Root · 43 in the Quran · 133 in 20 texts of the library
فصلDistinguishing one thing from another and marking it off — separation that makes a … (root fsl)
الفاء والصاد واللام كلمة صحيحة تدل على تمييز الشيء من الشيء وإبانته عنه
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ف ص ل that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
31 words5 verbs6 verbal nouns4 participles2 places and instruments2 intensives and elatives5 other nouns6 plurals1 relative or abstract
- فَصْلsection; chapter
- فَصَّلَclassify
- تَفْصِيلdetailing; elaboration
- فَصَلَ—
- مُفَصَّلdetailed; minute
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5فَصَلَ · فَصَّلَ · اِنْفَصَلَ
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.”)
- فَصَلَForm IQurʾān ×5Lane
- فَصَّلَclassifyautoForm IIQurʾān ×17library ×4Lane
- اِنْفَصَلَit became separated, or divided, and put apartLaneForm VIIlibrary ×7Lane
- فَاصَلَhe separated himself from his partner, with the latter's concurrenceLaneForm IIILane
- اِفْتَصَلَLane: see Form IForm VIIILaneIbn Fāris
Verbal nouns6فَصْل · تَفْصِيل · فِصَال
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- فَصْلsection; chapterautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×9library ×23Lane
- تَفْصِيلdetailing; elaborationautoForm II · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×5library ×19Lane
- فِصَالForm I · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×3Lane
- اِنْفِصالseparation; disengagementautoForm VIIlibrary ×6
Participles4مُفَصَّل · فَاصِل · مَفْصُول
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- مُفَصَّلdetailed; minuteautopassive, Form IIQurʾān ×1library ×7LaneIbn Fāris
- فَاصِلseparatingLaneactive, Form Ilibrary ×5Lane
- مَفْصُولdetached; separatedautopassive, Form Ilibrary ×1
- مُنْفَصِلseparate; detachedautoactive, Form VIIlibrary ×1
Place, time and instrument2مَفْصِل · مِفْصَل
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
- مَفْصِلany place of meeting or juncture, as being a place of separation, of two …Lanenoun of place or timelibrary ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- مِفْصَلthe tongueLanenoun of instrumentLaneIbn Fāris
Intensives, qualities and the elative2فصِيل · فَصَّال
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns5فَصِيلَت · فَيْصَل · فَصِيلَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals6فُصُول · فَاصِلِين · مَفاصِل
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- فُصُولbroken plural of فَصْلlibrary ×4
- فَاصِلِينplural of separatingfrom the singularsound plural of فَاصِلQurʾān ×1
- مَفاصِلbroken plural of مَفْصِلlibrary ×1Ibn Fāris
- مُفَصَّلَاتsound plural of مُفَصَّلَةQurʾān ×1
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 19 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
English: AI translation AIal-Khalīl · 170Al-faṣl (الفصل) is the gap/distance between two things.
al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Jawharī · 393Al-faṣl (الفصل) is one of the faṣūl (فصول) [chapters/seasons].
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395The letters fāʾ, ṣād, and lām form a sound root indicating the distinguishing of one thing from another and its separation from it.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-faṣl (الفصل) is the separation of one of two things from the other, such that there is a gap between them.
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions7 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
الفصل
قوت م ترجوه من محبوبك وهو عندنا تميزك عنه بعد حال الاتحاد.
Al-faṣl (الفصل) is your loss of what you hope for from your beloved; and according to us it is your becoming separated from Him after a state of union (ittiḥād). AI
الفاصلة الصغرى
هي ثلاث متحركات بعدها ساكن، نحو: بلغا، ويدكم.
Al-fāṣilah al-ṣughrā (الفاصلة الصغرى) [the minor pause-unit]: it is three moving letters followed by a quiescent one, as in balaghā (بلغا) and yadukum (يدكم). AI
الفاصلة الكبرى
هي أربع متحركات بعدها ساكن، نحو: بلغكم، ويعدكم.
