Mashrabaمشربة

فضلan excess or surplus in a thing (root fdl)

الفاء والضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على زيادة في شيء

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

فضل
Patterns computed · our data

The words of ف ض ل that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

35 words7 verbs4 verbal nouns4 participles3 places and instruments4 intensives and elatives8 other nouns4 plurals1 relative or abstract

  • فَضْلexceeding, a redundant, or a superfluous, quantum of anything, good or evil
  • فَضَّلَhe attributed to him an excellence distinguishing him from or above another, …
  • فَاضِلthe wealth, or property, of such a one is superfluous
  • فَضِيلَةexcellence, or excellent quality
  • فَضَائِل—
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs7فَضَلَ · فَضَّلَ · تَفَضَّلَ

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.”)

Verbal nouns4فَضْل · تَفْضِيل · إِفْضَال

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

Participles4فَاضِل · مُتَفَضِّل · مُفَضَّل

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

  • فَاضِلthe wealth, or property, of such a one is superfluousLaneactive, Form Ilibrary ×9Lane
  • مُتَفَضِّلone who lays claim to superiority of excellence over his equals, or fellowsLaneactive, Form VLaneIbn Fāris
  • مُفَضَّلpassive, Form IILaneIbn Fāris
  • مَفْضُولsometimes, or often, what is not found in the overcomer is found in the overcomeLanepassive, Form ILane
Place, time and instrument3مِفْضَل · مِفْضَال · مِفْضَلَة

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

  • مِفْضَلnoun of instrumentLaneIbn Fāris
  • مِفْضَالman possessing much excellence, or superiority, and beneficence, and …Lanenoun of instrumentLane
  • مِفْضَلَةnoun of instrumentLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative4أَفْضَل · فَضَّال · فَضُول

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

  • أَفْضَلmore, and most excellentLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)library ×3Lane
  • فَضَّالintensive (faʿʿāl)Lane
  • فَضُولintensive (faʿūl)Lane
  • فَضِيلquality (faʿīl)Lane
Other nouns8فَضِيلَة · فَضْلَة · فُضُل

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

  • فَضِيلَةexcellence, or excellent qualityLanenounlibrary ×7Lane
  • فَضْلَةresidue; wasteautonounlibrary ×1Lane
  • فُضُلnounLaneIbn Fāris
  • فُضَالَةnounLane
Plurals4فَضَائِل · فَوَاضِل · فُضَلَاء

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

  • فَضَائِلbroken plural of فَضِيلَةlibrary ×6Lane
  • فَوَاضِلbroken plural of فاضِلَةlibrary ×3Lane
  • فُضَلَاءbroken plural of فاضِلlibrary ×1Lane
  • فاضِلاتsound plural of فاضِلlibrary ×1
Relative and abstract1فُضُولِيّ

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

  • فُضُولِيّone who busies himself with that which does not concern himLanerelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 22 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.

مَفْعَلَةف ض لمَفْضَلَة

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
About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Al-faḍl (الفضل) is well known [i.e.

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

    Al-faḍl (الفضل) is well known [i.e. needs no gloss]. Al-fāḍila (الفاضلة) is a noun for al-faḍl. Al-faḍāla (الفضالة) is what is left over of anything. Al-faḍla (الفضلة) is the remainder of anything. Al-faḍīla (الفضيلة) is the degree and elevation of excellence. Al-tafaḍḍul (التفضل) is bestowing generosity upon another — [and God, glorified and exalted, said: 'yurīdu an yatafaḍḍala ʿalaykum' (he wants to have superiority over you) [Quran 23:24]; its meaning is: he wants to have precedence over you in rank and status, and this is not the tafaḍḍul that means beneficence and generosity]. Al-tafaḍḍul (التفضل) [also means] wrapping oneself loosely in a garment [leaving one shoulder bare]. A man is called faḍl (فضل) or mutafaḍḍil (متفضل), and a woman faḍl (فضل) or mutafaḍḍila (متفضلة). She wears a garment called thawb faḍl (ثوب فضل), meaning its two ends are crossed over her shoulder as she wraps herself in it; it is said: 'when the singing-girl in her loose house-garment (al-faḍl) trills her song...' Afḍala fulānun ʿalā fulānin (أفضل فلان على فلان) means he gave someone from his surplus and treated him kindly. Afḍala min al-arḍi wa-l-ṭaʿām (أفضل من الأرض والطعام) means he left something over from it. The dialect of the people of the Hijaz is faḍala yafḍulu (فضل يفضل). A man called mifḍāl (مفضال) is one abundant in good. Al-fiḍāl (الفضال) is a verbal noun like al-mufāḍala (المفاضلة, mutual rivalry in excellence). Al-fiḍāl (الفضال) is also the plural of al-faḍla (الفضلة) of wine and the like. [Al-fiḍāl (الفضال) is also the single garment a man wraps himself in at home; a verse is cited: 'Cast off from yourself the fiḍāl (فضال) of languor with a leap, O gazelle-like one, for this state of ease (tafaḍḍul) has lasted long.'] [It is also said: faḍala fulānun ʿalā fulānin (فضل فلان على فلان) means he prevailed over him, and faḍaltu l-rajula (فضلت الرجل) means I overcame him; a verse is cited: 'Your left hand surpasses [other men's] right hands, except the right hand of your father, whose largesse is abundant.']

