Mashrabaمشربة

سريIbn Fāris explicitly denies a single core: the sīn-rāʾ-weak chapter is 'very divergent,' … (root sry)

السين والراء والحرف المعتل باب متفاوت جدا لا تكاد كلمتان منه تجتمعان في قياس واحد فالسرو سخاء في مروءة

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

سري
Patterns computed · our data

The words of س ر ي that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

25 words6 verbs4 verbal nouns4 participles1 place or instrument3 intensives and elatives5 other nouns2 relatives and abstracts

  • أَسْرَىtravel by night; make travel
  • سَرَىhe journeyed, or travelled, by night, or in the night, in a general sense
  • سارِيcirculating
  • سَرَيانspread; diffusion
  • اِنْسَرَى—
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6سَرَى · أَسْرَى · اِنْسَرَى

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 nouns4سَرْي · سُرَى · إِسْرَاء

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

  • سَرْيForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
  • سُرَىjourneying, or travelling, by night, or in the night, in a general sense, …LaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
  • إِسْرَاءForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • تَسْرِيَةForm II · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles4سارِي · مُتَسَرِّى · مُسَارِي

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

  • سارِيcirculatingautoactive, Form Ilibrary ×3
  • مُتَسَرِّىactive, Form VLane
  • مُسَارِيactive, Form IIILane
  • مُسْتَرَىpassive, Form VIIILane
Place, time and instrument1مَسْرَى

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مَسْرَىplace, and a time, of goingLanenoun of place or timeLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative3سَرَيان · سَرَّاء · أَسْرَى

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

  • سَرَيانspread; diffusionautointensive (faʿlān)library ×2
  • سَرَّاءone who journeys much, or often, by nightLaneintensive (faʿʿāl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَسْرَىmore, and most, used to night-journeyingLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)Lane
Other nouns5سَرَاء · سَرْيَة · سُرْيَة

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

  • سَرَاءcertain tree, from which bows are made, the wood whereof is of the best of …LanenounLaneIbn Fāris
  • سَرْيَةnounLane
  • سُرْيَةnounLane
  • سِرَايَةjourneying, or travelling, by night, or in the nightLanenounLane
  • سِرْيَةarrow-head, such as is small, short, round and smooth, having no breadth, …LanenounLane
Relative and abstract2سَرَيَانِيّ · سُرْيَانِيَّة

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

  • سَرَيَانِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
  • سُرْيَانِيَّةthe Syriac languageLaneabstract noun (-iyya)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 18 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.

مَفْعَلَةس ر يمَسْرَيَة

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.

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Al-sarw (السرو) is generosity joined with manly virtue (murū'ah): [one says] sarawa–yasrū (سرو يسرو), sarā–yasrū (سرا يسرو), and sariya–yasrā (سري يسرى);

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

    Al-sarw (السرو) is generosity joined with manly virtue (murū'ah): [one says] sarawa–yasrū (سرو يسرو), sarā–yasrū (سرا يسرو), and sariya–yasrā (سري يسرى); so [its agent-noun] is sariyy (سري), from a people [called] surāh (سراة), and no other word of this pattern [fa'lah] has come [like it]. Al-sariyy (السري) is a watercourse larger than a jadwal (rivulet) and smaller than a ja'far [large channel]. Al-sariyyah (السرية) is a cavalry troop numbering four hundred or thereabouts. Al-sarwah (السروة) is a small, short arrow, its plural being surā' (سراء). Abū al-Duqaysh said: rather it is the arrow fitted with a quṭbah (قطبة) — the quṭbah being an iron head at the tip of the arrow with which the target is struck. He said [in verse]: "He has indeed, today, shot deliberately with his arrows (surāh) at the shoulders, and at the legs, and the neck."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    السري: سير الليل، وكل شيء طرق ليلا فهو سار. سرى يسري سرى وسريا. والسارية من السحاب: التي تجيء بين الغادية والرائحة ليلا، والعرب تؤنث السرى، قال: هن الغياث إذا تهولت السرى «317» وسرى وأسرى، لغتان، وقرىء: سرى بعبده ليلا «318» . وسرى به وأسرى به سواء. والسارية: أسطوانة من حجارة أو آجر. وسرى عن فلان، أي: تجلى عنه الغضب، أو غشية عرضت له. وسرى عرق الشجرة يسري في الأرض سريا: دب دبيبا فيها ليلا ونهارا.

