Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 4 in the Quran · 33 in 14 texts of the library

شأنPer Ibn Fāris: a single origin, ibtighāʾ wa-ṭalab — seeking, pursuit, desire. (root shn)

الشين والهمزة والنون أصل واحد يدل على ابتغاء وطلب

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

شأن

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

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

6 words3 verbs2 other nouns1 plural

  • شَأْنthing, an affair, or a business
  • شَأَنَ—
  • اشأنَ—
  • إِشْتَاَ^َ—
  • لَمِشْأَن—
The whole family3 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs3شَأَنَ · اشأنَ · إِشْتَاَ^َ

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

  • شَأَنَForm ILaneIbn Fāris
  • اشأنَForm IVLane
  • إِشْتَاَ^َLane: see Form IForm VIIILane
Other nouns2شَأْن · لَمِشْأَن

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

Plurals1شِئَان

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

  • شِئَانbroken plural of شَأْنLane

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 5 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.

مَفْعَلَةش أ نمَشْأَنَة

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 · 170Al-shaʾn (الشأن): the matter/affair, plural al-shuʾūn (الشؤون).

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

    Al-shaʾn (الشأن): the matter/affair, plural al-shuʾūn (الشؤون). And al-shuʾūn are seam-lines (namānim) in the skull between the sutures, i.e., lines between the four sutures.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشأن: الخطب، والجميع: الشؤون. والشؤون: نمانم في الجمجمة بين القبائل، أي: خطوط بين القبائل الأربع.

    al-Khalīl · 170 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 6, p. 287) ↗
  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-shaʾn (الشأن): the affair and the condition.

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

    Al-shaʾn (الشأن): the affair and the condition. One says 'la-ashʾananna shaʾnahum' (لأشأنن شأنهم), meaning 'I will surely ruin their affair.' And al-shaʾn is the singular of al-shuʾūn (الشؤون), which are the junctures of the sutures of the skull and their meeting-points, from which tears come. Ibn al-Sikkīt said: al-shaʾnān (الشأنان) are two veins descending from the head to the eyebrows and then to the eyes. One says 'ishʾan shaʾnaka' (اشأن شأنك), meaning 'do what you are skilled at.' And 'shaʾantu shaʾnahu' (شأنت شأنه) [footnote 1]: 'I aimed at what he aimed at.' And 'mā shaʾantu shaʾnahu' (ما شأنت شأنه), meaning 'I did not concern myself with it.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشأن: الأمر والحال. يقال: لأشأنن شأنهم، أي لأفسدن أمرهم. والشأن: واحد الشؤون، وهي مواصل قبائل الرأس وملتقاها، ومنها تجئ الدموع. قال ابن السكيت: الشأنان: عرقان ينحدران من الرأس إلى الحاجبين ثم إلى العينين. ويقال اشأن شأنك، أي اعمل ما تحسنه. وشأنت شأنه (1) : قصدت قصده. وما شأنت شأنه، أي لم أكترث له.

    al-Jawharī · 393 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 5, p. 2142) ↗
  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters shīn, hamzah, and nūn form a single root indicating seeking and requesting.

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

    The letters shīn, hamzah, and nūn form a single root indicating seeking and requesting. From this comes the saying of the Arabs 'shaʾantu shaʾnahu' (شأنت شأنه), meaning 'I aimed at what he aimed at,' and they cite: "O seeker of generosity, indeed generosity is a nobility… neither stinginess is from you, nor is generosity from your shaʾn (شأنك)…" They said its meaning is 'nor is generosity from your seeking (ṭalabika).' From this also comes their saying 'mā hādhā min shaʾnī' (ما هذا من شأني), meaning 'this is not among my objectives, what I seek.' As for al-shuʾūn (الشؤون), that is what lies between the sutures of the skull, each one being called a shaʾn (شأن); and they were named thus because they are the channels of tears, as though the tears sought them out and made them a course for themselves.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشين والهمزة والنون أصل واحد يدل على ابتغاء وطلب من ذلك قول العرب شأنت شأنه أي قصدت قصده وأنشدوا : — يا طالب الجود إن الجود مكرمة … لا البخل منك ولا من شأنك الجودا … قالوا معناه ولا من طلبك الجود ومن ذلك قولهم ما هذا من شأني أي ما هذا من مطلبي والذي أبتغيه وأما الشؤون فما بين قبائل الرأس الواحد شأن وإنما سميت بذلك لأنها مجاري الدمع كأن الدمع يطلبها ويجعلها لنفسه مسيلا

    Ibn Fāris · 395 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 3, p. 238) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-shaʾn (الشأن) is the state and affair that occurs and comes about, and it is said only of matters and states of great magnitude.