Al-fāṣilah al-kubrā (الفاصلة الكبرى) [the major pause-unit]: it is four moving letters followed by a quiescent one, as in balaghakum (بلغكم) and yaʿidukum (يعدكم). AI
الفصل
كلي يحمل على الشيء في جواب أي شيء هو في جوهره، كالناطق والحساس، فالكلي جنس يشمل سائر الكليات، وبقولنا: "يحمل على الشيء في جواب أي شيء هو" يخرج النوع والجنس والعرض العام؛ لأن النوع والجنس يقالان في جواب ما هو، لا في جواب أي شيء هو? والعرض العام لا يقال في الجواب أصلا، وبقولنا: "في جوهره" يخرج الخاصة؛ لأنها وإن كانت مميزة لكن لا في جوهره وذاته، وهو قريب إن ميز الشيء عن مشاركاته في الجنس القريب، كالناطق للإنسان، أو بعيد، إن ميزه عن مشاركاته في الجنس البعيد، كالحساس للإنسان، والفصل في اصطلاح أهل المعاني: ترك عطف بعض الجمل على بعض بحروفه، والفصل: قطعة من الباب مستقلة بنفسها منفصلة عما سواها.
Al-faṣl (الفصل) [the differentia]: a universal (kullī/كلي) predicated of a thing in answer to 'what sort of thing is it in its essence (jawhar/جوهر)?' — such as al-nāṭiq (الناطق) [rational] and al-ḥassās (الحساس) [sentient]. 'Universal' [in the definition] is a genus encompassing all the [other] universals. By our saying 'predicated of a thing in answer to what sort of thing it is,' the species (nawʿ/نوع), the genus (jins/جنس), and the general accident (ʿaraḍ ʿāmm/عرض عام) are excluded; for species and genus are stated in answer to 'what is it?' (mā huwa) not 'what sort of thing is it?' (ayyu shayʾin huwa), while the general accident is not stated in answer at all. By our saying 'in its essence,' the property (khāṣṣah/خاصة) is excluded; for although it is distinguishing, it does not distinguish in the thing's essence and self. The differentia (faṣl) may be proximate (qarīb/قريب), if it distinguishes the thing from those sharing with it in the proximate genus — like al-nāṭiq for man — or remote (baʿīd/بعيد), if it distinguishes it from those sharing with it in the remote genus — like al-ḥassās for man. Al-faṣl (الفصل), in the terminology of the scholars of rhetoric (ahl al-maʿānī), is the omission of conjoining some clauses to others by [connective] particles. Al-faṣl (الفصل) [also means] a self-contained section of a chapter/book (bāb/باب), separate from what is other than it. AI
الفصل المقوم
عبارة عن جزء داخل في الماهية، كالناطق مثلا، فإنه داخل في ماهية الإنسان، ومقوم لها؛ إذ لا وجود للإنسان، في الخارج، والذهن بدونه.
Al-faṣl al-muqawwim (الفصل المقوم): an expression for a part that enters into the essence [of a thing], such as al-nāṭiq (الناطق), for it enters into the essence of man and constitutes it, since man has no existence — externally or mentally — without it. AI
المنفصلة
هي التي يحكم فيها بالتنافي بين القضيتين في الصدق والكذب معا، أي بأنهما لا يصدقان ولا يكذبان، أو في الصدق فقط، أي بأنهما لا يصدقان، ولكنهما قد يكذبان، أو في الكذب فقط، أي بأنهما لا يكذبان وربما يصدقان، أو سلب ذلك التنافي، فإن حكم فيها بالتنافي فهي منفصلة موجبة، فإذا كان التنافي في الصدق والكذب سميت: حقيقة، كقولنا: إما أن يكون هذا العدد زوجا أو فردا، فإن قولنا: هذا العدد زوج، وهذا العدد فرد، لا يصدقان معا ولا يكذبان، فإن كان الحكم فيها بالتنافي في الصدق فقط، فهي مانعة الجمع، كقولنا: إما أن يكون هذا الشيء شجرا أو حجرا، فإن قولنا: هذا الشيء شجر وهذا الشيء حجر، لا يصدقان، وقد يكذبان بأن يكون هذا الشيء حيوانا، وإذا كان الحكم بالتنافي في الكذب فقط فهي مانعة الخلو، كقولنا: إما أن يكون هذا الشيء لا حجرا ولا شجرا، فإن قولنا: هذا الشيء لا شجر وهذا الشيء لا حجر، لا يكذبان، وإلا لكان الشيء شجرا وحجرا معا، وقد يصدقان بأن يكون الشيء حيوانا. وإن كان الحكم بسلب التنافي فهي منفصلة سالبة، فإن كان الحكم بسلب التنافي في الصدق والكذب كانت سالبة حقيقية، كقولنا: ليس إما أن يكون هذا الإنسان أسود أو كاتبا؛ فإنه يجوز اجتماعهما ويجوز ارتفاعهما، وإن كان الحكم بسلب التنافي في الصدق فقط كانت سالبة مانعة الجمع، كقولنا: ليس إما أن يكون هذا الإنسان حيوانا أو أسود؛ فإنه يجوز اجتماعهما ولا يجوز ارتفاعهما، وإن كان الحكم بسلب المنافاة في الكذب فقط كانت سالبة مانعة الخلو، كقولنا: ليس إما أن يكون هذا الإنسان روميا أو زنجيا؛ فإنه يجوز ارتفاعهما ولا يجوز اجتماعهما.