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الفضل معروف. والفاضلة اسم الفضل. والفضالة: ما فضل من كل شيء. والفضلة: البقية من كل شيء. والفضيلة: الدرجة والرفعة في الفضل. والتفضل: التطول على غيرك، [وقال الله- جل وعز-: يريد أن يتفضل عليكم «125» معناه: يريد أن يكون له الفضل عليكم في القدر والمنزلة، وليس من التفضل الذي هو بمعنى الإفضال والتطول] «126» . والتفضل: التوشح. ورجل فضل ومتفضل، وامرأة فضل ومتفضلة. وعليها ثوب فضل، وهو أن تخالف بين طرفيه على عاتقها تتوشح به، قال: اذا تغرد فيه القينة الفضل «127» وافضل فلان على فلان: أناله من فضله وأحسن إليه. وأفضل من الأرض والطعام اذا ترك منه شيئا. ولغة أهل الحجاز فضل يفضل «128» ورجل مفضال: كثير الخير. والفضال مصدر كالمفاضلة. والفضال جمع الفضلة من الخمر وغيرها. [والفضال: الثوب الواحد يتفضل به الرجل، يلبسه في بيته، وأنشد: وألق فضال الوهن عنك بوثبة ... حوارية قد طال هذا التفضل] «129» [ويقال: فضل فلان على فلان اذا غلب عليه، وفضلت الرجل: غلبته، وأنشد: شمالك تفضل الأيمان إلا ... يمين أبيك نائلها الغزير] «130»

  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-faḍl (الفضل) and al-faḍīla (الفضيلة) are the opposite of deficiency and defect.

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

    Al-faḍl (الفضل) and al-faḍīla (الفضيلة) are the opposite of deficiency and defect. Al-ifḍāl (الإفضال) is beneficence. A man is called mifḍāl (مفضال) and a woman mifḍāla (مفضالة) toward her people when she is generous and possessed of excellence. Afḍala ʿalayhi (أفضل عليه) and tafaḍḍala (تفضل) have the same meaning. Al-mutafaḍḍil (المتفضل) also means one who claims superiority over his peers, as in His saying, the Exalted: '(yurīdu an yatafaḍḍala ʿalaykum)' [Quran 23:24]. Afḍaltu minhu shayʾan (أفضلت منه شيئا) and istafḍaltu (استفضلت) mean the same [I left something over from it]. Faḍḍaltuhu ʿalā ghayrihi tafḍīlan (فضلته على غيره تفضيلا) means I judged him superior to it, i.e. I made him so. Fāḍaltuhu fa-faḍaltuhu (فاضلته ففضلته) means I competed with him in excellence and surpassed him. Al-faḍla (الفضلة) and al-faḍāla (الفضالة) are what remains over of a thing. Faḍala minhu shayʾun yafḍulu (فضل منه شيء يفضل), [conjugated] like dakhala yadkhulu (دخل يدخل). There is another dialect: faḍila yafḍalu (فضل يفضل), like ḥadhira yaḥdharu (حذر يحذر), reported by Ibn al-Sikkīt. There is a third dialect combining the two: faḍila (with kasra) yafḍulu (with ḍamma), which is anomalous with no parallel. Sībawayh said: according to our colleagues this only arises from a mixture of two dialects; he said likewise for naʿima yanʿumu (نعم ينعم), mitta tamūtu (مت تموت), and kidtu takūdu (كدت تكود). Tafaḍḍalat al-marʾatu fī baytihā (تفضلت المرأة في بيتها) means she was [dressed] in a single garment only, like a khayʿal (خيعل) or the like, in her house. That garment is called mifḍal (مفضل, with kasra on the mīm), and the woman [so dressed] is called faḍl (فضل, with ḍamma), on the pattern of junub (جنب), and likewise the man. And it is said: innahu la-ḥasanu l-fiḍla (إنه لحسن الفضلة), from Abū Zayd, on the pattern of jilsa (جلسة) and rikba (ركبة).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الفضل والفضيلة: خلاف النقص والنقيصة. والإفضال: الإحسان. ورجل مفضال وامرأة مفضالة على قومها، إذا كانت ذات فضل سمحة. وأفضل عليه وتفضل، بمعنى. والمتفضل أيضا: الذي يدعي الفضل على أقرانه. ومنه قوله تعالى: (يريد أن يتفضل عليكم) . وأفضلت منه شيئا واستفضلت، بمعنى. وفضلته على غيره تفضيلا، إذا حكمت له بذلك، أي صيرته كذلك. وفاضلته ففضلته، إذا غلبته بالفضل. والفضلة والفضالة: ما فضل من شئ. وفضل منه شئ يفضل، مثل دخل يدخل. وفيه لغة أخرى فضل يفضل، مثل حذر يحذر، حكاها ابن السكيت. وفيه لغة ثالثة مركبة منهما: فضل بالكسر يفضل بالضم، وهو شاذ لا نظير له. قال سيبويه: هذا عند أصحابنا إنما يجئ على لغتين. قال: وكذلك نعم ينعم، ومت تموت، وكدت تكود. وتفضلت المرأة في بيتها، إذا كانت في ثوب واحد، كالخيعل ونحوه. وذلك الثوب مفضل بكسر الميم، والمرأة فضل بالضم مثال جنب، وكذلك الرجل. وإنه لحسن الفضلة، عن أبى زيد، مثال الجلسة والركبة (1) .

  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters fāʾ, ḍād, and lām form a sound root indicating an excess/surplus in something.

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

    The letters fāʾ, ḍād, and lām form a sound root indicating an excess/surplus in something. From this: faḍl (الفضل) means increase and goodness, and ifḍāl (الإفضال) means beneficence. A man is called mufḍil (مفضل). One says faḍala l-shayʾu yafḍulu (فضل الشيء يفضل), and sometimes they say faḍila yafḍilu (فضل يفضل), though this is rare. As for al-mutafaḍḍil (المتفضل), he is one who claims superiority (faḍl) over his peers and equals. God Almighty said, quoting one who said: '﴿This is only a human being like yourselves; he wants to have superiority over you (yurīdu an yatafaḍḍala ʿalaykum)﴾' [Quran 23:24]. It is also said that al-mutafaḍḍil (المتفضل) is one wrapped [loosely] in his garment [with one shoulder bare]. They say: al-faḍl (الفضل) is one wearing a shirt and a cloak but having neither waist-wrapper (izār) nor trousers. From this is the saying of Imruʾ al-Qays: "And in the morning musk-powder lies scattered over her bedding, late-sleeper of the morning, not having girded herself [for toil] out of her ease (tafaḍḍul)."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الفاء والضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على زيادة في شيء من ذلك الفضل الزيادة والخير والإفضال الإحسان ورجل مفضل ويقال فضل الشيء يفضل وربما قالوا فضل يفضل وهي نادرة وأما المتفضل فالمدعي للفضل على أضرابه وأقرانه قال الله تعالى في ذكر من قال ﴿ ما هذا إلا بشر مثلكم يريد أن يتفضل عليكم ﴾ ويقال المتفضل المتوشح بثوبه ويقولون الفضل الذي عليه قميص ورداء وليس عليه إزار ولا سراويل و منه قول امرئ القيس : — وتضحي فتيت المسك فوق فراشها … نؤوم الضحى لم تنتطق عن تفضل —