  • al-Jawharī · 393Sara'at al-jarādah (سرأت الجرادة) — tasra'u, sar'an (تسرأ، سرءا): 'she laid eggs' [of a locust].

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

    Sara'at al-jarādah (سرأت الجرادة) — tasra'u, sar'an (تسرأ، سرءا): 'she laid eggs' [of a locust]. Asra'at (أسرأت): when that time comes upon her. Al-sar'ah (السرأة), with kasrah, is the egg of the locust; it is also said sarwah (سروة), its origin being with hamzah. Arḍ masrū'ah (أرض مسروءة) is one possessing sar'ah [locust eggs].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    سرأت الجرادة تسرأ سرءا: باضت. وأسرأت: إذا حان ذلك منها. والسرأة بالكسر، بيضة الجرادة. ويقال سروة، وأصله الهمز، وأرض مسروءة ذات سروة.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395Sīn, rā', and the weak letter (و/ي): a chapter that is very divergent — scarcely do two words from it come together under a single analogical principle (qiyās).

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

    Sīn, rā', and the weak letter (و/ي): a chapter that is very divergent — scarcely do two words from it come together under a single analogical principle (qiyās). Al-sarw (السرو) is generosity joined with manly virtue (murū'ah); one says sariya (سري) and also saruwa (سرو). Al-sarw (السرو) [also] is a district of Ḥimyar. Ibn Muqbil said: "In the Sarw of Ḥimyar there is the urine of mules — indeed I made my way, at night's end, toward that place of parting." Al-sarw is [also] the uncovering of one thing from another: sarawtu 'annī al-thawb (سروت عني الثوب) means 'I stripped the garment off myself.' In the ḥadīth about broth: 'yasrū 'an fu'ād al-saqīm' (يسرو عن فؤاد السقيم), i.e., 'it relieves/uncovers the heart of the sick person.' Ibn Hirmah said: "The wavering east wind (al-ṣabā) stripped his garment from you, and drew near, for parting, the departing beloved." That is why one says suriya 'anhu (سري عنه) [it was lifted from him]. Al-sarwah (السروة) is a small creature; one says arḍ masrūwah (أرض مسروة), 'a land [infested] with sarwah,' when the sarwah is abundant there. Al-sāriyah (السارية) is the pillar/column. Al-surā (السرى) is night-travel; one says sarayt (سريت) and asrayt (أسريت). [A poet] said: "She traveled by night to you, though she was not one to travel by night..." Al-sarā' (السراء) is a [type of] tree. Sarāt al-shay' (سراة الشيء) is its back/upper surface. Sarāt al-nahār (سراة النهار) is its [point of] elevation. What we have mentioned here is quite disparate, one item from another, and so we have not subjected it to a single [analogical] principle. And when hamzah is added [i.e., سرأ], it becomes still more remote: one says sara'at al-jarādah (سرأت الجرادة), 'the locust laid her eggs,' and when that time comes upon her one says asra'at (أسرأت).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    السين والراء والحرف المعتل باب متفاوت جدا لا تكاد كلمتان منه تجتمعان في قياس واحد فالسرو سخاء في مروءة يقال سري وقد سرو والسرو محلة حمير قال ابن مقبل : — بسرو حمير أبوال البغال به … أني تسديت وهنا ذلك البينا … والسرو كشف الشيء عن الشيء سروت عني الثوب أي كشفته وفي الحديث في الحساء : ( يسرو عن فؤاد السقيم ) أي يكشف وقال ابن هرمة : — سرى ثوبه عنك الصبا المتخايل … وقرب للبين الحبيب المزايل … ولذلك يقال سري عنه والسروة دويبة يقال ارض مسروة من السروة إذا كثرت بالأرض والسارية الأسطوانة والسرى سير الليل يقال سريت وأسريت قال : — أسرت إليك ولم تكن تسري … والسراء شجر وسراة الشيء ظهره وسراة النهار ارتفاعه وهذا الذي ذكرناه بعيد بعضه من بعض فلذلك لم نحمله على القياس وإذا همز كان أبعد يقال سرأت الجرادة ألقت بيضها فإذا حان ذلك منها قيل أسرأت

