Root · 6 in the Quran · 70 in 16 texts of the library
قصد (root qsd)
القاف والصاد والدال أصول ثلاثة يدل أحدها على إتيان شيء وأمه والآخر على كسر وانكسار والآخر على اكتناز في الشيء فالأصل …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ق ص د that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
33 words6 verbs6 verbal nouns7 participles3 places and instruments3 intensives and elatives5 other nouns3 plurals
- اقْصِدَhe tended, repaired, or betook himself, or went, to, or towards, him, or it
- قَصْدintent; purpose
- مَقْصُودpurpose; aim
- مَقْصِدplace to, or towards, which one tends, repairs, or betakes himself
- قَاصِدdirect, or right road, or way
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6اقْصِدَ · قَصَّدَ · أَقْصَدَ
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: فَعِلَ يَفْعِلُ (i – i; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
Verbal nouns6قَصْد · قَصَد · إِقْتِصَاد
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles7مَقْصُود · قَاصِد · مُقْتَصِد
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- مَقْصُودpurpose; aimautopassive, Form Ilibrary ×10Lane
- قَاصِدdirect, or right road, or wayLaneactive, Form IQurʾān ×1library ×3Lane
- مُقْتَصِدsuch a one acts in a moderate manner, in a manner between that of prodigality …Laneactive, Form VIIIQurʾān ×2Lane
- مُقَصَّدman neither corpulent nor thinLanepassive, Form IILane
Place, time and instrument3مَقْصِد · مَقْصَد · مَقْصَدَة
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
- مَقْصِدplace to, or towards, which one tends, repairs, or betakes himselfLanenoun of place or timelibrary ×9Lane
- مَقْصَدnoun of place or timeLane
- مَقْصَدَةnoun of place (with -a)Lane
Intensives, qualities and the elative3أَقصَد · قَصِيد · قَصُود
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- أَقصَدmore, or most, direct roadLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)library ×1Lane
- قَصِيدaimed at, sought, desired, intended, or purposedLanequality (faʿīl)LaneIbn Fāris
- قَصُودcamel having compact marrowLaneintensive (faʿūl)Lane
Other nouns5قَصِيدَة · قَصِد · قِصْدَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
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.
- Attested: مَقْصَدَة, noun of place (with -a) (Lane)
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 · 395القاف والصاد والدال أصول ثلاثة يدل أحدها على إتيان شيء وأمه والآخر على كسر وانكسار والآخر على اكتناز في الشيء فالأصل قصدته قصدا ومقصدا ومن الباب أقصده السهم إذا أصابه فقتل مكانه وكأنه قيل ذلك لأنه لم يحد عنه قال الأعشى —
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.
ق ص د
القاف والصاد والدال أصول ثلاثة يدل أحدها على إتيان شيء وأمه والآخر على كسر وانكسار والآخر على اكتناز في الشيء فالأصل قصدته قصدا ومقصدا ومن الباب أقصده السهم إذا أصابه فقتل مكانه وكأنه قيل ذلك لأنه لم يحد عنه
q-ṣ-d: Three roots: one indicates coming to something and heading for it, another indicates breaking and being broken, and another, compactness in a thing. The root is "qaṣadtuhu qaṣdan wa-maqṣadan", and from this chapter is "aqṣadahu l-sahmu" when the arrow strikes him and kills him on the spot, as if it is so called because it did not deviate from him. AI
Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×6
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
- قqāffar back of the tongue · voiced, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- صṣādtongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuant, velarisedSīb. · I. Jinnī
- دdāltongue-tip, roots of the teeth · voiced, stopSīb. · 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
ق
ومن أقصى اللسان وما فوقه من الحنك الأعلى مخرج القاف
From the furthest part of the tongue and the upper palate above it is the place of the qāf. Sībawayh, line 26550 ↗
ومما فوق ذلك من أقصى اللسان، مخرج القاف
From above that, at the furthest part of the tongue, is the place of the qāf. Ibn Jinnī, line 972 ↗
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 ↗
د
ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا مخرج الطاء، والدال، والتاء
From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26559 ↗
ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا، مخرج الطاء والدال والتاء
From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 982 ↗
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
ق
Spheres 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 2580د
Level of existence: السماء الدنيا · the lowest heaven (al-samāʾ al-dunyā)
Divine Name: المبين · the Clarifier (al-Mubīn)
Lunar mansion: الأكليل · al-Iklīl
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64682Spheres 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 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ق
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى حيازة الخيرات أو إلى جميع الأنوار.
It is an indication of the acquisition of goods, or of all lights.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى النشأة الأصلية أو العلم القديم وما أشبه ذلك.
It is an indication of the original creation, or eternal knowledge, and the like.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الذل.
It is an indication of abasement.
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.
د
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى خارج عن الذات.
It is an indication of something external to the self.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى ما هو قليل أو قبيح ومعه غضب فيهما.
It is an indication of what is small or ugly, accompanied by anger in both cases.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى ما في الذات أو إلى ما هو داخل عليها أو إلى ما هو قريب منها.
It is an indication of what is in the self, or what is entering upon it, or what is near to it.
Two-letter nucleus7 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterق 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 26573 ↗
- قصفالقاف والصاد والفاء أصل صحيح يدل على كسر لشيء ولا يخلف هذا القياسQ 1 · L26584
- قصلالقاف والصاد واللام أصل صحيح واحد يدل على قطع الشيء فالقصل القطعL26594
- قصمالقاف والصاد والميم أصل صحيح يدل على الكسرQ 1 · L26600
- قصوىالقاف والصاد والحرف المعتل أصل صحيح يدل على بعد وإبعادL26605
- قصبالقاف والصاد والباء أصلان صحيحان يدل أحدهما على قطع الشيء ويدل الآخر على امتداد في أشياء مجوفةL26615
- قصدالقاف والصاد والدال أصول ثلاثة يدل أحدها على إتيان شيء وأمه والآخر على كسر وانكسار والآخر على اكتناز في الشيء فالأصل قصدته قصدا ومقصدا ومن الباب أقصدهQ 6 · L26627
- قصرالقاف والصاد والراء أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على ألا يبلغ الشيء مداه ونهايته والآخر على الحبس والأصلان متقاربانQ 11 · L26640
In the sister scriptsHebrew ק צ דSyriac ܩ ܨ ܕ
| Arabic | ق ص د |
| Hebrew | ק צ ד |
| Syriac | ܩ ܨ ܕ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩤 𐩮 𐩵 |
| Phoenician | 𐤒 𐤑 𐤃 |
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