Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
الْمَادَّة (الْجِذْر)
al-madda (al-jidhr)
Root material (radicals)
Sarf · morphologyRoot structurecore term51,333+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Sarf · Mizan · Meezan · Roots · Word scales · Root system · Arabic roots
In one line
The root: the bare letters — usually three — that carry a word-family's core meaning; كتب underlies everything about writing.
Classical definition
المَادَّةُ أَوِ الجِذْرُ الحُرُوفُ الأَصْلِيَّةُ الَّتِي تُبْنَى مِنْهَا الكَلِمَةُ وَتَدُلُّ عَلَى مَعْنَاهَا العَامِّ.
“The madda, or root, is the set of original letters from which the word is built and around which its meaning turns.”
(بتصرف من شذا العرف)
Key words in the Arabic
الْحُرُوف الْأَصْلِيَّةthe original letters
تَدُور عَلَيْهَاthe meaning turns on them
Understand it
Arabic vocabulary is a root-and-pattern system: strip كِتَاب، كَاتِب، مَكْتُوب، يَكْتُبُونَ of their patterns and the same three letters remain, carrying the writing-idea through every shape. Dictionaries are organised by root for this reason, and the single most useful habit a Qur'an student can build is asking of every new word: what are its three (occasionally four) root letters?
How to spot it
Recognition test
Peel away everything the mizan calls extra — prefixes, suffixes, augment letters, long vowels of patterns — until three load-bearing letters remain; verify against a root dictionary.
In the Qur'an
اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ
Al-Isra' 17:111 (and the adhan) — “Allah is the Greatest”
أَكْبَرُ is the pattern أَفْعَل on the root ك ب ر — know the pattern and you can read every superlative in the language on sight.
Related terms
الْوَزْن (الْمِيزَان الصَّرْفِيّ) · al-wazn (al-mizan al-sarfi)
الْأَصْل · al-asl
مُجَرَّد · mujarrad
مَزِيد · mazid
Common questions
How do I find the root of an Arabic word?
Strip away the added letters — prefixes like مُـ، يَـ، اِسْتَـ and suffixes like ـُونَ، ـَة — until three core consonants remain. With practice, يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ yields its root (غ ف ر) at a glance.