  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-surā (السرى) is night-travel;

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

    Al-surā (السرى) is night-travel; one says sarā (سرى) and asrā (أسرى). God Almighty said: "Fa-asri bi-ahlika" (فأسر بأهلك) — "So set out with your family by night" [Hūd 11:81]. And He Almighty said: "Subḥāna alladhī asrā bi-'abdihi laylan" (سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلا) — "Glory be to Him who took His servant by night" [al-Isrā' 17:1]. And it has been said that (asrā) (أسرى) is not from the word sarā–yasrī (سرى يسري), but rather from al-sarāh (السراة), which is [the name of] a vast tract of land, its [true] origin being from wāw; and from this is the poet's saying: [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    السرى: سير الليل، يقال: سرى وأسرى. قال تعالى: فأسر بأهلك [هود/ 81] ، وقال تعالى: سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلا [الإسراء/ 1] ، وقيل: إن (أسرى) ليست من لفظة سرى يسري، وإنما هي من السراة، وهي أرض واسعة، وأصله من الواو، ومنه قول الشاعر:

  • Lisān · 711Al-sar' (السرء) and al-sar'ah (السرأة), with kasrah: the eggs of the locust, the lizard (ḍabb), fish, and the like;

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

    Al-sar' (السرء) and al-sar'ah (السرأة), with kasrah: the eggs of the locust, the lizard (ḍabb), fish, and the like; its plural is sur' (سرء). It is also said sarwah (سروة), its origin being with hamzah. 'Alī ibn Ḥamzah al-Aṣbahānī said: al-sar'ah (السرأة), with kasrah, is [only] the egg of the locust, while al-sarwah (السروة) means only the arrow and nothing else. Arḍ masrū'ah (أرض مسروءة) is one possessing sar'ah. Sara'at al-jarādah (سرأت الجرادة) — tasra'u, sar'an (تسرأ سرءا) — she is sarū' (سروء): 'she laid eggs,' the plural being sur'un and sar'un (سرؤ وسرأ), the latter being rare, since [the pattern] fa'ūl is not broken-pluralized as fa'l. Abū 'Ubayd said: al-Aḥmar said: sara'at al-jarādah (سرأت الجرادة): 'she dropped her eggs,' and asra'at (أسرأت): 'that time came upon her.' [Also] razzat al-jarādah (رزّت الجرادة) — al-razz being that she inserts her tail into the ground and drops her sar' — her sur' (سرؤها) being her eggs. Al-Layth said: likewise the sar' of the fish and whatever resembles it in [laying] eggs — it is sarū' (سروء), the singular being sar'ah (سرأة). Al-Qinnānī [said]: when the locust drops her eggs one says: 'she has laid (sara'a) her eggs — tasra'u bihā (سرأ بيضه يسرأ به).' Al-Aṣma'ī [said]: the locust['s egg-mass] is called sar' (سرء), which is [the] eggs; but when they emerge black [as young locusts], they are called dabā (دبى). Sara'at al-mar'ah, sar'an (سرأت المرأة سرءا): 'the woman's children became numerous.' [One says] ḍabbah sarū' (ضبة سروء), on the pattern fa'ūl, and ḍibāb sur' (ضباب سرء), on the pattern fu'l — these being [lizards] whose eggs are [still] in their bellies, not yet laid; and it is [also] said the eggs are not called sar' until she lays them. Sara'at al-ḍabbah (سرأت الضبة): 'the lizard laid eggs.' Al-sarā' (السراء) is a kind of tree [used for] bows, the singular being sarā'ah (سراءة).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    السرء والسرأة، بالكسر: بيض الجراد والضب والسمك وما أشبهه، وجمعه: سرء. ويقال: سروة، وأصله الهمز. وقال علي بن حمزة الأصبهاني: السرأة، بالكسر: بيض الجراد، والسروة: السهم لا غير. وأرض مسروءة: ذات سرأة. وسرأت الجرادة تسرأ سرءا، فهي سروء: باضت، والجمع سرؤ وسرأ، الأخيرة نادرة، لأن فعولا لا يكسر على فعل. وقال أبو عبيد: قال الأحمر: سرأت الجرادة: ألقت بيضها، وأسرأت: حان ذلك منها، ورزت الجرادة، والرز أن تدخل ذنبها في الأرض فتلقي سرأها، وسرؤها: بيضها. قال الليث: وكذلك سرء السمكة وما أشبهه من البيض، فهي سروء، والواحدة سرأة. القناني: إذا ألقى الجراد بيضه قيل: قد سرأ بيضه يسرأ به. الأصمعي: الجراد يكون سرءا، وهو بيض، فإذا خرجت سودا، فهي دبى. وسرأت المرأة سرءا: كثر ولدها. وضبة سروء، على فعول، وضباب سرء، على فعل، وهي التي بيضها في جوفها لم تلقه. وقيل: لا يسمى البيض سرءا حتى تلقيه. وسرأت الضبة: باضت. والسراء: ضرب من شجر القسي، الواحدة سراءة.

