Grammar term · I'rab · Estimated and omitted
Elided/omitted element
mahdhuf
مَحْذُوف
I'rabEstimated and omittedcore term
In one line
A mahdhuf (مَحْذُوف) is a word dropped because the context already supplies it — and the i'rab still counts it, through taqdir.
Classical definition
المَحْذُوفُ مَا أُسْقِطَ مِنَ الكَلَامِ لِدَلِيلٍ يَدُلُّ عَلَيْهِ، وَيُقَدَّرُ فِي الإِعْرَابِ.
“The mahdhuf is what has been dropped from the speech because an indicator points to it, and it is assumed in the i'rab.”
Key words in the Arabic
أُسْقِطَhas been dropped
لِدَلِيلٍ يَدُلُّ عَلَيْهِbecause an indicator points to it
Understand it
Arabic economises ruthlessly, but only where meaning survives: a khabar drops after لَوْلَا, a mudaf drops before its mudaf ilayh, a whole verb drops when the context shouts it (مَاذَا أَنْزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ؟ — قَالُوا خَيْرًا, i.e. أَنْزَلَ خَيْرًا). The grammarian's duty is to restore the omission in analysis — every 'muta'alliq bi-mahdhuf' in i'rab is this principle at work.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A sentence that parses one word short — a jarr phrase with no anchor, a nasab with no verb, an idafa missing its head: name the mahdhuf and supply its taqdir.
In the Qur'an
وَسْـَٔلِ ٱلْقَرْيَةَ ٱلَّتِى كُنَّا فِيهَا وَٱلْعِيرَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَقْبَلْنَا فِيهَا ۖ وَإِنَّا لَصَٰدِقُونَ
Yusuf 12:82 — “"'Ask at the town where we have been and the caravan in which we returned, and (you will find) we are indeed telling the truth.'"”
The mudaf أَهْل is omitted — 'ask [the people of] the town' — dropped because the sense points straight to it.
Study this ayah word by word →Related terms
Common questions
How do I know a word was dropped rather than never intended?
Because the grammar leaves a hole. Something in the sentence demands a partner that is not written — a khabar with no mubtada', a governor with nothing to govern. What may be omitted is settled by rule, not guessed at.
Next in the guideتَقْدِيرImplied estimation (taqdir) →Updated