Root · 79 in the Quran · 110 in 16 texts of the library
عرض (root rd)
العين والراء والضاد بناء تكثر فروعه وهي مع كثرتها ترجع إلى أصل واحد وهو العرض الذي يخالف الطول ومن حقق النظر ودققه علم …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ع ر ض that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
57 words8 verbs8 verbal nouns6 participles3 places and instruments4 intensives and elatives14 other nouns8 plurals6 relatives and abstracts
- أَعْرَضَavoid
- مُعْرِضُون—
- عَرَضَit was, or became, broad, or wide
- عَرْضbreadth
- عَرَضthing that happens to, befalls, or occurs to, a man
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs8عَرَضَ · أَعْرَضَ · عَرَّضَ
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 يَفْعُلُ (a – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- عَرَضَit was, or became, broad, or wideLaneForm IQurʾān ×11library ×12LaneIbn Fāris
- أَعْرَضَavoidautoForm IVQurʾān ×32library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- عَرَّضَhe made it broad, or wideLaneForm IIQurʾān ×1library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- عَارَضَhe opposed him being opposed by himLaneForm IIIlibrary ×3LaneIbn Fāris
Verbal nouns8عَرْض · عَرَض · إِعْرَاض
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- عَرْضbreadthLaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×4library ×6LaneIbn Fāris
- عَرَضthing that happens to, befalls, or occurs to, a manLaneForm VIII · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×6LaneIbn Fāris
- إِعْرَاضavoidanceautoForm IV · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×2library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- اِعْتِراضopposition; resistanceautoForm VIIIlibrary ×2Ibn Fāris
Participles6عَارِض · مُعَارِض · مُعَرَّض
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Place, time and instrument3مَعْرِض · مِعْرَاض · مِعْرَض
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative4عَرِيض · عَرُوض · عِرِّيض
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns14عِرْض · عُرْضَة · أَعْرَاض
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
- عِرْضhonorautonounlibrary ×10LaneIbn Fāris
- عُرْضَةsuch a one is a butt to menLanenounQurʾān ×1library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- أَعْرَاضnounLaneIbn Fāris
- عَوارِضsymptomsautonounlibrary ×1Ibn Fāris
Plurals8مُعْرِضُون · أَعْرَاض · عَوَارِض
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- مُعْرِضُونsound plural of مُعْرِضQurʾān ×19
- أَعْرَاضplural of honorfrom the singularbroken plural of عِرْضlibrary ×10LaneIbn Fāris
- عَوَارِضbroken plural of عَارِضLaneIbn Fāris
- عُرُضbroken plural of عَرُوضLaneIbn Fāris
Relative and abstract6عَرَضِيّ · عَرُضِيّ · عَرْضِيّ
-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →
- عَرَضِيّnonessential; fortuitousautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×2Ibn Fāris
- عَرُضِيّprosodistLanerelative adjective (-iyy)LaneIbn Fāris
- عَرْضِيّkind of cloths or garmentsLanerelative adjective (-iyy)LaneIbn Fāris
- عُرْضِيَّةrefractoriness, and a random or heedless manner of going, by reason of prideLaneabstract noun (-iyya)LaneIbn Fāris
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 23 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.
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 AI
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)' AI
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 AI
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
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
Ibn Fāris · 395العين والراء والضاد بناء تكثر فروعه وهي مع كثرتها ترجع إلى أصل واحد وهو العرض الذي يخالف الطول ومن حقق النظر ودققه علم صحة ما قلناه وقد شرحنا ذلك شرحا شافيا فالعرض خلاف الطول تقول منه عرض الشيء يعرض عرضا فهو عريض وقال أب
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ع ر ض
العين والراء والضاد بناء تكثر فروعه وهي مع كثرتها ترجع إلى أصل واحد وهو العرض الذي يخالف الطول ومن حقق النظر ودققه علم صحة ما قلناه وقد شرحنا ذلك شرحا شافيا فالعرض خلاف الطول تقول منه عرض الشيء يعرض عرضا فهو عريض وقال أب …
ʿ-r-ḍ is a structure whose branches are numerous, and despite their numerousness they go back to one root, which is al-ʿarḍ that is the opposite of length. Whoever examines and scrutinizes the matter closely will know the soundness of what we have said, and we have explained that with a fully sufficient explanation. Al-ʿarḍ is the opposite of length; one says from it: ʿaraḍa al-shayʾu yaʿriḍu ʿarḍan, so it is ʿarīḍ. Abū… AI
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:
- 1 of 6319
- 2 of 6218
- 3 of 6164
- 4 of 6155
- 5 of 6107
- 6 of 658
- 1 of 6148
- 2 of 6108
- 3 of 6157
- 4 of 6179
- 5 of 6111
- 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.