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    سَرَى

    1. سَرَى, (S, M, K,) or سَرَى اللَّيْلَ (Msb) and بِاللَّيْلِ, (Mgh, Msb,) aor. يَسْرِى, (K,) inf. n. سُرًى (S, M, Mgh, K) and مَسْرًى (S, K) and سَرْيَةٌ and سُرْيَةٌ (M, K) and سِرَايَةٌ; (S, * and TA as from the K, but not in the CK nor in my MS. copy of the K;) the first of a form rare among inf. ns., because it is one of the forms of pls., as is shown by the fact that some of the Arabs make it and هُدًى fem., namely, Benoo-Asad, supposing them to be pls. of سُرْيَةٌ and هُدْيَةٌ, (S,) and Lh knew not سُرًى but as a fem. noun; (M;) or the inf. n. is سَرْىٌ, and سُرْيَةٌ and سَرْيَةٌ are more special [in meaning, as will be shown below, voce سَرْيَةٌ], and سُرًى is pl. of سُرْيَةٌ; (Msb;) or سَرْيَةٌ is an inf. n. un., and سُرْيَةٌ is a simple subst., and so is سُرًى, (S, TA,) and so is سِرَايَةٌ (Msb, TA) also, as some say; (TA;) He journeyed, or travelled, by night, or in the night, (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K,) in a general sense; (M, K;) accord. to AZ, in the first part part of the night, and in the middle thereof, and in the last part thereof; (Msb, TA;) and اسرى signifies the same (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K) in the dial. of El-Hijáz, (S, Msb,) inf. n. إِسْرَآءٌ; (M;) as also استرى; (M, K;) and perhaps تسرّى likewise. (Mgh.) [See also سُرًى and سَرْيَةٌ below.] It is said in a prov., قُنْفُذٍ ذَهَبُوا إِسْرَآءَ [They went away in the manner of a hedge-hog's night-travelling; meaning they went away by night]; because the قنفذ goes all the night, not sleeping. (M.) [Hence, as denoting unseen progress,] it is said also of the root of a tree, meaning It crept along beneath the ground; (Az, M, K;) aor. as above, (M,) inf. n. سَرْىٌ. (TA.) And it is said of ideal things, as being likened to corporeal things; tropically, and by extension of the signification; (Msb, TA;) or metaphorically; [as, for instance,] of calamities, and wars, and anxieties: (M, TA:) and the predominant inf. ns. [in these cases] are سِرَايَةٌ and سَرَيَانٌ. (TA.) One says, سَرَى عِرْقُ السُّوْءِ فِى الإِنْسَانِ (tropical:) [The root, or strain, of evil crept in the man]. (Es-Sarakustee, Msb, TA.) And سَرَى فِيهِ السَّمُّ (tropical:) [The poison crept in him, or pervaded him]; and similarly one says of wine; and of the like of these two things. (El-Fárábee, Msb, TA. [See also دَبَّ.]) And the lawyers say, سَرَى الجُرْحُ إِلَى النَّفْسِ (tropical:) [The wound extended to the soul], meaning that the pain of the wound continued until death ensued in consequence thereof: (Mgh, * Msb, TA:) and قُطِعَ كَفُّهُ فَسَرَى إِلَى سَاعِدِهِ (tropical:) [His hand was cut off, and it extended to his upper arm], meaning that the effect of the wound passed by transmission: and