Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
مَحْذُوف
mahdhuf
Elided/omitted element
Nahw · syntaxOperationcore term1,850+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The omitted word: dropped because the context already says it — and the i'rab still counts it, via 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.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
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 nasb with no verb, an idafa missing its head: name the mahdhuf and supply its taqdir.
In the Qur'an
وَسْـَٔلِ ٱلْقَرْيَةَ ٱلَّتِى كُنَّا فِيهَا
Yusuf 12:82 — “And ask the town where we were”
The mudaf أَهْل is omitted — 'ask [the people of] the town' — dropped because the sense points straight to it.
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