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

    Al-shaʾn (الشأن) is the state and affair that occurs and comes about, and it is said only of matters and states of great magnitude. God Most High said: "Every day He is engaged in an affair (shaʾn)" [al-Raḥmān 55:29]. And 'shaʾn al-raʾs' (شأن الرأس), whose plural is shuʾūn (شئون), is the joint between its corresponding parts, by which the constitution of the human being is maintained.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشأن: الحال والأمر الذي يتفق ويصلح، ولا يقال إلا فيما يعظم من الأحوال والأمور. قال الله تعالى: كل يوم هو في شأن [الرحمن/ 29] ، وشأن الرأس جمعه: شئون، وهو الوصلة بين متقابلاته التي بها قوام الإنسان.

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 470) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Al-shaʾn (الشأن): the matter, the affair, and the condition;

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

    Al-shaʾn (الشأن): the matter, the affair, and the condition; its plurals are shuʾūn (شؤون) and shiʾān (شئان), according to Ibn Jinnī on the authority of Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī. In the Noble Revelation: "Every day He is engaged in an affair (shaʾn)" — the exegetes said: it is of His affair to honor one who is lowly and to humble one who is mighty, to enrich one who is poor and impoverish one who is rich, and no affair distracts Him from another affair — glorified and exalted is He. In the ḥadīth of al-mulāʿana (mutual imprecation): 'la-kāna lī wa-lahā shaʾn' (لكان لي ولها شأن), meaning 'there would have been a reckoning between me and her' — that is, were it not for what God decreed through the verses of mutual imprecation, whereby He lifted the legal penalty (ḥadd) from her, I would have inflicted it upon her when she bore a child resembling the one with whom she was accused. In the ḥadīth of al-Ḥakam ibn Ḥazn: 'wa'l-shaʾn idhdhāka dūn' (والشأن إذ ذاك دون), meaning 'the condition' — i.e., it was weak, had not risen, and wealth had not yet been attained. As for the verse of Judhāba ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ to his father: "And our worst deed — we wronged one another in the shūn (الشون), have you seen, when you delivered me up, and my shūnī (وشوني)?" — he meant 'fī al-shuʾūn' (في الشؤون) and 'idh aslamtanī wa-shuʾūnī' (وإذ أسلمتني وشؤوني), and so he elided [the hamzah]; the like of this is frequent. It is also possible that he intended to pluralize it on the pattern of fuʿl, as in jawn/jūn (جون وجون), but lightened it or substituted [a letter] for the sake of meter and rhyme. This is not, among them, considered a repeated rhyme-word (ītāʾ), due to the difference between the two modes of definiteness — do you not see that the first is made definite by the alif and lām, while the second is made definite by annexation (iḍāfa)? 'la-ashʾananna khabarahu' (لأشأنن خبره) means 'I will surely inform him.' 'mā shaʾna shaʾnahu' (ما شأن شأنه) means 'what did he want.' 'mā shaʾna shaʾnahu' — from Ibn al-Aʿrābī — means 'he was not aware of it.' 'ishʾan shaʾnaka' (اشأن شأنك) — also from him — means 'attend to it, it concerns you.' Al-Liḥyānī related: 'atānī dhālika wa-mā shaʾantu shaʾnahu' (أتاني ذلك وما شأنت شأنه) means 'that came to me and I did not know of it.' He said: and one says 'aqbala fulānun wa-mā yashʾanu shaʾna fulānin shaʾnan' (أقبل فلان وما يشأن شأن فلان شأنا), said when he acts in a matter he either likes or dislikes. And he said: 'innahu la-mushʾānu shaʾnin an yufsidaka' (إنه لمشآن شأن أن يفسدك), meaning 'he is working to corrupt you.' And one says 'la-ashʾananna shaʾnahum' (لأشأنن شأنهم), meaning 'I will surely ruin their affair,' though it is also said its meaning is 'I will surely inform of their affair.' Al-Tahdhīb: 'atānī fulānun wa-mā shaʾantu shaʾnahu, wa-mā maʾantu maʾnahu, wa-lā intabaltu nablahu' (أتاني فلان وما شأنت شأنه، وما مأنت مأنه، ولا انتبلت نبله), meaning 'I did not concern myself with him nor pay him any heed.' One says 'ishʾan shaʾnaka' (اشأن شأنك), meaning 'do what you are skilled at.' And 'shaʾantu shaʾnahu' (شأنت شأنه): 'I aimed at what he aimed at.' Al-shaʾn (الشأن) is the course of tears to the eye, plural ashʾun (أشؤن) and shuʾūn (شؤون). And al-shuʾūn are seam-lines (namānim) in the forehead, resembling the soldering of copper, occurring between the sutures; it is also said they are the junctures of the skull's sutures leading to the eye; and it is also said they are the chains/links that join the sutures together. Al-Layth [said]: al-shuʾūn are the veins of tears from the head to the eye; he said: al-shuʾūn are seam-lines in the skull between the sutures. Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā said: al-shuʾūn are veins above the sutures — the older a man grows, the stronger and firmer they become. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: al-shuʾūn are the junctures of the sutures — between every two sutures is a shaʾn — and the tears emerge from the shuʾūn, which are four, each connected to the other. Ibn al-Aʿrābī: for women there are three [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشأن: الخطب والأمر والحال، وجمعه شؤون وشئان؛ عن ابن جني عن أبي علي الفارسي. وفي التنزيل العزيز: كل يوم هو في شأن ؛ قال المفسرون: من شأنه أن يعز ذليلا ويذل عزيزا، ويغني فقيرا ويفقر غنيا، ولا يشغله شأن عن شأن، سبحانه وتعالى. وفي حديث الملاعنة: لكان لي ولها شأن أي لولا ما حكم الله به من آيات الملاعنة وأنه أسقط عنها الحد لأقمته عليها حيث جاءت بالولد شبيها بالذي رميت به. وفي حديث الحكم بن حزن: والشأن إذ ذاك دون أي الحال ضعيفة لم ترتفع ولم يحصل الغنى؛ وأما قول جوذابة بن عبد الرحمن بن عبد الله بن الجراح لأبيه: وشرنا أظلمنا في الشون، ... أريت إذ أسلمتني وشوني فإنما أراد: في الشؤون، وإذ أسلمتني وشؤوني، فحذف، ومثله كثير، وقد يجوز أن يريد جمعه على فعل كجون وجون، إلا أنه خفف أو أبدل للوزن والقافية، وليس هذا عندهم بإيطاء لاختلاف وجهي التعريف، ألا ترى أن الأول معرفة بالألف واللام والثاني معرفة بالإضافة؟ ولأشأنن خبره أي لأخبرنه. وما شأن شأنه أي ما أراد. وما شأن شأنه؛ عن ابن الأعرابي، أي ما شعر به، واشأن شأنك؛ عنه أيضا، أي عليك به. وحكى اللحياني: أتاني ذلك وما شأنت شأنه أي ما علمت به. قال: ويقال أقبل فلان وما يشأن شأن فلان شأنا إذا عمل فيما يحب أو فيما يكره. وقال: إنه لمشآن شأن أن يفسدك أي أن يعمل في فسادك. ويقال: لأشأنن شأنهم أي لأفسدن أمرهم، وقيل: معناه لأخبرن أمرهم. التهذيب: أتاني فلان وما شأنت شأنه، وما مأنت مأنه، ولا انتبلت نبله أي لم أكترث به ولا عبأت به. ويقال: اشأن شأنك أي اعمل ما تحسنه. وشأنت شأنه: قصدت قصده. والشأن: مجرى الدمع إلى العين، والجمع أشؤن وشؤون. والشؤون: نمانم في الجبهة شبه لحام النحاس يكون بين القبائل، وقيل: هي مواصل قبائل الرأس إلى العين، وقيل: هي السلاسل التي تجمع بين القبائل. الليث: الشؤون عروق الدموع من الرأس إلى العين، قال: والشؤون نمانم في الجمجمة بين القبائل. وقال أحمد بن يحيى: الشؤون عروق فوق القبائل، فكلما أسن الرجل قويت واشتدت. وقال الأصمعي: الشؤون مواصل القبائل بين كل قبيلتين شأن، والدموع تخرج من الشؤون، وهي أربع بعضها إلى بعض. ابن الأعرابي: للنساء ثلاث قبائل. أبو عمرو وغيره: الشأنان عرقان ينحدران من الرأس إلى الحاجبين ثم إلى العينين؛ قال عبيد بن الأبرص: عيناك دمعها سروب، ... كأن شأنيهما شعيب . قال: وحجة الأصمعي قوله: لا تحزنيني بالفراق، فإنني ... لا تستهل من الفراق شؤوني . الجوهري: والشأن واحد الشؤون، وهي مواصل قبائل الرأس وملتقاها، ومنها تجيء الدموع. ويقال: استهلت شؤونه، والاستهلال قطر له صوت؛ قال أوس بن حجر: لا تحزنيني بالفراق «2». قال أبو حاتم: الشؤون الشعب التي تجمع بين قبائل الرأس وهي أربعة أشؤن؛ قال ابن بري: وأما قول الراعي: وطنبور أجش وريح ضغث، ... من الريحان، يتبع الشؤونا . فمعناه أنه تطير الرائحة حتى تبلغ إلى شؤون رأسه. وفي حديث الغسل: حتى تبلغ به شؤون رأسها ؛ هي عظامه وطرائقه ومواصل قبائله، وهي أربعة بعضها فوق بعض، وقيل: الشؤون عروق في الجبل ينبت فيها النبع، واحدها شأن. ويقال: رأيت نخيلا نابتة في شأن من شؤون الجبل، وقيل: إنها عروق من التراب في شقوق الجبال يغرس فيها النخل. وقال ابن سيده: الشؤون خطوط في الجبل، وقيل: صدوع؛ قال قيس بن ذريح: وأهجركم هجر البغيض، وحبكم ... على كبدي منه شؤون صوادع شبه شقوق كبده بالشقوق التي تكون في الجبال. وفي حديث أيوب المعلم: لما انهزمنا ركبت شأنا من قصب فإذا الحسن على شاطئ دجلة فأدنيت الشأن فحملته معي ؛ قيل: الشأن عرق في الجبل فيه تراب ينبت، والجمع شؤون؛ قال ابن الأثير: قال أبو موسى ولا أرى هذا تفسيرا له؛ وقول ساعدة بن جؤية: كأن شؤونه لبات بدن، ... خلاف الوبل، أو سبد غسيل . شبه تحدر الماء عن هذا الجبل بتحدره عن هذا الطائر أو تحدر الدم عن لبات البدن. وشؤون الخمر: ما دب منها في عروق الجسد؛ قال البعيث: بأطيب من فيها، ولا طعم قرقف ... عقار تمشى في العظام شؤونها «3».