Al-munfaṣilah (المنفصلة) [the disjunctive proposition]: that in which incompatibility (tanāfī/تنافي) is judged to hold between the two propositions, either in truth and falsity together — i.e., that they cannot both be true and cannot both be false — or in truth alone — i.e., that they cannot both be true, though they may both be false — or in falsity alone — i.e., that they cannot both be false, though they may both be true — or [it may involve] the negation of that incompatibility. If incompatibility is judged to hold in it, it is an affirmative disjunctive (munfaṣilah mūjabah/منفصلة موجبة). If the incompatibility is [both] in truth and in falsity, it is called ḥaqīqīyah (حقيقية) [a genuine disjunction], as in our saying: 'This number is either even or odd' — for our statements 'this number is even' and 'this number is odd' cannot both be true, nor can they both be false. If the judgment of incompatibility in it concerns truth alone, it is māniʿat al-jamʿ (مانعة الجمع) [exclusive-of-conjunction only], as in our saying: 'This thing is either a tree or a stone' — for our statements 'this thing is a tree' and 'this thing is a stone' cannot both be true, but they may both be false, in that this... [entry continues] AI
المنفصل منه
ما سقط من الرواة قبل الوصول إلى التابع أكثر من واحد.
Al-munfaṣil minhu (المنفصل منه): that from which more than one [narrator] has dropped out among the transmitters before reaching the Successor (tābiʿ/التابع). AI
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ف ص ل
الفاء والصاد واللام كلمة صحيحة تدل على تمييز الشيء من الشيء وإبانته عنه
F-ṣ-l is a sound word that indicates distinguishing a thing from a thing and setting it apart from it. AI
Ibn Fāris ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×43
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
- فfāʾlower lip and upper teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- صṣādtongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuant, velarisedSīb. · I. Jinnī
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. 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
ف
ومن باطن الشفة السفلى وأطراف الثنايا العلى مخرج الفاء
From the inside of the lower lip and the edges of the upper front teeth is the place of the fāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26562 ↗
ومن باطن الشفة السفلى وأطراف الثنايا العلى، مخرج الفاء
From the inside of the lower lip and the edges of the upper front teeth is the place of the fāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 985 ↗
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 ↗
ل
ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان، من بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى، مما فويق الضاحك والناب والرباعية والثنية، مخرج اللام
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, just above the premolar, the canine, the lateral and the central incisor, is the place of the lām. Ibn Jinnī, lines 977–978 ↗
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
ف
Level of existence: الملائكة · the angels
Divine Name: القوى · the Strong (al-Qawī)
Lunar mansion: سعد الأخبية · Saʿd al-Akhbiya
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 65823Spheres 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 2582ص
Level of existence: التراب · earth
Divine Name: المميت · al-Mumīt, the Death-Giver
Lunar mansion: البلدة · al-Balda
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62111Spheres 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 2580ل
Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven
Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)
Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
منها دون الألف فطبعها الحرارة واليبوسة
[Zāy and lām] of it, excluding alif: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2577Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ف
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي لنفي الخبث بعد ما كان جنسه معلوما بالخبث، فهي إشارة إلى أنه طاهر وجنسه خبيث، والخبث مثل المعاصي وما أشبهها.
It is for negating foulness in something whose genus is known for foulness. It thus indicates that the thing is pure while its genus is foul; foulness being like sins and the like.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي لتزويل الخبث.
It is for removing foulness.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الذات وما احتوت عليه، وفي بعض الأحيان قد يكون معها التقليل.
It is an indication of the self and what it contains; at times it may carry a sense of diminution.
ص
With fatḥa ـَ
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.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي جميع نباتاتها.
It is all its (the earth's) plants.
With kasra ـِ
فهي الأرضون السبع.
It is the seven earths.
ل
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي حصول المتكلم على شيء عظيم، وتكون إشارة إلى شيء عظيم.
It is the speaker's attaining of something great, and it serves as an indication of something great.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.
It is an indication of the thing that has no end.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة من المتكلم إلى وجود ذاته أو إلى ذاته.
It is an indication by the speaker of the existence of his self, or of his self.