  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-faḍl (الفضل) is excess beyond moderation/sufficiency, and this is of two kinds: praiseworthy, such as excess of knowledge and forbearance, and blameworthy, such as excess of anger beyond what it ought to be.

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

    Al-faḍl (الفضل) is excess beyond moderation/sufficiency, and this is of two kinds: praiseworthy, such as excess of knowledge and forbearance, and blameworthy, such as excess of anger beyond what it ought to be. Al-faḍl (الفضل) is used more often for the praiseworthy kind, and al-fuḍūl (الفضول) for the blameworthy kind. When al-faḍl (الفضل) is used for the excess of one thing over another, it is of three kinds: excess in respect of genus (jins), such as the excess of the animal genus over the plant genus; excess in respect of species (nawʿ), such as the excess of the human being over other animals — of this sort is His saying: 'We have indeed honored the children of Adam' [Quran 17:70], down to His saying '...with [definite] preference (tafḍīlan)'; and excess in respect of individual essence (dhāt), such as the excess of one man over another. The first two are essential, such that the deficient thing has no way to remove its deficiency and attain the excellence — just as the horse and the donkey cannot acquire the excellence proper to the human being. The third kind of excess may be accidental, so that there is a way to acquire it; of this kind is the 'preferring' (tafḍīl) mentioned in His saying: 'And God has preferred some of you over others in provision' [Quran 16:71]; 'that you may seek bounty (faḍlan) from your Lord' [Quran 17:12], meaning: wealth and what is earned; and His saying: 'Men are the maintainers of women because of what God has preferred some of them over others' [Quran 4:34] — here He means by it the excellence proper to man in his essential nature, and the superiority (faḍl) given him in capability, wealth, standing, and strength. And He said: 'And We have indeed preferred some prophets over others' [Quran 17:55]; 'God has preferred those who strive over those who sit back' [Quran 4:95]. Every gift that is not obligatory upon the giver is called faḍl (فضل), as in His saying: 'and ask God for His bounty' [Quran 4:32]; 'that is the bounty of God' [Quran 5:54]; 'possessor of great bounty' [Quran 3:74]; and accordingly His saying: 'Say: in the bounty of God' [Quran 10:58]; and 'were it not for the bounty of God' [Quran 4:83].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الفضل: الزيادة عن الاقتصاد، وذلك ضربان: محمود: كفضل العلم والحلم، ومذموم: كفضل الغضب على ما يجب أن يكون عليه. والفضل في المحمود أكثر استعمالا، والفضول في المذموم، والفضل إذا استعمل لزيادة أحد الشيئين على الآخر فعلى ثلاثة أضرب: فضل من حيث الجنس، كفضل جنس الحيوان على جنس النبات. وفضل من حيث النوع، كفضل الإنسان على غيره من الحيوان، وعلى هذا النحو قوله: ولقد كرمنا بني آدم [الإسراء/ 70] ، إلى قوله: تفضيلا «1» . وفضل من حيث الذات، كفضل رجل على آخر. فالأولان جوهريان لا سبيل للناقص فيهما أن يزيل نقصه وأن يستفيد الفضل، كالفرس والحمار لا يمكنهما أن يكتسبا الفضيلة التي خص بها الإنسان، والفضل الثالث قد يكون عرضيا فيوجد السبيل على اكتسابه، ومن هذا النوع التفضيل المذكور في قوله: والله فضل بعضكم على بعض في الرزق [النحل/ 71] ، لتبتغوا فضلا من ربكم [الإسراء/ 12] ، يعني: المال وما يكتسب، وقوله: الرجال قوامون على النساء بما فضل الله بعضهم على بعض [النساء/ 34] ، فإنه يعني بما خص به الرجل من الفضيلة الذاتية له، والفضل الذي أعطيه من المكنة والمال والجاه والقوة، وقال: ولقد فضلنا بعض النبيين على بعض [الإسراء/ 55] ، فضل الله المجاهدين على القاعدين [النساء/ 95] ، وكل عطية لا تلزم من يعطي يقال لها: فضل. نحو قوله: وسئلوا الله من فضله [النساء/ 32] ، ذلك فضل الله [المائدة/ 54] ، ذو الفضل العظيم [آل عمران/ 74] ، وعلى هذا قوله: قل بفضل الله [يونس/ 58] ، ولولا فضل الله [النساء/ 83] .

