Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
صِيغَة مُنْتَهَى الْجُمُوع
sighat muntaha al-jumu'
Ultimate-plural pattern (diptote)
Sarf · morphologyNumber & plural typeadvanced term347+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Jam' · Broken plural · Sound plural · Plurals
In one line
The plural of plurals: after the alif come two letters (or three with a sakin middle) — مَسَاجِد, مَصَابِيح — and the tanwin is gone.
Definition (modern)
هُوَ كُلُّ جَمْعِ تَكْسِيرٍ وَقَعَ بَعْدَ أَلِفِ تَكْسِيرِهِ حَرْفَانِ، أَوْ ثَلَاثَةٌ أَوْسَطُهَا سَاكِنٌ.
“It is any broken plural in which two letters follow its plural-alif, or three whose middle one is sakin.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
أَلِف تَكْسِيرِهِits plural-alif
أَوْسَطُهَا سَاكِنٌthe middle one vowel-less
Understand it
Arabic's biggest plural shapes — مَسَاجِد، قَوَاعِد، دَرَاهِم with two letters after the alif; مَصَابِيح، مَفَاتِيح، قَوَارِير with three around a sakin — have reached the 'utmost' of plural form: no further plural can be built on them. That fullness costs them their tanwin: the pattern is mamnu' min al-sarf, so jarr appears as fatha. One ال or an idafa restores the kasra: فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Alif in the middle, then two letters (or three with a silent middle), no tanwin possible: read jarr-with-fatha until the word carries ال or is mudaf.
In the Qur'an
وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا بِمَصَٰبِيحَ
Al-Mulk 67:5 — “And We have certainly adorned the lowest heaven with lamps”
مَصَٰبِيحَ after بِ should show kasra — instead a fatha and no tanwin: muntaha al-jumu' is mamnu' min al-sarf.
Related terms
جَمْع تَكْسِير · jam' taksir
مَمْنُوع مِنَ الصَّرْف · mamnu' min al-sarf
تَنْوِين · tanwin
الْمُفْرَد · al-mufrad
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From the free course The Language of Quran — Easier than English (Book 1) (LoQ1), taught by Ustad Muhammad Arjan Ali.