سَرَى التَّحْرِيمُ, and العِتْقُ, (tropical:) The prohibition, and the emancipation, [extended, or] passed by transmission: phrases current among the lawyers, but not mentioned in books of repute, though agreeable with others here preceding and following. (Msb, TA.) One says also, سَرَى عَلَيْهِ الهَمُّ (tropical:) Anxiety came to him [or upon him] by night: and سَرَى هَمُّهُ (tropical:) His anxiety went away. (Msb, TA.) And similar to these is the phrase in the Kur [lxxxix. 3], وَٱللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَسْرِ (tropical:) And by the night when it goes away: (Msb, TA:) or, as some say, when one journeys in it; like as one says لَيْلٌ نَائِمٌ meaning “ night in which one sleeps: ” the [final] ى [of the verb] is elided because it terminates a verse. (TA.) It is made trans. by means of ب: (Msb:) one says, سَرَى بِهِ [He made him to journey, or travel, or he transported him, by night, or in the night; or it may be rendered he journeyed, or travelled, with him, by night, or in the night]; (M, Msb, K;) and in like manner, [and more commonly,] بِهِ أَسْرَى; (S, M, Msb, K;) and أَسْرَاهُ; (S, M, K;) like as one says, أَخَذَ بِالخِطَامِ as well as اخذ الخِطَامَ. (S.) As to the saying in the Kur [xvii. 1], سُبْحَانَ ٱلَّذِى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا أَسْرَى [Extolled be the glory of Him who transported his servant by night!], it is an instance of corroboration, (S, K, * TA,) like the saying, سِرْتُ أَمْسِ نَهَارًا and البَارِحَةَ لَيْلًا: (S, TA:) or the meaning is [simply] سَيَّرَهُ: (K, TA:) accord. to 'Alam-ed-Deen Es-Sakháwee, لَيْلًا is added, although الإِسْرَآء is not otherwise than by night, because the space over which he was transported is not to be traversed in less than forty days, but was traversed by him in one night; as though the meaning [intended] were, فِى لَيْلٍ وَاحِدٍ; and it denotes wonder: لَيْلًا is here used instead of لَيْلَةً because when they say سَرَى لَيْلَةً the meaning generally is he occupied the whole of the night in journeying: Er-Rághib holds the verb in this instance to be from سَرَاةٌ signifying “ a wide tract of land, ” to belong to art. سرو, and to be like أَجْبَلَ and أَتْهَمَ; the meaning being, who transported his servant over a wide tract of land: but this is strange. (TA.) سَرَى مَتَاعَهُ, (M, K,) aor. يَسْرِى, (M, TA,) inf. n. سَرْىٌ, (TA,) He threw his goods, or utensils and furniture, upon the back of his beast. (M, K.) And سَرَى عَنِّى الثَّوْبَ, inf. n. سَرْىٌ, He removed from over me the garment: but و is more approved [as the final radical: see 1 in art, سرو]. (M, TA.) You say, سَرَيْتُ الثَّوْبَ and سَرَّيْتُهُ I pulled off the garment: and عَنْهُ سُرِّىَ It was removed from over him, and removed from its place: the teshdeed denotes intensiveness. (TA.)

