Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
اِسْم مَرَّة
ism marra
Noun of single instance
Sarf · morphologyDerived noun (mushtaqq)advanced term48+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The once-noun: فَعْلَة counts a single occurrence — ضَرْبَة is one strike, دَكَّة one crushing.
Classical definition
اسْمُ المَرَّةِ مَصْدَرٌ يَدُلُّ عَلَى وُقُوعِ الفِعْلِ مَرَّةً وَاحِدَةً، عَلَى وَزْنِ فَعْلَةٍ، كَضَرْبَةٍ.
“The noun of one occurrence indicates the action happening a single time, on the pattern fa'la, like darba.”
(بتصرف من شذا العرف)
Key words in the Arabic
مَرَّةً وَاحِدَةًone single time
فَعْلَةthe once-pattern
Understand it
Arabic can count an action inside the noun itself: جَلَسَ جَلْسَةً is 'he sat once'. The pattern is فَعْلَة with fatha; when a verb's ordinary masdar already ends in ة (like رَحْمَة), the once-meaning is forced out by adding وَاحِدَة. From mazid verbs the once-noun rides on the masdar: اِنْطِلَاقَة, one setting-off.
How to spot it
Recognition test
فَعْلَة (fatha on the fa) naming a countable single act — often paired with وَاحِدَة or a number: one strike, two prostrations (سَجْدَتَانِ).
In the Qur'an
فَدُكَّتَا دَكَّةً وَٰحِدَةً
Al-Haqqa 69:14 — “and both are crushed with a single crushing”
دَكَّةً وَٰحِدَةً — the once-pattern فَعْلَة, with وَٰحِدَة sealing the single occurrence.
Related terms