Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
اِسْم زَمَان
ism zaman
Noun of time
Sarf · morphologyDerived noun (mushtaqq)core term17+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The noun of time: the same مَفْعَل / مَفْعِل shape, read as when the action happens — مَوْعِد, the appointed time.
Classical definition
اسْمُ الزَّمَانِ صِفَةٌ تَدُلُّ عَلَى زَمَانِ وُقُوعِ الفِعْلِ، عَلَى وَزْنِ مَفْعَلٍ أَوْ مَفْعِلٍ، كَمَوْلِدٍ.
“The noun of time indicates the time at which the action occurs, on the pattern maf'al or maf'il, like mawlid.”
(بتصرف من شذا العرف)
Key words in the Arabic
زَمَانِ وُقُوعِ الْفِعْلِwhen the act takes place
Understand it
Arabic recycles one mould for place and time: مَوْلِد is the birth-time (or birthplace!) of the Prophet ﷺ, مَوْعِد the promised hour, مَطْلَع الْفَجْرِ the dawn's rising-time. Only the sentence tells you whether the mim-word is pointing at the clock or the map — a deliberate economy, since events own both a where and a when.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A mim-fronted root where the sentence asks 'when?': ism zaman. Test by substituting وَقْت — if 'the time of X' reads naturally, you have it.
In the Qur'an
إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ ٱلصُّبْحُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ ٱلصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ
Hud 11:81 — “Indeed, their appointment is the morning. Is not the morning near?”
مَوْعِد here answers 'when?' — the appointed TIME, an ism zaman equated with ٱلصُّبْحُ.
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