  • Lisān · 711Al-faḍl (الفضل) and al-faḍīla (الفضيلة) are well known: the opposite of deficiency and defect;

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

    Al-faḍl (الفضل) and al-faḍīla (الفضيلة) are well known: the opposite of deficiency and defect; the plural is fuḍūl (فضول). And the verse of Abū Dhuʾayb is transmitted: "swift of parting, far from heedlessness" [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الفضل والفضيلة معروف: ضد النقص والنقيصة، والجمع فضول؛ وروي بيت أبي ذؤيب: وشيك الفصول بعيد الغفول

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    فَضَلَ

    1. فَضَلَ, aor. فَضُلَ ; and فَضِلَ, aor. فَضِلَ ; and فَضِلَ, aor. فَضُلَ ; three syn. dial. vars.; (S, O, Msb, K;) the second mentioned by ISk; and the third [said to be] anomalous and unparalleled; (S, O;) [but] it is a compound of two thereof, (S, O, Msb, K,) accord. to the companions of Sb, (S, O,) i. e. a compound of the second and the third, (K,) like نَعِمَ having for its aor. يَنْعُمُ, (Sb, S, O, Msb,) and نَكِلَ, aor. يَنْكُلُ, [but this I do not find in its proper art.,] and حَضِرَ, aor. يَحْضُرُ, [but this is disallowed by some,] and فَرِغَ, aor. يَفْرُغُ, among perfect verbs, (Msb,) and مِتَّ, aor. تَمُوتُ, and دِمْتَ, aor. تَدُومُ, (Sb, S, O, Msb,) and كِدْتَ, aor. تَكُودُ; (Sb, S;) inf. n. فَضْلٌ: (S, * O, * Msb, K: *) all signify It exceeded; or was, or became, redundant, or superfluous; [syn. زَادَ;] being used in relation to الفَضْلُ (K, MF, TA) meaning الزِّيَادَةُ, as Ibn-Es-Seed says, (MF, TA,) [i. e.] as meaning the contr. of النَّقْصُ: (K, TA:) or the first of the three, i. e. فضَلَ, aor. فَضُلَ , inf. n. فَضْلٌ, signifies thus, i. q. زَادَ, (Msb,) and فُضْلٌ and فُضُلٌ are also inf. ns. [of the same, i. e.] signifying زِيَادَةٌ, as in the saying, in a trad., accord. to different relaters, إِنَّ لِلّٰهِ مَلَائِكَةً سَيَّارَةً فُضْلًا عَلَى المَلَائِكَةِ المُرَتَّبِينَ مَعَ الخَلَائِقِ and فُضُلًا [i. e. Verily to God belong angels who occupy themselves in ranging about, in addition to the angels who are stationed among the created, or human and other, beings]: (TA:) and all the three dial. vars. mentioned above signify it remained [of a greater quantity or number]; syn. بَقِىَ; (S, * O, * Msb;) you say, فَضَلَ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ, aor. فَضُلَ ; and فَضِلَ, aor. فَضَلَ ; and فَضِلَ, aor. فَضُلَ ; somewhat remained thereof: (S, O:) or from الفَضْلُ as meaning البَقِيَّةُ, you say فَضَلَ like نَصَرَ, [i. e. aor. فَضُلَ ,] and فَضِلَ like حَسِبَ, [implying that the aor. is فَضَلَ and فَضِلَ ,] (K,) [accord. to the TK meaning it had somewhat remaining, but accord. to SM,] using these verbs [which are said by him to be like نَصَرَ and سَمِعَ and حَسِبَ, the last as mentioned by Lh,] in the phrase فَضَلَ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ [expl. above]. (TA.) [فَضَلَ is trans. as well as intrans.] One says, فَضَلَهُ and فَضَلَ عَلَيْهِ, [aor. فَضُلَ ,] inf. ns. فَضْلٌ and فُضُولٌ, [but see a distinction made between these two words voce فَضْلٌ, below,] meaning He, or it, exceeded, or excelled, him, or it. (MA.) See also 4. [And see فَضْلٌ below, last signification.] الفَضْلُ as meaning The overcoming, or surpassing, in highness, elevation, or eminence, of rank, condition, or estimation, has but one form of verb, فَضَلَ, aor. فَضُلَ , like قَعَدَ, aor. يَقْعُدُ: he who relates the saying of the poet, [We found, or have found, that Nahshal (the tribe so called) overcame &c., or have overcome &c., Fukeym (another tribe)], pronouncing the ض [in فضلت] with kesr, errs; not distinguishing between the two meanings: so says Ibn-Es-Seed, in the book entitled “ Kitáb el-Fark: ” and Es- Seymuree says, in his book entitled “ Kitáb etTebsireh, ” فَضَلَ, aor. فَضُلَ , like نَصَرَ, aor. يَنْصُرُ, is from الفَضْلُ meaning the ruling [others] as a chief, lord, or master. (TA.) And فَضَلَهُ signifies also [simply] He overcame him; surpassed him; or gained ascendency, or the mastery, over him. (TA.) See also 3.

    فضّلهُ

    2. فضّلهُ (K, TA) عَلَى غَيْرِهِ, (TA,) inf. n. تَفْضِيلٌ, i. q. مَزَّاهُ, (K, TA,) i. e. He attributed to him an excellence distinguishing him from [or above] another, or others: (TA:) or فَضَّلْتُهُ عَلَى غَيْرِهِ, inf. n. as above, I judged him (S, O, Msb, * TA) to be more excellent than another, or others: (S, * O, * Msb, TA: *) or I made him (S, O, Msb, * TA) to be so. (S, * O, * Msb, TA.) وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا, in the Kur [xvii. 72, i. e. And we have made them to excel many of those that we have created], has been expl. as meaning that the excellence of the son of Adam consists in his walking erect, whereas the beasts, the camels and the asses and the like, walk pronely; and the son of Adam takes food with his hands, whereas the other animals take it with the mouth. (TA.) And وَٱللّٰهُ فَضَّلَ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ, in the Kur [xvi. 73, i. e. And God hath made some of you to excel some others], means, in ability, and wealth, and rank or station, and power; which are excellences that may be acquired. (Er-Rághib, TA.) And you say, فضّلهُ بِهِ, meaning خَصَّهُ [i. e. He distinguished him particularly, peculiarly, or specially, by it, namely, a thing]. (A and K in art. خص.) And فضّل فِى العَطَآءِ He gave to some more than to others. (S in art. افق.) [An explanation of فضّل given by Golius, as on the authority of the K, (“ i. q. وسخ, Sordibus infecit, vel pro sordida habuit, quotidianam vestem, ”) is a strange mistake; app. caused by his finding in a copy of the K التَّفْضِيلُ التَّوْسِيخُ instead of التَّفَضُّلُ التَّوَشُّحُ: see 5. اِسْمُ التَّفْضِيلِ The noun of the attribution of excess or excellence is a term applied to the comparative and superlative noun or epithet; also called أَفْعَلُ التَّفْضِيلِ, because it is regularly of the measure أَفْعَلُ: see exs. voce خَيْرٌ.]