    سرّى

    2. سرّى, (K,) or سرّى سَرِيَّةً, (TA,) inf. n. تَسْرِيَةٌ, He (the leader of an army, TA) detached a سَرِيَّة [q. v.] (K, TA) to the enemy by night. (TA.) سرّى العَرَقَ عَنْ بَدَنِهِ, inf. n. as above, He exuded the sweat from his body. (TA.) See also 1, last sentence, in two places.

    أَسْرَىَ

    4: see 1, in the former half of the paragraph, in two places: and again, in the latter half, in three places. See also 4 in art. سرو.

    تَسَرَّىَ

    5: see 1, first sentence.

    إِسْتَرَىَ

    8: see 1, first sentence.

    سُرًى

    سُرًى, [said by some to be an inf. n., by some to be a simple subst., and by some to be pl. of سُرْيَةٌ, or supposed to be so, and therefore made fem., as mentioned in the first sentence of this art.,] meaning A journeying, or travelling, by night, or in the night, in a general sense, is masc. and fem., (M, K,) by some of the Arabs made fem., (S,) and not known to Lh but as a fem. noun. (M.) It is said in a prov., [At daybreak, the party commend night-journeying]: applied to the man who endures difficulty, or distress, or fatigue, hoping for rest, or ease: (Meyd:) and in inciting to labour for the accomplishment of an affair with patience, and to dispose and subject the mind, until one commends the result thereof. (Har p. 555, q. v.)

    سَرَاةٌ

    سَرَاةٌ: see art. سرو.

    سَرْيَةٌ

    سَرْيَةٌ and سُرْيَةٌ are inf. ns. of سَرَى: (M, K:) or have a more special signification than the inf. n. of that verb, which is سَرْىٌ: one says, سَرَيْنَا سَرْيَةً مِنَ اللَّيْلِ and سُرْيَةً [We journeyed by night a journey of the night]: and the pl. of سُرْيَةٌ is [said to be] سُرًى: (Msb:) or one says, سَرَيْنَا سَرْيَةً وَاحِدَةً [We journeyed by night a single night-journey]: and the subst. [signifying a journeying, or travelling, by night, or in the night,] is سُرْيَةٌ, and سُرًى. (S, TA.)

    سُرْيَةٌ

    سُرْيَةٌ: see the next preceding paragraph, in four places.

    سِرْيَةٌ

    سِرْيَةٌ meaning An arrow-head, (As, M, TA,) such as is small, short, round and smooth, having no breadth, (M, TA,) is a dial. var. of سِرْوَةٌ [q. v.], (As, TA,) or formed from the latter word by the substitution of ى for و because of the kesreh: (M, TA:) accord. to the K, سَرِيَّةٌ signifies a small round arrow-head; but this is a mistake; the correct word being سِرْيَةٌ, with kesr, and without teshdeed to the ى. (TA.) It is also a dial. var. of سِرْوَةٌ signifying The locust in its first state, when it is a larva. (S in art. سرو.)

    سَرَآءٌ

    سَرَآءٌ A certain tree, (AHn, S, M, K,) from which bows are made, (AHn, S, M,) the wood whereof is of the best of woods, and which is of the trees of the mountains: (AHn, M:) ElGhanawee El-Aarábee says, the نَبْع and شَوْحَط [q. v.] and سَرَآء are one: (TA in art. شحط:) [it is also mentioned in the TA in art. سرأ:] n. un. سَرَآءَةٌ. (M, K.)

    سَرِىٌّ

    سَرِىٌّ i. q. نَهْرٌ [A river, &c.]: (Th, M:) or a rivulet, or streamlet: (S, M, Msb:) or a rivulet running to palm-trees: (M, K:) pl. [of pauc.] أَسْرِيَةٌ (S, M, K) and [of mult.] سُرْيَانٌ: (Sb, S, M, Msb, K:) أَسْرِيَآءُ as its pl. has not been heard. (S.) Thus it has been expl. as occurring in the Kur xix. 24. (M, TA.) See also art. سرو.

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗

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

س ر ي

السين والراء والحرف المعتل باب متفاوت جدا لا تكاد كلمتان منه تجتمعان في قياس واحد فالسرو سخاء في مروءة

s-r- [weak letter]: a very divergent chapter; hardly two words from it come together under one analogy. Al-sarw is generosity within manliness.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×8

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

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.

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

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

س

ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد

From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗

ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين

From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗

ر

ومن مخرج النون غير أنه أدخل في ظهر اللسان قليلا لانحرافه إلى اللام مخرج الراء

From the place of the nūn, except that it goes a little further onto the back of the tongue, because it leans towards the lām, is the place of the rāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26557–26558 ↗

ومن مخرج النون غير أنه أدخل في ظهر اللسان قليلا، لانحرافه إلى اللام، مخرج الراء

From the place of the nūn, except that it goes a little further onto the back of the tongue, because it leans towards the lām, is the place of the rāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, lines 980–981 ↗

ي

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26553 ↗

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى، مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 974 ↗

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

س

Level of existence: ما ظهر في الماء · what appears in water

Divine Name: المحيي · al-Muḥyī, the Life-Giver

Lunar mansion: النعائم · al-Naʿāʾim

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62110

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗

السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة

Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581

ر

Level of existence: السماء الخامسة · the fifth heaven

Divine Name: المصور · the Form-Giver (al-Muṣawwir)

Lunar mansion: الغفر · al-Ghafr

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64675

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

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

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

ي

Level of existence: السماء الأولى · The First Heaven

Divine Name: الرب · The Lord (al-Rabb)

Lunar mansion: الخرتان · al-Kharatān

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64500

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

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

س

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء المليح الذي من طبعه الرقة.

