Mashrabaمشربة

صرر (root srr)

الصاد والراء أصول الأول قولهم صر الدراهم يصرها صرا وتلك الخرقة صرة والذي تعرفه العرب الصرار وهي خرقة تشد على أطباء …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha

صرر
Patterns computed · our data

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

32 words5 verbs3 verbal nouns1 participle2 intensives and elatives14 other nouns3 plurals4 relatives and abstracts

  • أَصَرَّ—
  • إِصْرارinsistence; determination
  • صَرَّs, A, TA, and the hawk, or falcon, S, M, TA, or other bird, or flying thing, …
  • صَارَّhe compelled him against his will to do the thing
  • مَصْرُورbound, as a captive
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5صَرَّ · أَصَرَّ · صَرَّرَ

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

  • صَرَّs, A, TA, and the hawk, or falcon, S, M, TA, or other bird, or flying thing, …LaneForm ILaneIbn Fāris
  • أَصَرَّLane: see Form IForm IVQurʾān ×4LaneIbn Fāris
  • صَرَّرَLane: see Form IForm IILane
  • صَارَّhe compelled him against his will to do the thingLaneForm IIILane
  • اِصْتَرَّLane: see Form IForm VIIILane
Verbal nouns3إِصْرار · صَرْصَرَة · صَرِير

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

  • إِصْرارinsistence; determinationautoForm IV · Lane: inf. n.library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
  • صَرْصَرَةForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
  • صَرِيرForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles1مَصْرُور

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

  • مَصْرُورbound, as a captiveLanepassive, Form ILaneIbn Fāris
Intensives, qualities and the elative2صَرَّار · صَرُور

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

  • صَرَّارintensive (faʿʿāl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • صَرُورintensive (faʿūl)Lane
Other nouns14صَرَار · صَرُورَة · صَرِيرَة

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

Plurals3صَرَار · صَرَارَة · صَرَارِيُّون

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

  • صَرَارbroken plural of صَرُورَةLaneIbn Fāris
  • صَرَارَةbroken plural of صَرُورَةLane
  • صَرَارِيُّونsailorsfrom the singularbroken plural of صَرَارِيّLane
Relative and abstract4صَرَارِيّ · صَارُورِيّ · صَرُورِيّ

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

  • صَرَارِيّsailorLanerelative adjective (-iyy)LaneIbn Fāris
  • صَارُورِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
  • صَرُورِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
  • صَرْصَرَانِيّbactrian and the ArabianLanerelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 13 patterns does

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

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

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

مَفْعَلَةص ر رمَصْرَرَة

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.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395الصاد والراء أصول الأول قولهم صر الدراهم يصرها صرا وتلك الخرقة صرة والذي تعرفه العرب الصرار وهي خرقة تشد على أطباء الناقة لئلا يرضعها فصيلها يقال صرها صرا ومن الباب الإصرار العزم على الشيء وإنما جعلناه من قياسه لأن العزم