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 13, p. 230) ↗
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.

ش أ ن

الشين والهمزة والنون أصل واحد يدل على ابتغاء وطلب

sh-ʾ-n is one root that denotes seeking and desiring.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×4

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

ش

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 ↗

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 ↗

ن

ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان ما بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى وما فويق الثنايا مخرج النون

From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Sībawayh, lines 26555–26556 ↗

ومن طرف اللسان بينه وبين ما فويق الثنايا، مخرج النون

From the tip of the tongue, between it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Ibn Jinnī, line 979 ↗

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

ش

Level of existence: فلك الكواكب الثابتة والجنات · the sphere of the fixed stars and the Gardens

Divine Name: المقدر · al-Muqaddir, the Determiner

Lunar mansion: الجبهة · al-Jabha

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62087

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

Nature (ch. 2)

السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة

Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.

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

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

ن

Level of existence: السماء الرابعة · the fourth heaven

Divine Name: النور · the Light (al-Nūr)

Lunar mansion: السماك · al-Simāk

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64663

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗

Nature (ch. 2)

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ش

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى الرحمة التي لا يعقبها عذاب، وتكون إشارة إلى من خرجت منه النقمة ودخلت عليه الرحمة وتظهر.

It is an indication of mercy that is not followed by punishment. It also indicates one from whom vengeance has departed and upon whom mercy has entered and becomes manifest.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى عال في نفسه مع التعظيم.

It is an indication of something lofty in itself, with veneration.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي من طبعه الستر، وقد تكون الإشارة إلى ما هو مستور في القلب وما أشبه ذلك.

It is an indication of the thing whose nature is concealment; the indication may be to what is concealed in the heart and the like.

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

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

ن

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي الخير الساكن في الذات الشاعل فيها.

It is the good that dwells in the self, kindling [al-shāʿil, as written] within it.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى الخير الكامل أو النور الساطع.

It is an indication of perfect good or radiant light.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى شيء يدركه المتكلم أو هو له.