    الفِضَالُ

    3. الفِضَالُ [and المُفَاضَلَةُ inf. ns. of فَاضَلَ] and التَّفَاضُلُ [inf. n. of 6 (of which see an ex. in art. سوى, conj. 6,)] signify التَّمَازِى فِى الفَضْلِ [i. e. The contending for superiority in excellence]; (K, * TA;) التَّمَازِى being of the measure تَفَاعُل from المَزِيَّةُ. (TA.) And you say, فَاضَلْتُهُ فَفَضَلْتُهُ, (S, O, K, * in the last فَاضَلَنِى,) aor. of the latter فَضُلَ , (TA,) inf. n. فَضْلٌ, (O, TA,) I contended with him for superiority, or vied with him, in excel-lence, (O, TA,) and I surpassed him, or outvied him, therein. (S, O, K, TA.) And فاضل بَيْنَ الشَّيْئَيْنِ [app. He made the relation between the two things to be unequal in respect of excellence; i. e. he made the two things to be unequal, or unlike each other, in excellence; contr. of سَاوَى بَيْنَهُمَا: see also 6]. (TA.)

    افضل فِى تِجَارَتِهِ

    4. افضل فِى تِجَارَتِهِ He gained; or made gain, or profit; in his traffic; syn. رَبِحَ. (Az and Msb in art. ربح.) عَنْهُ [and عَنْهُ فَضَلَ, aor. فَضُلَ , inf. n. فَضْلٌ, (see فَضْلٌ below, last signification, and see also فَاضِلٌ,)] It exceeded it. (K, TA. [See also 1, latter half.]) Ows says, describing a bow, [Like a bow of which the part that is grasped is sufficient in size for the filling of the hand, not less than suffices to fill it, nor does the part that is grasped thereof extend beyond the place of the hand: the pret. being here used for the aor. to suit the metre]. (TA. [But my original has كَقَوْمٍ, an evident mistranscription.]) افضل عَلَيْهِ: see 5, in two places. أَفْضَلْتُ مِنْهُ الشَّىْءَ and اِسْتَفْضَلْتُ signify the same, (S, O, K, TA,) i. e. I left of it the thing remaining, or redundant. (O, TA.)

    تفضّل عَلَيْهِ

    5. تفضّل عَلَيْهِ [in the CK (erroneously) فَضَّلَ] i. q. تَمَزَّى, (K, TA,) both of which signify He thought himself to be superior to him in excellence; (TA in art. مزو;) whence the saying in the Kur [xxiii. 24], يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتَفَضَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ, meaning He desireth that he may have superiority over you in rank and station: (TA in the present art.) or i. q. عليه افضل, (S, O, Msb, K, TA,) inf. n. إِفْضَالٌ, (Msb, TA,) i. e. he bestowed, or conferred, a benefit, or benefits, upon him, syn. أَحْسَنَ, (S, TA,) or تَطَوَّلَ, (K, TA,) and gave him of his bounty: (TA:) [and each, followed by بِشَىْءٍ, he presented him, or favoured him, with a thing:] or تفضّل signifies, (K,) or signifies also, (S,) he laid claim to superiority of excellence over his equals, or fellows; (S, K;) whence [accord. to some] the saying in the Kur quoted above: (S:) and [you say] عَلَيْهِ فِى الحَسَبِ افضل, (K, TA,) meaning he became possessed of eminence. [or superiority, over him, in the grounds of pretension to respect or honour,] as in a verse of Dhu-l-Isba' cited voce عَنْ, [q. v., p. 2164,] ending with فَتَخْزُوْنِى for فَتَخْزُوَنِى, [which latter reading I have there given,] because the rhyme of the whole ode requires the former. (TA.) التَّفَضُّلُ also signifies التَّوَشُّحُ [generally meaning The throwing a portion of one's garment over his left shoulder, and drawing its extremity under his right arm, and tying the two extremities together in a knot upon his bosom]: and the putting, or disposing, the extremities of his two garments, or pieces of cloth, contrariwise, or in contrary directions, upon his عَاتِق [or part between the shoulder and the neck]. (K, TA: but in the former, عَلَى عَاتِقَيْهِ is erroneously put for على عَاتِقِهِ. TA.) And تَفَضَّلَتْ said of a woman in her tent or chamber or house, She was in a single garment; (S, O, TA;) [she wore a single garment;] such as is termed مِفْضَلٌ [q. v.]: (S, TA:) or she (a woman) wore the garments of her service. (TA.)

    تَفَاْضَلَ

    6: see 3. التَّفَاضُلُ بَيْنَ القَوْمِ means The differing in superiority, or excellence, of some over others, among the people, or party. (TA.) And one says, الأَشْيَآءُ تَتَفَاضَلُ [meaning The things are unequal, or unlike, one to another, in respect of excellence; contr. of تَتَسَاوَى: see also 3]. (TA.)

    استفضل أَلْفًا

    10. استفضل أَلْفًا He took a thousand [dirhems] in excess of his right, or due. (TA.) See also 4.