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

    الصاد والراء أصول الأول قولهم صر الدراهم يصرها صرا وتلك الخرقة صرة والذي تعرفه العرب الصرار وهي خرقة تشد على أطباء الناقة لئلا يرضعها فصيلها يقال صرها صرا ومن الباب الإصرار العزم على الشيء وإنما جعلناه من قياسه لأن العزم على الشيء والإجماع عليه واحد وكذلك الإصرار الثبات على الشيء ومن الباب هذه يمين صري أي جد إنا ثابت عليها مجمع ومن الباب الصرة يقال للجماعة صرة قال امرؤ القيس : — فألحقنا بالهاديات ودونه … جواحرها في صرة لم تزيل … ومن الباب حافر مصرور أي منقبض ومنه الصرصور وهو القطيع الضخم من الإبل وأما الثاني وهو من السمو والارتفاع فقولهم صر الحمار أذنه إذا أقامها وأصر إذا لم تذكر الأذن وإن ذكرت الأذن قلت أصر بأذنه وأظنه نادرا والأصل في هذا الصرار وهي أماكن مرتفعة لا يكاد الماء يعلوها فأما صرار فهو اسم علم وهو جبل قال : — إن الفرزدق لن يزايل لؤمه … حتى يزول عن الطريق صرار … وأما الثالث فالبرد والحر وهو الصر يقال أصاب النبت صر إذا أصابه برد يضر به والصر صر الريح الباردة وربما جعلوا في هذا الموضع الحر قال قوم الصارة شدة الحر حر الشمس يقال قطع الحمار صارته إذا شرب شربا كسر عطشه والصارة العطش وجمعها صوار والصريرة العطش والجمع صرائر قال : — وانصاعت الحقب لم يقصع صرائرها … وذكر أبو عبيد الصارة العطش والجمع صرائر وهو غلط والوجه ما ذكرنا وأما الرابع فالصوت من ذلك الصرة شدة الصياح صر الجندب صريرا وصرصر الأخطب صرصرة والصراري الملاح ويمكن أن يكون لرفعه صوته ومما شذ عن هذه الأصول كلمتان ولعل لهما قياسا قد خفي علينا مكانه فالأولى الصارة وهي الحاجة يقال لي قبل فلان صارة وجمعها صوار أي حاجة والكلمة الأخرى الصرورة وهو الذي لم يحجج والذي لم يتزوج ويقال الصرورة الذي يدع النكاح متبتلا وجاء في الحديث لا صرورة في الإسلام قال أبو بكر محمد بن الحسن بن دريد الأصل في الصرورة أن الرجل في الجاهلية كان إذا أحدث حدثا فلجأ إلى الكعبة لم يهج فكان إذا لقيه ولي الدم بالحرم قيل له هو صرورة فلا تهجه فكثر ذلك في كلامهم حتى جعلوا المتعبد الذي يجتنب النساء وطيب الطعام صرورة وصروريا وذلك عني النابغة بقوله : — لو أنها عرضت لأشمط راهب … عبد الإله صرورة متعبد … أي منقبض عن النساء والطيب فلما جاء الله تعالى بالإسلام وأوجب إقامة الحدود بمكة وغيرها سمي الذي لم يحج صرورة وصروريا خلافا لأمر الجاهلية كأنهم جعلوا أن تركه الحج في الإسلام كترك المتأله إتيان النساء والتنعم في الجاهلية وهذا الذي ذكرناه في معنى الصرورة يحتمل أنه من الصرار وهو الخرقة التي تشد على أطباء الناقة لئلا يرضعها فصيلها والله أعلم بالصواب ( 2باب الصاد والعين وما يثلثهما )

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

ص ر ر

الصاد والراء أصول الأول قولهم صر الدراهم يصرها صرا وتلك الخرقة صرة والذي تعرفه العرب الصرار وهي خرقة تشد على أطباء الناقة لئلا يرضعها فصيلها

ṣ-r-r: roots. The first is their saying ṣarra al-darāhim yaṣurruhā ṣarran, and that cloth is a ṣurra; and what the Arabs know as al-ṣirār, which is a cloth tied on the teats of a she-camel so that her young does not suckle her.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Quran ×6

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.

  • صṣādtongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuant, velarisedSīb. · I. Jinnī
  • رrāʾtip of the tongue, near the nūn · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
  • رrāʾtip of the tongue, near the nūn · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī

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)

14 more
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ص

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 ↗

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 ↗

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

ص

Level of existence: التراب · earth

Divine Name: المميت · al-Mumīt, the Death-Giver

Lunar mansion: البلدة · al-Balda

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62111

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

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

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

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580

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

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
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ص

فهي جميع غبار الأرض في الموقف بين يدي الله عز وجل.

It is all the dust of the earth at the Standing (on the Day of Judgement) before God, Mighty and Majestic.

فهي جميع نباتاتها.

It is all its (the earth's) plants.

فهي الأرضون السبع.

It is the seven earths.

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

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
Two-letter nucleus8 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterص ر

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 17131 ↗

  • صرعالصاد والراء والعين أصل واحد يدل على سقوط شيء إلى الأرض عن مراس اثنين ثم يحمل على ذلك ويشتق منهQ 1 · L17132
  • صرفالصاد والراء والفاء معظم بابه يدل على رجع الشيءQ 30 · L17141
  • صرمالصاد والراء والميم أصل واحد صحيح مطرد وهو القطعQ 3 · L17167
  • صرىالصاد والراء والحرف المعتل أصل واحد صحيح يدل على الجمعL17189
  • صرحالصاد والراء والحاء أصل منقاس يدل على ظهور الشيء وبروزهQ 4 · L17208
  • صرخالصاد والراء والخاء أصيل يدل على صوت رفيعQ 5 · L17219
  • صردالصاد والراء والدال أصول ثلاثة أحدها البرد والآخر الخلوص والآخر القلةL17222
  • صرطالصاد والراء والطاء وهو من باب الإبدال وقد ذكر في السين وهو الطريقQ 45 · L17233
In the sister scriptsHebrew צ ר רSyriac ܨ ܪ ܪ
Arabicص ر ر
Hebrewצ ר ר
Syriacܨ ܪ ܪ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩮 𐩧 𐩧
Phoenician𐤑 𐤓 𐤓

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.

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