Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
اِسْم
ism
Noun (ism)
Sarf · morphologyPart of speech (Sarf)core term31,632+ in the Qur'an
In one line
A noun is a word that carries its own meaning and has no built-in time: it names a person, place, thing or quality — in Arabic, even pronouns count.
Classical definition
الِاسْمُ مَا دَلَّ عَلَى مَعْنًى فِي نَفْسِهِ غَيْرَ مُقْتَرِنٍ بِأَحَدِ الْأَزْمِنَةِ الثَّلَاثَةِ.
“A noun is that which points to a meaning in itself, not linked to any of the three times (past, present or future).”
(قطر الندى لابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
دَلَّ عَلَىpoints to, indicates
مَعْنًى فِي نَفْسِهِa meaning in itself — complete on its own
غَيْرَ مُقْتَرِنٍ بِـnot linked to
الْأَزْمِنَةِ الثَّلَاثَةِthe three times: past, present, future
Understand it
Arabic has only three word types — ism, fi'l (verb) and harf (particle) — and the ism is the naming type. It tells you what a thing is without saying when anything happens: say رَجُل ('a man') and the meaning is already whole, with no past, present or future attached. That is exactly what the definition above means by 'in itself' (فِي نَفْسِهِ) and 'not linked to time' — time belongs to the verb.
How to spot it
الِاسْمُ يُعْرَفُ بِالْخَفْضِ وَالتَّنْوِينِ وَدُخُولِ الْأَلِفِ وَاللَّامِ وَحُرُوفِ الْخَفْضِ.
“The noun is recognised by khafd (the jarr ending), by tanwin, by taking alif-lam (الـ), and by the particles of khafd (prepositions).”
Recognition test
Run the tests on any word: will it take الـ in front? Tanwin at the end? A preposition such as مِنْ or فِي before it? One 'yes' is enough — the word is an ism.
(الآجرّومية)
In the Qur'an
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ
Al-'Asr 103:2 — “Indeed, mankind is in loss”
Both nouns show their signs: ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ carries الـ, and خُسْرٍ carries tanwin after the preposition فِي — three signs of the ism in four words.
Don't confuse it with
The ism covers far more than the English 'noun'. It takes in nouns, pronouns (هُوَ), adjectives (كَبِير), demonstratives (هَٰذَا), even adverbs of time and place (أَمْسِ، فَوْقَ) — anything that passes the tests above.
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