    فَضْلٌ

    فَضْلٌ [an inf. n.: (see 1, throughout:) and also a simple subst., signifying] An exceeding, a redundant, or a superfluous, quantum [of anything, good or evil]; an excess, a redundance, or a superfluity; syn. زِيَادَةٌ; (Mgh, Msb;) contr. of نَقْصٌ: (S, O, K:) [and often meaning superabundance, or exuberance; and surpassingness, superiority, or excellence. عَلَى غَيْرِهِ over another, or others, than him, or it: and preponderance:] the pl. is فُضُولٌ (Mgh, Msb, K:) and this is sometimes used as a sing.; (Er-Rághib, Msb;) and [thus used] relates to a thing [or quality] in which is no good; (Er-Rághib, Mgh, Msb;) by a predominant application; whence the saying فُضُولٌ بِلَا فَضْلٍ [excess without excellence]; (Mgh;) and hence the rel. n. فُضُولِىٌّ is formed from it: (Er-Rághib, Msb, TA;) [see this last word, one of the explanations of which shows that a particular meaning of فُضُولٌ is the quality of busying oneself with that which does not concern him:] accord. to Er-Rághib, فَضْلٌ signifies an excess [in respect of a property or quality, or of an acquisition,] above moderateness; and this is of two sorts; such as is commended, as the فضل of knowledge, or science; and such as is discommended, as the فصل of anger at that whereat it is not necessary: but فَضَلٌ is more used in relation to that which is commended; and [the pl.] فُضُولٌ, in relation to that which is discommended. when the former is used of an excess [in respect of some attribute, of our of two things above the other, it is of three sorts; فضل of kind, as of the animal kind above the vegetable kind; and of species, as of man above other animals; and of the individual, as of one man above another; the first and second of which three are essential attributes, such that he who is deficient in [either of] them cannot do away with his deficiency and acquire فضل, as, for instance, the horse, and the ass, which cannot acquire the excellence (فَضِيلَة) of the human being; but the third may be accidental, such that the way may be found to acquire it, and of this sort are ability, wealth, rank or station, and power: and it signifies also any gift whereof the giving to the recipient thereof is not obligatory: [i. e. a free gift, or gratuity; and an act of bounty or grace; a favour; a benefit; and bounty as an abstract term;] as in the saying [in the Kur iv. 36], وَٱسْأَلُوا ٱللّٰهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ [And ask ye God of his free gift, or of his bounty, or (as expl. in the Ksh and by Bd) of his exhaustless treasures]; and in the saying in the Kur [v. 59 and lvii. 21 and lxii. 4], ذٰلِكَ فَضْلُ ٱللّٰهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَآءُ [That is the free gift of God; He giveth it to whom He willeth]; which comprises the three sorts of excellences (فَضَائِل) [mentioned above]: thus says Er-Rághib: El-Muná- wee says, [explaining one of its meanings,] in the “ Towkeef, ” that it is the commencing, or originating, of an act of beneficence without an efficient cause [i. e., app., not by reason of any obligation]. (TA.) Also A portion remaining, (K, TA,) of a thing, such as food &c., and of water in the leathern water-bag, and of wine or beverage in the vessel; (TA;) and فَضْلَةٌ and فُضَالَةٌ signify the same, (K, TA,) or a redundant portion (S and O and Msb in explanation of these two words) of a thing: (S, O:) whence the saying of the vulgar, لِلْفَضِيلِ الفَضْلَةُ i. e. The remaining portion of the wine or beverage [is for the excel-lent]. (TA.) It is said in a trad., لَا يُمْنَعُ فَضْلُ المَآءِ لِيُمْنَعَ بِهِ الكَلَأُ [The redundance of water shall not be denied that the herbage be thereby denied]: (TA, in the present art.:) meaning that when there is a well in the desert, with herbage near it, and a person prevents others from drawing water, he thereby prevents the latter from availing themselves of the herbage; for when a man comes with his camels, and pastures them upon that herbage, and does not then water them, thirst kills them. (TA in art كلأ,) And it is said in another trad., فَضْلُ الإِزَارِ فِى النَّارِ [The redundant portion of the waist-wrapper is in the fire of Hell]; meaning what one drags [thereof] upon the around, by reason of pride. (TA;) And one says, فِى يَدِهِ فَضْلُ الزِّمَامِ, meaning [In his hand is] the end of the زمام [or nose-rein of the camel]. (TA.) ذَاتُ الفُضُولِ and الفضُولِ, with damm and with fet-h, [The thing having redundant portions] is the name of the coat of mail of the Prophet, which was thus called because having redundance and ampleness. (TA.) فُضُولُ الغَنَائِمِ means The remains of the spoils when they are divided (TA;) such as a single horse, or a single camel (KL.) And by the فُضُول of women are meant The remains of the menstrual discharge (Ham p. 107: see, there, explanations of a verse in which this occurs.) حِلْفُ الفُضُولِ [The confederacy, or covenant, of the فضول, a word which is here of uncertain meaning,] is thus explained: Háshim and Zuhrah and Teym [accord. to the CK Teymà] went in to 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Jud'án, and united in a confederacy to repel wrongdoing, and to exact the due from the wrongdoer; and it was thus called because they bound themselves by their confederacy not to leave in the possession of any one aught remaining [of property] whereof he aught despond any one, without their taking it for him [i. e. the latter] from him [i. e. the former] (O, K, TA: [in the CK, يَظْلِمُهُ أَحَدٌ is a mistake for يظلمه أَحَدًا:]) or it was thus called as being likened to a confederacy, or covenant, which was made of old, at Mekkeh, in the days of Jurhum, to act with mutual equity, and to take for the weak from the strong, and for the stranger from the resident, and in which three men, every one of whom was named El-Fadl, joined: and it was also called that of the مَطَيَّبُون. (TA. [See art. طيب.]) The saying لَا يَمْلِكُ دِرْهَمًا فَضْلًا عَنْ دِينَارٍ, and the like may be said of other sayings similar to it, means He does not possess a dirhem nor a deenár [or rather much less a deenár]: it is as though one said, he does not possess a dirhem: how then should he possess a deenár? for the negation of that which is much is a necessary consequence of the negation of that which is little: فَضْلًا is here in the accus case as an inf. n.; the implied meaning being فَقَدَ مِلْكَ دِرْهَمٍ فَقْدًا يَفْضُلُ عَنْ فَقْدِ مِلْكِ دينَارٍ [or rather يَفْقِدُ &c., i. e. he lacks the possession of a dirhem with a lacking exceeding the lacking of the possession of a deenár]: (Msb:) Kutb-ed-Deen Esh-Sheerázee says, (Msb, TA,) in the Expos. of the “ Miftáh, ” (TA,) فَضْلًا is used in a case in which the inferior [of two things] is deemed a thing of which the existence is improbable, and the impossibility of the existence of a thing that is above it is meant thereby; wherefore it occurs between two phrases differing in meaning; and it is mostly used after a particle of negation: (Msb, TA:) AHei says that he had not found any authority for it in the [classical] language of the Arabs. (Msb. [See also بَلْهَ, which is used in a somewhat similar manner.])