It is an indication of the comely thing whose nature is delicacy.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القبيح الخشن، أو إشارة إلى سواد حسا ومعنى.

It is an indication of the ugly, rough thing, or of blackness, sensible and figurative.

وبالكسر إشارة إلى الشيء الطابع وتكون الإشارة منه.

With kasra it is an indication of the impressing/stamping thing, and the indication proceeds from it.

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

ر

فهي إشارة إلى جميع الخيرات الظاهرة والباطنة.

It is an indication of all goods, outward and inward.

فهي إشارة إلى الواحد في نفسه وهو ظاهر.

It is an indication of the one in itself, and it is manifest.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي فيه الروح وليس من بني آدم، أو إشارة إلى الروح نفسها.

It is an indication of a thing that has spirit in it but is not of the children of Adam, or an indication of the spirit itself.

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

ي

فهي للنداء، وقد يؤكد بها.

It is for the vocative (calling), and it may be used for emphasis.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا يثبت كالبرق ونحوه.

It is an indication of the thing that does not remain fixed, like lightning and the like.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي يستحيا به أو يستحيا منه كالعورة.

It is an indication of the thing that causes shame, or of which one is ashamed, like the private parts.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
In the sister scriptsHebrew ס/ש ר יSyriac ܣ/ܫ ܪ ܝ
Arabicس ر ي
Hebrewס/ש ר י
Syriacܣ/ܫ ܪ ܝ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩯/𐩦 𐩧 𐩺
Phoenician𐤎/𐤔 𐤓 𐤉

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.

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl's entry for س-ر-و/ي already shows the root's spread: al-sarw as generosity joined to muruwwa (a sarī, pl.plausible

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

    Al-Khalīl's entry for س-ر-و/ي already shows the root's spread: al-sarw as generosity joined to muruwwa (a sarī, pl. surāt, is so characterized), al-sarī as a mid-sized irrigation channel, al-sariyya as a raiding troop of up to four hundred horse, and al-sarwa as a small arrow — four loosely related senses. The excerpts supplied under al-Jawharī and Ibn Manẓūr in fact treat the separate hamzated root سرأ (a locust laying eggs), not سري/سرو; nothing can be reported here on their specific handling of the night-travel sense from the given material. Ibn Fāris is unusually candid: he calls this bāb 'very divergent, in which scarcely two words share a single qiyās,' listing under it sarw (generosity), sarw (uncovering, as in yasrū ʿan al-fuʾād), sarwa (a small creature), sāriya (a column), surā (night-travel: sarawtu, asraytu), sirāʾ (a tree), and sarāt (the raised back of a thing, or of the day). Al-Rāghib isolates the night-travel sense precisely — al-surā, sīr al-layl, sarā/asrā — citing Q11:81 and Q17:1, while noting a rival view that asrā derives not from sarā yasrī but from al-sarāt, 'open elevated land,' making it denominative from a wāw-root. Lane's entry for the verb (yasrī, inf. nn. surā, masrā, saryah, suryah, sirāyah) confirms surā as a rare inf.-n. pattern, noting Banū Asad treated surā and hudā as feminine on the theory that they are broken plurals of suryah/hudyah.

    Draws on: cayn · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · Lane

  • Letters & soundSīn is glossed by the akbarī scheme as 'what appears in water' and by al-Dabbāgh as marking 'the comely thing whose nature is delicacy';speculative

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

    Sīn is glossed by the akbarī scheme as 'what appears in water' and by al-Dabbāgh as marking 'the comely thing whose nature is delicacy'; rāʾ as 'the fifth heaven' and, for al-Dabbāgh, 'an indication of all goods, outward and inward'; yāʾ as 'the first heaven,' used for the vocative and for emphasis. Read speculatively, a word built on these three letters could be glossed as an intensified reaching toward something delicate and hidden — imagery not implausible for a night-journey toward unseen good — but this is composition after the fact, not derivation. Ibn ʿArabī's and al-Dabbāgh's letter-sciences treat such correspondences as meaningful; mainstream historical linguistics does not, and nothing here should be read as more than suggestive.