Two-letter nucleus5 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterف ص
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 25105 ↗
- فصلالفاء والصاد واللام كلمة صحيحة تدل على تمييز الشيء من الشيء وإبانته عنهQ 43 · L25106
- فصمالفاء والصاد والميم أصل صحيح يدل على انصداع شيء من غير بينونةQ 1 · L25114
- فصحالفاء والصاد والحاء أصل يدل على خلوص في شيء ونقاء من الشوبQ 1 · L25121
- فصدالفاء والصاد والدال كلمة صحيحة وهي الفصد وهو قطع العرق حتى يسيل والفصيد دم كان يجعل في معى من فصد عروق الإبل ويشوى ويؤكل وذلك في الشدة تصيبL25130
- فصعالفاء والصاد والعين يدل على خروج شيء عن شيءL25133
In the sister scriptsHebrew פ צ לSyriac ܦ ܨ ܠ
| Arabic | ف ص ل |
| Hebrew | פ צ ל |
| Syriac | ܦ ܨ ܠ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩰 𐩮 𐩡 |
| Phoenician | 𐤐 𐤑 𐤋 |
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
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl defines faṣl concretely as bawn mā bayn al-shayʾayn, the gap between two things, exemplified by the body's mafṣil (joint) — each faṣl paired with a waṣl (connection) — and extends it to judicial sense: al-qaḍāʾ bayna al-ḥaqq wa-l-bāṭil, decisive judgment between truth and falsehood, whence the noun faysal (arbiter) and the epithet ḥukm fāṣil.well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl defines faṣl concretely as bawn mā bayn al-shayʾayn, the gap between two things, exemplified by the body's mafṣil (joint) — each faṣl paired with a waṣl (connection) — and extends it to judicial sense: al-qaḍāʾ bayna al-ḥaqq wa-l-bāṭil, decisive judgment between truth and falsehood, whence the noun faysal (arbiter) and the epithet ḥukm fāṣil. Al-Jawharī adds the vocabulary of weaning (faṣala al-radīʿa ʿan ummihi fiṣālan), of dissolving a partnership (fāṣaltu sharīkī), and of prosody (al-fāṣilah). Ibn Fāris (Maqāyīs) crystallizes the core as tamyīz al-shayʾ min al-shayʾ wa-ibānatuhū ʿanh, and explains mifṣal (tongue) as so named 'because by it matters are distinguished' — speech itself as an instrument of faṣl. Al-Rāghib deepens the abstraction: faṣl becomes yawm al-faṣl (the Day of Judgment, when truth is distinguished from falsehood) and faṣl al-khiṭāb (decisive speech that settles a case) — a movement from the physical joint-gap to abstract verbal and forensic decision that Lane later credits explicitly to al-Rāghib's formulation.
Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · Lane
- al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, s.v. فصل
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, s.v. فصل
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah, s.v. فصل
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, s.v. فصل
- Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. فصل
Letters & soundIbn ʿArabī's letter-correspondences (Futūḥāt ch.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
Ibn ʿArabī's letter-correspondences (Futūḥāt ch. 198) assign ف to the angels, ص to the earth's dust — specifically the dust of mankind gathered at the Standing before God — and ل to the third heaven and 'attaining something great.' Al-Dabbāgh reads the fatḥah of ف as negating foulness within a genus known for foulness, marking purity inside an impure category — a resonance with faṣl's sense of distinguishing the pure/true from what it is mixed with. The combination (angels, the gathered dust of the Judgment, a great attainment) suggestively echoes the Qurʾānic yawm al-faṣl, the Day of Judgment, but this must be flagged as speculative letter-symbolism, not linguistic derivation.
Draws on: akbari198 · dabbagh_fatha
- Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah, ch. 198
- al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings on the fatḥah
Root structureIbn Fāris's neighboring ف-ص entries trace a spectrum of degrees of separation: فصم is a crack without full severance (inṣidāʿ min ghayr baynūnah), against which فصل — full separation — stands as its completion;plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris's neighboring ف-ص entries trace a spectrum of degrees of separation: فصم is a crack without full severance (inṣidāʿ min ghayr baynūnah), against which فصل — full separation — stands as its completion; فصح is purity distinguished from admixture (fitting faṣl's later sense of distinguishing truth from falsehood); فصد is the cutting of a vein to release blood; فصع is something's emergence out of something else. Among the permutations, only فلص shows any semantic proximity — infilāṣ, 'slipping/extraction' — but Ibn Fāris himself flags this as possibly a corruption via substitution (ibdāl) of a different root rather than a genuine shared meaning; صلف (harshness) and لصف (dryness, glitter) are semantically unconnected. The picture is of a coherent ف-ص family of separation-notions in varying degrees, with فصل as the term for a complete, decisive cut.