    فُضُلٌ

    فُضُلٌ Wearing a single garment, such as is termed مِفْضَلٌ; an epithet applied to a woman; (S, Mgh, * O, K;) and also to a man; (S, O, K;) like مُتَفَضِّلٌ: (O, K:) it is of the dial. of Nejd; like فُرُجٌ in the dial. of El-Yemen. (L in art. فرج.) And A woman proud, or self-conceited, or so in her gait; who makes a portion of her skirt to be redundant [so that it drags upon the ground when she walks]. (TA.) See also مِفْضَلٌ, in three places.

    فَضْلَةٌ

    فَضْلَةٌ: see فَضْلٌ, former half, in two places. [Hence, as used by grammarians,] A dispensable member of a proposition; such as the objective complement of a verb, when the suppression thereof is not detrimental [to the meaning]; contr. of عُمْدَةٌ. (I'Ak, p. 143) [The pl. is فَضَلَاتٌ.] And The clothes that are used for sleeping [therein]: (K, TA:) [so called] because they are an addition over and above the clothes that are used on various [other] occasions. (TA.) And Wine; and so فِضَالٌ [which see also in what here follows]: (O, K:) الفَضْلَةُ is mentioned by A'Obeyd as a name for wine: (O:) or it signifies, accord. to AHn, the wine that alters [or has become altered] in colour after oldness; and ISd says that it is so called because the choice, or best, or most excellent, part thereof [for لأنّ حميمها in my original (an obvious mistranscription) I read لِأَنَّ صَمِيمَهَا] is what remains: (TA:) the pl. is فَضَلَاتٌ and فِضَالٌ [the latter word mentioned above as a syn. of فَضْلَةٌ]. (K.)

    فِضْلَةٌ

    فِضْلَةٌ is a n. of the same kind as جِلْسَةٌ and رِكْبَةٌ: (AZ, S, O, TA:) one says, إِنَّهُ لَحَسَنُ الفِضْلَةِ, meaning [Verily he is comely in respect of] the manner of wearing a single garment. (S, * O, * K, * TA.)

    فِضَالٌ

    فِضَالٌ: see فَضْلَةٌ: and see also مِفْضَلٌ.

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions2 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
  • الفضولي

    هو من لم يكن وليا ولا أصيلا ولا وكيلا في العقد.

    Al-Fuḍūlī (الفضولي) is one who is neither a guardian (walī), nor a principal (aṣīl), nor an agent (wakīl) in the contract.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 3331 ↗

  • الفضل

    ابتداء إحسان بلا علة.

    Al-faḍl (الفضل) is the initiation of beneficence without [prior] cause.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 3332 ↗

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

ف ض ل

الفاء والضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على زيادة في شيء

F-ḍ-l is one sound root that indicates an increase in a thing.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×104

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.

  • فfāʾlower lip and upper teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
  • ضḍādside of the tongue, by the molars · voiced, 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.

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

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 ↗

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 ↗

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

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 65823

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

ض

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 64627

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

ل

Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven

Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)

Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗

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 2577
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ف

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.

فهي لتزويل الخبث.

It is for removing foulness.

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.

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

ض

عبارة عن الصحة وعدم البلاء.

It expresses health and the absence of affliction.

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.

فهي عبارة عن الخضوع.

It expresses submissiveness/humility.

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

ل

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.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.

It is an indication of the thing that has no end.

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.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus2 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterف ض

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 25136 ↗

  • فضلالفاء والضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على زيادة في شيءQ 104 · L25137
  • فضخالفاء والضاد والخاء فيه كلمة تدل على الشدخL25158
In the sister scriptsHebrew פ צ לSyriac ܦ ܥ ܠ
Arabicف ض ل
Hebrewפ צ ל
Syriacܦ ܥ ܠ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩰 𐩳 𐩡
Phoenician𐤐 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.

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl already gives the full spread: faḍl as the well-known surplus, faḍla/faḍāla as what remains of a thing, faḍīla as elevated rank, and a second, distinct sense of tafaḍḍul as wearing a garment loosely draped (tawashshuḥ).well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl already gives the full spread: faḍl as the well-known surplus, faḍla/faḍāla as what remains of a thing, faḍīla as elevated rank, and a second, distinct sense of tafaḍḍul as wearing a garment loosely draped (tawashshuḥ). Al-Jawharī sharpens the ethical polarity, making faḍl/faḍīla the antonym of naqṣ, and distinguishing genuine ifḍāl (generosity, as in mifḍāl) from the mutafaḍḍil who merely claims superiority over his peers, citing the Quranic critique of such a claimant. Ibn Fāris fixes the single unifying idea as ziyāda — increase — from which both the ethical sense (iḥsān) and the garment sense derive. Al-Rāghib then divides faḍl morally: a praiseworthy excess (of knowledge, forbearance) versus a blameworthy one (of anger), for which he prefers the term fuḍūl, and further distinguishes excess by genus, by species (citing Q17:70 on humankind's tafḍīl), and by individual. Ibn Manẓūr and Lane settle the word as the standard opposite of nuqṣān/naqīṣa, with faḍala attested in three dialectal conjugations.