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
- عʿaynmiddle of the throat · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- رrāʾtip of the tongue, near the nūn · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- ضḍādside of the tongue, by the molars · voiced, continuant, velarisedSīb. · 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)
Reference
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ع
ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء
From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗
ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء
From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗
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 ↗
ض
ومن بين أول حافة اللسان وما يليها من الأضراس مخرج الضاد
From between the first part of the tongue's edge and the molars next to it is the place of the ḍād. Sībawayh, line 26554 ↗
ومن أول حافة اللسان وما يليها من الأضراس مخرج الضاد
From the first part of the tongue's edge and the molars next to it is the place of the ḍād. Ibn Jinnī, line 975 ↗
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 AI
ع
Level of existence: الطبيعة · Nature
Divine Name: الباطن · The Inward (al-Bāṭin)
Lunar mansion: الثريا · al-Thurayyā (the Pleiades)
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 63825Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
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 64675Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582ض
Level of existence: السماء الثانية · the second heaven
Divine Name: العليم · the All-Knowing (al-ʿAlīm)
Lunar mansion: الصرفة · al-Ṣarfa
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64627Spheres 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 2580Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ع
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي اسم لقدوم أو رحيل.
It is a name for arrival or departure.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي اسم للساكن في الذات التي تقوم به.
It is a name for that which dwells in the self and by which the self subsists.
With kasra ـِ
فهي اسم لخبث الذات.
It is a name for the foulness of the self.
ر
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى جميع الخيرات الظاهرة والباطنة.
It is an indication of all goods, outward and inward.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الواحد في نفسه وهو ظاهر.
It is an indication of the one in itself, and it is manifest.
With kasra ـِ
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.
ض
With fatḥa ـَ
عبارة عن الصحة وعدم البلاء.
It expresses health and the absence of affliction.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نور فيه أو لا ظلام فيه.
It is an indication of the thing in which there is no light, or no darkness.
With kasra ـِ
فهي عبارة عن الخضوع.
It expresses submissiveness/humility.
Two-letter nucleus14 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterع 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 22110 ↗
- عرزالعين والراء والزاء أصل صحيح يدل على استصعاب وانقباضL22111
- عرسالعين والراء والسين أصل واحد صحيح تعود فروعه إليه وهو الملازمةL22116
- عرشالعين الراء والشين أصل صحيح واحد يدل على ارتفاع في شيء مبني ثم يستعار في غير ذلكQ 33 · L22155
- عرصالعين والراء والصاد أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على إظلال شيء على شيء والآخر يدل على الاضطراب وقد ذكر الخليل القياسين جميعاL22194
- عرقالعين والراء والقاف أربعة أصول صحيحة أحدها الشيء يتولد من شىء كالندى والرشح وما أشبهه والآخر الشيء ذو السنخ فسنخه منقاس من هذا الباب والثالث كشط شيء عL22389
- عركالعين والراء والكاف أصل واحد صحيح يدل على دلك وما أشبهه من تمريس شيء بشيء أو تمرسه بهL22478
- عرمالعين والراء والميم أصل صحيح واحد يدل على شدة وحدةQ 1 · L22513
- عرنالعين والراء والنون أصل صحيح واحد يدل على ثبات وإثبات شيء كالشيء المركبL22530
- عروىالعين والراء والحرف المعتل أصلان صحيحان متباينان يدل أحدهما على ثبات وملازمة وغشيان والآخر يدل على خلو ومفارقةL22542
- عربالعين والراء والباء أصول ثلاثة أحدها الإنابة والإفصاح والآخر النشاط وطيب النفس والثالث فساد في جسم أو عضوQ 22 · L22602
- عرتالعين والراء والتاء العرت الدلك والرمح العرات مثل العراص وهو المضطربL22634
- عرثقال أبو بكر العرث الانتزاع عرثه عرثا إذا انتزعه وهو من المجملL22635
- عرجالعين والراء والجيم ثلاثة أصول الأول يدل على ميل وميل والآخر على عدد والآخر على سمو وارتقاءQ 9 · L22636
- عردالعين والراء والدال أصلان صحيحان يدل أحدهما على قوة واشتداد والآخر على ميل وحيادL22664
In the sister scriptsHebrew ע ר צSyriac ܥ ܪ ܥ
| Arabic | ع ر ض |
| Hebrew | ע ר צ |
| Syriac | ܥ ܪ ܥ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩲 𐩧 𐩳 |
| Phoenician | 𐤏 𐤓 𐤑 |
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.
Reference