Draws on: nucleusSiblings · permutations
- nucleusSiblings, permutations data
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah, s.v. فصم, فصح
Semitic kin & loanwordsA solid cognate exists: Hebrew p-ṣ-l (Gen 30:37-38, wayəp̄aṣṣēl, 'he peeled/stripped [the rods]') shares both the three radicals and the core sense of splitting or stripping one layer from another.plausible
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
A solid cognate exists: Hebrew p-ṣ-l (Gen 30:37-38, wayəp̄aṣṣēl, 'he peeled/stripped [the rods]') shares both the three radicals and the core sense of splitting or stripping one layer from another. Aramaic/Syriac pṣl carries a similar sense of splitting or dividing. This points to an inherited Proto-Semitic root *pṣl meaning to split/separate, of which Arabic faṣala (with its extension into judicial and verbal 'distinguishing') is a regular semantic development; there is no reason to think the Arabic word is a loan.
Draws on: comparative
- Genesis 30:37-38 (Hebrew), BDB entry for פצל
- Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. pṣl
Quranic exegesisYawm al-faṣl (e.g. Q37:21, 44:40) is glossed by al-Ṭabarī as the Day on which God separates and renders final judgment between His creatures;well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
Yawm al-faṣl (e.g. Q37:21, 44:40) is glossed by al-Ṭabarī as the Day on which God separates and renders final judgment between His creatures; al-Zamakhsharī takes faṣl as qaḍāʾ, a verdict that permanently ends dispute; al-Rāzī explains the name as marking the day on which truth is finally and decisively distinguished from falsehood for every soul. At Q12:94 (lammā faṣalat al-ʿīr) and Q2:249 (lammā faṣala Ṭālūtu bi-l-junūd), the exegetes read faṣala in its plain, physical sense — the caravan's or the army's departure/setting-out from a place, a literal separation from a location. At Q6:57, khayru al-fāṣilīn, al-Rāghib and al-Zamakhsharī gloss God as the best of those who decisively distinguish and judge between truth and falsehood.
Philosophy & kalāmIn Arabic logic faṣl is the technical rendering of the Aristotelian/Porphyrian differentia: together with jins (genus), faṣl constitutes the definitional formula (ḥadd) of a thing — e.g.well attested
The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.
In Arabic logic faṣl is the technical rendering of the Aristotelian/Porphyrian differentia: together with jins (genus), faṣl constitutes the definitional formula (ḥadd) of a thing — e.g. nāṭiq (rational) is the faṣl that, added to the genus ḥayawān (animal), defines insān (human). Avicenna employs this systematically in his logical works (al-Shifāʾ: al-Manṭiq; Kitāb al-Ḥudūd), where correct definition requires isolating the proximate genus and the specific differentia that separates the definiendum from all else sharing that genus.
Draws on: mantiq
- Avicenna, al-Shifāʾ: al-Manṭiq, Kitāb al-Ḥudūd
- SEP: Arabic and Islamic Philosophy of Language and Logic ↗
Akbarian readingIbn ʿArabī's own definition (Iṣṭilāḥ) treats faṣl technically as the opposite of waṣl in the language of mystical states: 'faṣl is the cutting-off of what you had hoped for from your beloved;well attested
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
Ibn ʿArabī's own definition (Iṣṭilāḥ) treats faṣl technically as the opposite of waṣl in the language of mystical states: 'faṣl is the cutting-off of what you had hoped for from your beloved; for us it is your becoming distinguished from Him after the state of union (ittiḥād)' — separation as the aftermath of, and contrast to, unitive experience. In Faṣṣ Ādam, the Perfect Human is called al-kalimah al-fāṣilah al-jāmiʿah, the distinguishing-yet-comprehensive Word — a deliberate pairing of faṣl (distinguishing, setting apart) with jamʿ (gathering), since Adam/Universal Man both stands apart as a discrete reality and gathers within himself the realities of the whole cosmos, much as a bezel (faṣṣ, a paronomastically adjacent but distinct root) sets a jewel apart while displaying it. A further line states that despite this faṣl, 'the whole is bound to the whole, so there is no separation (infiṣāl) from it' — asserting an underlying ontological continuity beneath every apparent distinction.
Draws on: fassAdam · ibnArabiDefinitions
- Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
Reference