    Draws on: al-ʿAyn · al-Ṣiḥāḥ · Maqāyīs · al-Mufradāt · Lisān al-ʿArab · Lane

  • Letters & soundIn the Akbarian letter-correspondence table cited here, fāʾ is tied to the angels, ḍād to the second heaven, and lām to the third heaven — an ascending cosmological sequence that a reader inclined to sound-symbolism could map onto faḍl's own sense of rising surplus.speculative

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

    In the Akbarian letter-correspondence table cited here, fāʾ is tied to the angels, ḍād to the second heaven, and lām to the third heaven — an ascending cosmological sequence that a reader inclined to sound-symbolism could map onto faḍl's own sense of rising surplus. Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-readings reinforce this: fāʾ negates foulness in something whose genus is known for foulness (purity standing out from a base genus), ḍād signals health and freedom from affliction, and lām marks the speaker's attainment of something great. Read together the letters would spell a movement from purification through soundness to greatness — which resonates suggestively with faḍl as elevation beyond the baseline. This is speculative letter-mysticism, not established philology, and mainstream linguistics gives it no evidentiary weight.

    Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī letters correspondence table · al-Dabbāgh fatḥa meanings

    • al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings under fatḥa (as transmitted)
  • Root structureIbn Fāris places ف ض ل directly before ف ض خ (shadkh, violent crushing/breaking) in his dictionary's chapter order — a bare sequential neighborhood, not a shared meaning, though both roots concern something being acted on to the point of producing a visible remainder (the crushed matter;plausible

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

    Ibn Fāris places ف ض ل directly before ف ض خ (shadkh, violent crushing/breaking) in his dictionary's chapter order — a bare sequential neighborhood, not a shared meaning, though both roots concern something being acted on to the point of producing a visible remainder (the crushed matter; the surplus). None of the transposed permutations of ف ض ل (فلض, ضفل, ضلف, لفض, لضف) are attested at all, so the root stands without the support or complication of sibling forms that Ibn Jinnī's greater-derivation method usually invites. This absence is itself worth noting: faḍl's sense of 'excess' has no rival claim from a transposed root.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus siblings · permutation table

    • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, chapter order
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident cognate for ف ض ل in the sense 'excess, surplus' has been identified in Hebrew, Aramaic/Syriac, Akkadian, Geʿez, or South Arabian;uncertain

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

    No confident cognate for ف ض ل in the sense 'excess, surplus' has been identified in Hebrew, Aramaic/Syriac, Akkadian, Geʿez, or South Arabian; the standard Hebrew terms for surplus (e.g. yeter) and Aramaic terms for excess (e.g. yattir) belong to a different root entirely. There is no basis for treating faḍl as a loanword; it appears to be an inner-Arabic development from the root sense of ziyāda.

    Draws on: comparative Semitic lexicography

  • Quranic exegesisThe great mass of Quranic occurrences concern faḍl Allāh, God's grace or bounty given beyond strict desert;well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    The great mass of Quranic occurrences concern faḍl Allāh, God's grace or bounty given beyond strict desert; al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī repeatedly gloss this as generosity exceeding what is owed, distinguishing it from ajr (earned recompense). At Q2:47/2:64/2:122, faḍḍaltukum ʿalā l-ʿālamīn ('I favored you above the worlds') is read by the exegetes as God's electing grace toward the Children of Israel, a historically conditioned preferment rather than an essential superiority. At Q17:70, wa-laqad karramnā banī Ādam ... wa-faḍḍalnāhum ʿalā kathīrin mimman khalaqnā tafḍīlan, al-Rāzī and al-Rāghib connect the tafḍīl of humankind to reason and speech, reading it as al-Rāghib's 'excess by species.' Q17:21's contrast of differing faḍl in this world with a greater differentiation (akbaru darajātin wa-akbaru tafḍīlan) in the hereafter is read as God's differentiated distribution of both worldly provision and eschatological rank.

    Draws on: Q2:47 · Q2:64 · Q2:122 · Q17:21 · Q17:70

  • Philosophy & kalāmFaḍl becomes a technical counter-term to ʿadl and istiḥqāq in Muʿtazilite and Ashʿarite debates over divine justice: is God's giving to His creatures owed (wājib, a matter of ʿadl) or purely gratuitous (faḍl, beyond any claim)?plausible

    The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

    Faḍl becomes a technical counter-term to ʿadl and istiḥqāq in Muʿtazilite and Ashʿarite debates over divine justice: is God's giving to His creatures owed (wājib, a matter of ʿadl) or purely gratuitous (faḍl, beyond any claim)? Muʿtazilite theologians tend to root much divine action in justice and desert, reserving faḍl for genuinely supererogatory grace, while Ashʿarites treat virtually all divine giving as faḍl, since nothing is owed to the creature by the Creator. The term also surfaces in prophetology, where the tafḍīl of certain prophets over others (debated in relation to verses on ranking messengers) becomes a live kalām question.

    Draws on: kalām debates on grace and desert

  • Akbarian readingIn the Fuṣūṣ passage on the human constitution, Ibn ʿArabī describes each faculty (quwwa) within it as veiled by itself, seeing nothing more excellent (afḍal) than itself, and claiming for itself — as it supposes (fīmā tazʿumu) — the fitness (ahliyya) for every lofty rank.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In the Fuṣūṣ passage on the human constitution, Ibn ʿArabī describes each faculty (quwwa) within it as veiled by itself, seeing nothing more excellent (afḍal) than itself, and claiming for itself — as it supposes (fīmā tazʿumu) — the fitness (ahliyya) for every lofty rank. Here faḍl names an epistemic illusion: each faculty's self-enclosed vantage mistakes its own limited excellence for absolute superiority over the others. The passage continues (see ʿaṣm) to say that only genuine self-knowledge would have protected the faculties from this false claim of preeminence, making fadl/tafḍīl in this context the diagnosed error rather than a settled virtue.

    Draws on: Fass Adam excerpt

    • Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out