Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
اِسْم مَكَان
ism makan
Noun of place
Sarf · morphologyDerived noun (mushtaqq)core term265+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The noun of place: مَفْعَل / مَفْعِل marks where the action happens — مَسْجِد, the place of sujud.
Classical definition
اسْمُ المَكَانِ صِفَةٌ تَدُلُّ عَلَى مَكَانِ وُقُوعِ الفِعْلِ، عَلَى وَزْنِ مَفْعَلٍ أَوْ مَفْعِلٍ، كَمَجْلِسٍ وَمَسْجِدٍ.
“The noun of place indicates the location where the action occurs, on the pattern maf'al or maf'il, like majlis and masjid.”
(بتصرف من شذا العرف)
Key words in the Arabic
مَكَانِ وُقُوعِ الْفِعْلِwhere the act takes place
مَفْعَل / مَفْعِلthe two mim-patterns
Understand it
Put a mim in front of the root and the word becomes a location: سَجَدَ gives مَسْجِد (place of prostration), جَلَسَ gives مَجْلِس (sitting-place), غَرَبَ gives مَغْرِب (place of setting). Which of the two vowels the 'ayn takes follows the verb's mudari' by and large. The same shapes can also be read as time-noun or mimic masdar — only context settles which of the three mim-siblings you have met.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A mim-fronted root where the sentence asks 'where?': ism makan. If it answers 'when?' it is ism zaman; if it names the event itself, a masdar mimi.
In the Qur'an
وَأَنَّ ٱلْمَسَٰجِدَ لِلَّهِ
Al-Jinn 72:18 — “The mosques are for Allah”
مَسْجِد — the root سجد behind the place-pattern مَفْعِل: 'where sujud is made'.
Related terms