It is an indication of something that the speaker perceives or that belongs to him.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus15 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterش ء

Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 15802 ↗

  • شأتالشين والهمزة والتاء إن الشئيت من الأفراس العثورL15803
  • شأسالشين والهمزة والسين هو كالباب الذي قبله وليس يبعد أن يكون من باب الإبدال فشأس اسم رجل والشأس المكان الغليظ — شأف ) الشين والهمزة والفاء كلمة تدل على L15806
  • شأنالشين والهمزة والنون أصل واحد يدل على ابتغاء وطلبQ 4 · L15812
  • شأىالشين والهمزة والياء كلمة من باب الإبدال على اختلاف فيهاL15821
  • شأمالشين والهمزة والميم أصل واحد يدل على الجانب اليسارQ 3 · L15825
  • شبثالشين والباء والثاء أصيل يدل على تعلق الشيء بالشيءL15832
  • شبحالشين والباء والحاء أصل صحيح يدل على امتداد الشيء في عرضL15835
  • شبرالشين والباء والراء أصلان أحدهما بعض الأعضاء والآخر الفضل والعطاءL15839
  • شبصالشين والباء والصاد ليس بشيء وحكى ابن دريد الشبص الخشونة وليس هو بشيءL15850
  • شبعالشين والباء والعين أصل صحيح يدل على امتلاء في أكل وغيرهL15852
  • شبقالشين والباء والقاف كلمة واحدة الشبق وهو شهوة النكاحL15860
  • شبلالشين والباء واللام أصل صحيح يدل على عطف وودL15862
  • شبمالشين والباء والميم كلمتان متباينتان جدا إحداهما الشبم البرد والشبم البارد والأخرى الشبام خشبة تعرض في فم الجدي لئلا يرضع ثم يشبه بذلك فيقال الشبامان L15869
  • شبهالشين والباء والهاء أصل واحد يدل على تشابه الشىء وتشاكله لونا ووصفاQ 12 · L15872
  • شبوالشين والباء والحرف المعتل أصلان أحدهما يدل على حد وحدة والآخر يدل على نماء وفضل وكرامة فالشباة حد كل شيء شباته والجمع الشبا والشبوات والشبوة اسم للعقL15875
In the sister scriptsHebrew ש א נSyriac ܣ ܐ ܢ
Arabicش أ ن
Hebrewש א נ
Syriacܣ ܐ ܢ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩦/𐩪 𐩱 𐩬
Phoenician𐤔 𐤀 𐤍

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) glosses shaʾn as al-khaṭb (a weighty affair), plural shuʾūn, and separately identifies al-shuʾūn as the sutures of the skull, the lines between its four quarters.well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl (al-ʿAyn) glosses shaʾn as al-khaṭb (a weighty affair), plural shuʾūn, and separately identifies al-shuʾūn as the sutures of the skull, the lines between its four quarters. Al-Jawharī (al-Ṣiḥāḥ) keeps al-amr wa-l-ḥāl (affair, state) as the core sense, records the idiom shaʾantu shaʾnahu ('I aimed for what he aimed for'), and repeats the anatomical sense — the skull's joints, whence tears flow. Ibn Fāris (Maqāyīs) reduces both senses to one root-meaning, ibtighāʾ wa-ṭalab (seeking, desire): shaʾntu shaʾnahu is qaṣadtu qaṣdahu, and the skull-sutures are named shuʾūn because they are the channels tears seek out. Al-Rāghib (al-Mufradāt) narrows the usage to weighty, momentous affairs or states, citing Q55:29, and glosses shuʾūn al-raʾs as the junctions by which the human constitution holds together. Ibn Manẓūr (Lisān) consolidates khaṭb/amr/ḥāl as the sense, cites Q55:29 with the exegetes' gloss — God abases and exalts, impoverishes and enriches, without one shaʾn distracting Him from another — and adds a legal hadith usage of shaʾn as 'state, situation'.

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

    • al-ʿAyn, s.v. ش أ ن
    • al-Ṣiḥāḥ, s.v. ش أ ن
    • Maqāyīs al-Lugha, s.v. ش أ ن
    • al-Mufradāt, s.v. شأن
    • Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. شأن
  • Letters & soundOf the three radicals, data is given only for ش and ن.speculative

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

    Of the three radicals, data is given only for ش and ن. Al-Dabbāgh reads ش (fatḥa) as a sign of mercy unfollowed by punishment, marking one from whom vengeance has departed and upon whom mercy has become manifest — apt for a root whose highest Quranic use (Q55:29) is God's unceasing beneficent activity in every affair. Ibn ʿArabī's letters-in-the-Breath correlate ش with the sphere of the fixed stars and the Gardens, and ن with the fourth heaven; al-Dabbāgh reads ن as the good dwelling in the self, kindling within it. No data is given for أ in this scheme. These correlations are speculative and have no standing in mainstream historical linguistics; they are offered as a juxtaposition only.