    Draws on: akbari198 · dabbagh_fatha

  • Root structureThe anagram family listed for س-ر-[weak] is سري, سير, رسي, ريس, يسر, يرس.plausible

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

    The anagram family listed for س-ر-[weak] is سري, سير, رسي, ريس, يسر, يرس. Ibn Fāris marks سري itself as incoherent (matching his 'very divergent' verdict above), while its letter-neighbor سير is marked coherent, denoting motion and flow (an aṣl yadullu ʿalā muḍiyyin wa-jarayān) — a much cleaner root. يسر, also coherent, covers two aṣl: opening/ease and a bodily part (yasār, the left side). ريس (coherent, small: riyās, a sword's pommel) and رسي (incoherent: firmness, rasā, 'to settle/anchor') round out the table. The proximity of سري's night-travel sense to سير's 'going, coursing' is suggestive of sustained motion under Ibn Jinnī's greater-derivation method, but Ibn Fāris keeps them formally distinct roots, and this remains juxtaposition only.

    Draws on: maqayis permutations

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident Semitic cognate for the night-travel sense of سرى is available.uncertain

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

    No confident Semitic cognate for the night-travel sense of سرى is available. The biblical name Yiśrāʾēl ('Israel,' from ś-r-h, 'to strive/contend') is phonetically close enough to tempt a false association with Arabic isrāʾ, but the Hebrew root is śîn, not sīn, and semantically unconnected to night-travel; the resemblance should be treated as coincidental. Given Ibn Fāris's own description of this Arabic root-cluster as unusually scattered, it looks like an internally diversified native development rather than a borrowing, and there is no basis for positing a loanword route.

    Draws on: comparative check

  • Quranic exegesisQ17:1, 'subḥāna alladhī asrā bi-ʿabdihi laylan,' is the Qurʾānic anchor of al-Isrāʾ, the Prophet's night journey;well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    Q17:1, 'subḥāna alladhī asrā bi-ʿabdihi laylan,' is the Qurʾānic anchor of al-Isrāʾ, the Prophet's night journey; al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī take up al-Rāghib's grammatical puzzle over why laylan is added when asrā already implies night, the standard answer being that it signals the journey's extraordinary compression into part of one night, or restricts it to a bounded stretch of it. Q11:81, 'fa-asri bi-ahlika bi-qiṭʿin min al-layl,' has Lot commanded to remove his family by night before his people's destruction; commentators note the root marking urgent, covert nocturnal departure. Q89:4, 'wa-l-layli idhā yasri,' personifies the night as itself journeying or departing; al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī debate whether yasri describes the night's own passing or an unnamed traveler within it, with most favoring the former.

    Draws on: Q17:1 · Q11:81 · Q89:4

  • Akbarian readingThe Faṣṣ Ādam excerpt uses the verbal noun sarayān directly: 'wa-lawlā sarayān al-Ḥaqq fī l-mawjūdāt bi-l-ṣūra mā kāna li-l-ʿālam wujūd' — 'had the Real not pervaded existent things in [their] form, the world would have no existence.' Here سري supplies Ibn ʿArabī's technical term for the diffusion of the Real through created forms, the ontological ground on which every mawjūd's wujūd depends.well attested

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    The Faṣṣ Ādam excerpt uses the verbal noun sarayān directly: 'wa-lawlā sarayān al-Ḥaqq fī l-mawjūdāt bi-l-ṣūra mā kāna li-l-ʿālam wujūd' — 'had the Real not pervaded existent things in [their] form, the world would have no existence.' Here سري supplies Ibn ʿArabī's technical term for the diffusion of the Real through created forms, the ontological ground on which every mawjūd's wujūd depends. This is a load-bearing term in Akbarian metaphysics, continuous with the root's 'traveling-through' sense: what moves through the night without being stopped by opacity is analogically what pervades every existent without being confined to any one of them.

    Draws on: fass adam excerpt

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