʿashar). He parses Q 112:1 as an indefinite in apposition (badal) to Allāh and notes that in negation (mā fī l-dāri aḥad) the word means 'anyone fit to be addressed'. Ibn Fāris treats the root as derived, with the hamza standing for the wāw of w-ḥ-d, and cites Ibn Durayd's mā staʾḥadtu bi-hādhā l-amr ('I did not act alone in this'). Ibn Manẓūr places al-Aḥad among the divine names: 'the Single who has never ceased to be alone, with no other beside Him'. He calls it a noun built to deny any number mentioned alongside it and repeats the w-ḥ-d derivation. Lane adds the verb aḥḥada, 'to make or declare one' (= waḥḥada), with the ḥadīth aḥḥid aḥḥid about pointing with a single finger in the testimony of faith.

    Draws on: al-Jawharī · Ibn Fāris · Ibn Manẓūr · Lane

  • Letters & soundAl-Dabbāgh's data give ḥāʾ as 'encompassing and including everything' and dāl as 'indicating something external to the self';speculative

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

    Al-Dabbāgh's data give ḥāʾ as 'encompassing and including everything' and dāl as 'indicating something external to the self'; no meaning is supplied for the hamza. A symbolic reader might connect the all-encompassing ḥāʾ with a oneness that includes everything. Since the lexicographers regard the hamza as a replacement for wāw, a letter-by-letter reading of ʾ-ḥ-d rests on weak ground. Mainstream linguistics treats such readings as suggestive at most.

    Draws on: al-Dabbāgh · sound-symbolism

  • Root structureIbn Fāris gives no ʾ-ḥ chapter siblings because he files the word under w-ḥ-d.uncertain

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

    Ibn Fāris gives no ʾ-ḥ chapter siblings because he files the word under w-ḥ-d. The relevant comparison is therefore between aḥad and wāḥid/waḥda. Of the permutations, ḥ-d-ʾ/ḥ-d-w is 'driving (camels)', as in ḥādī, and d-ḥ-w is attested. The remaining orders are unattested. None of these gives a meaningful grouping, and greater derivation does not apply here.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris cross-reference · permutations

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsThe numeral is inherited from Common Semitic *ʾaḥad- 'one'.well attested

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

    The numeral is inherited from Common Semitic *ʾaḥad- 'one'. Cognates are Hebrew ʾeḥād, Aramaic and Syriac ḥad (with the initial syllable lost), and Geʿez ʾaḥadu. Epigraphic South Arabian also has ʾḥd. Akkadian uses ištēn for 'one', but (w)ēdu 'single, sole' matches the parallel root w-ḥ-d. Comparative evidence suggests that *ʾaḥad and *waḥd were parallel forms from an early stage. The Arab grammarians' account of a hamza replacing wāw is their own internal explanation. The word is not a loanword.

    Draws on: Hebrew · Aramaic/Syriac · Geʿez · Akkadian · South Arabian

  • Quranic exegesisMost of the 85 occurrences are the ordinary pronoun 'anyone/no one' in negation.plausible

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    Most of the 85 occurrences are the ordinary pronoun 'anyone/no one' in negation. Examples are Q 2:102 (the two angels taught no one without warning) and Q 2:96. The feminine iḥdā in Q 2:282 means 'one of the two' women witnesses. The key theological occurrence is Q 112:1. The exegetes take aḥad there as a predicate of absolute oneness. Al-Rāzī in particular discusses how aḥad differs from wāḥid: aḥad denies number and division, and in affirmative use it is applied to God alone. The grammatical point, found already in al-Jawharī, is that an indefinite can stand in apposition to a definite.

    Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī

  • Philosophy & kalāmIn kalām, the oneness of God (aḥad/wāḥid) is the core of tawḥīd.plausible

    The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

    In kalām, the oneness of God (aḥad/wāḥid) is the core of tawḥīd. The mutakallimūn understand it as denying any partner, any likeness and any internal division. In falsafa the preferred term is usually wāḥid. Al-Kindī speaks of 'the True One' (al-wāḥid al-ḥaqq), and Avicenna argues that the Necessary Existent is one and without composition of any kind. Both authors use aḥad and aḥadiyya for this absolute, undivided unity.

    Draws on: kalām tawḥīd · al-Kindī · Avicenna

  • Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam aḥad occurs only as the indefinite 'anyone' (the relevant passage is on the nafs wāḥida).plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In Faṣṣ Ādam aḥad occurs only as the indefinite 'anyone' (the relevant passage is on the nafs wāḥida). Its uses are nonetheless pointed. No one dares open the treasuries while the king's seal is on them. No one knows anything of the Real except what his own essence gives him. And although the Real is present in every existent according to its reality, 'no one has the totality that belongs to the vicegerent'. More broadly, Ibn ʿArabī's terminology distinguishes aḥadiyya, the unity of the Essence without relations, from wāḥidiyya, the unity of the names with their multiplicity. No Iṣṭilāḥ definition for aḥad is supplied here.

    Draws on: Fuṣūṣ, Faṣṣ Ādam · aḥadiyya vs wāḥidiyya

Reference

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