    Draws on: ibn ʿArabi letters · al-Dabbāgh

    • Akbarī letter-correspondence table (198)
    • al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings under fatḥa
  • Root structureIbn Fāris places shaʾn among a small cluster of أ-final roots — shaʾt (a horse's stumbling), shaʾs (rugged terrain), shaʾn (seeking), shaʾā (treated under letter-substitution), shaʾm (the left side, ill omen) — sharing no single semantic core beyond phonetic proximity.plausible

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

    Ibn Fāris places shaʾn among a small cluster of أ-final roots — shaʾt (a horse's stumbling), shaʾs (rugged terrain), shaʾn (seeking), shaʾā (treated under letter-substitution), shaʾm (the left side, ill omen) — sharing no single semantic core beyond phonetic proximity. Among the transpositions of ش-أ-ن, shanaʾa (3 occurrences, aversion/hatred) and nashaʾa (28 occurrences, rising, growth, elevation) are both attested; naʾasha (seizing, assaulting) is recorded but Ibn Fāris himself doubts it belongs to the same qiyās. Juxtaposed, not asserted: shaʾn as pursuit/seeking, shanaʾa as turning-away-from what is sought, and nashaʾa as the rising of what is sought or attained — a pattern Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation would notice without it constituting proof of common origin.

    Draws on: maqayis nucleus · permutations · ibnJinni

    • Maqāyīs al-Lugha, nucleus ش أ (link not verified)
    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, al-ishtiqāq al-akbar (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident Semitic cognate for shaʾn is identifiable from the material at hand;uncertain

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

    No confident Semitic cognate for shaʾn is identifiable from the material at hand; Hebrew and Aramaic roots resembling it in shape diverge too far in attested sense to ground a claim. There is no reason from the classical Arabic dictionaries or comparative data given to treat shaʾn as a loanword; it reads as native triliteral Arabic vocabulary.

    Draws on: comparative

  • Quranic exegesisAt Q55:29, 'kulla yawmin huwa fī shaʾn,' the mufassirūn cited in Lisān read shaʾn as God's constant governance — daily abasing and exalting, impoverishing and enriching — without change in His essence, only in the effects manifest to creation.well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At Q55:29, 'kulla yawmin huwa fī shaʾn,' the mufassirūn cited in Lisān read shaʾn as God's constant governance — daily abasing and exalting, impoverishing and enriching — without change in His essence, only in the effects manifest to creation. Al-Rāghib restricts shaʾn to weighty affairs precisely to explain why this verse uses it rather than a lesser word for 'thing' or 'occurrence.' At Q10:61, shaʾn covers whatever state or occupation a person is engaged in ('wa-mā takūnu fī shaʾnin...'), extending divine knowledge and witness to every state, however small, in contrast to the 'great affairs' sense stressed elsewhere. Exegetes generally treat the word's range — from mundane occupation to cosmic divine activity — as itself theologically significant, since the same term spans both scales.

    Draws on: lisan tafsir citation · mufradat

  • Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī uses shaʾn to name a fixed property of the divine governance itself: 'it is of the shaʾn of the divine ruling that it never levels a receptacle without that receptacle accepting a divine spirit.' Here shaʾn functions not as a passing 'affair' but as a constant characteristic of how the Real acts — echoing Q55:29's shaʾn as ceaseless divine activity, applied specifically to the necessary correlation between a prepared locus (maḥall musawًّى) and its reception of spirit.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī uses shaʾn to name a fixed property of the divine governance itself: 'it is of the shaʾn of the divine ruling that it never levels a receptacle without that receptacle accepting a divine spirit.' Here shaʾn functions not as a passing 'affair' but as a constant characteristic of how the Real acts — echoing Q55:29's shaʾn as ceaseless divine activity, applied specifically to the necessary correlation between a prepared locus (maḥall musawًّى) and its reception of spirit. No separate iṣṭilāḥ entry for shaʾn is given among Ibn ʿArabī's own terminological definitions in the material at hand.

    Draws on: Fass Adam excerpt

    • Faṣṣ Ādam, excerpt on shaʾn al-ḥukm al-ilāhī

Reference

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