Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

Includes Hans Wehr and al-Mufradat — All in One Search

ثَلَاثَةٌ

Root: ثلث

Full Definition

ثَلَاثَةٌ , also written ثَلٰثَةٌ, a noun of number, [i. e. Three,] is masc., and is also written and pronounced ثُلَاثَةٌ , with damm: the fem. is ثَلَاثٌ , also written ثَلٰثٌ; [and app. ثُلَاثٌ also, mentioned above, under the head of ثُلَاثُ, but only as occurring with ذُو prefixed to it.] You say ثُلَاثَةُ رِجَالٍ [Three men]: and نِسْوَةٍ [three women]. In the saying of Mohammad, رُفِعَ القَلَمُ عَنْ [The pen of the recording angel is withheld from three persons] ثلاث is for ثَلَاثِ أَنْفُسٍ. (Msb. [See art. رفع.]) [In like manner, ثَلَاثٌ occurs in several trads. for ثَلَاثُ خِصَالٍ; as, for instance, in the saying,] ثَلَاثٌ مَنْ كُنَّ فِيهِ حَاسَبَهُ ٱللّٰهُ حِسَابًا يَسِيرًا [There are three qualities: in whomsoever they be, God will reckon with him with an easy reckoning]: these are, thy giving to him who denies thee, and forgiving him who wrongs thee, and being kind to him who cuts thee off from him. The people of El-Hijáz say, أَتَوْنِى ثَلَاثَتَهُمْ [The three of them came to me], and أَرْبَعَتَهُمْ, and so on to ten [inclusive], with nasb in every case; and in like manner in the fem., أَتَيْنَنِى , and أَرْبَعَهُنَّ: but others decline the word with the three vowels, making it like كُلُّهُمْ: after ten, however, only nasb is used; so that you say, أَتَوْنِى أَحَدَ عَشَرَهُمْ [and ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَهُمْ], and إِحْدَى عَشْرَتَهُنَّ [and ثَلَاثَ عَشْرَتَهُنَّ]. The saying وَلَدُ الزِّنَا شَرٌ الثَّلَاثَةِ means [The offspring of adultery, or fornication, is the worst of the three] if he do the deeds of his parents. [It is said that when ثلاثة means the things numbered, not the amount of the number, it is imperfectly decl., being regarded as a proper name; and so are other ns. of number. (See ثُمَانِيةٌ.) See also سِتَّةٌ.]
2 ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَ [indecl. in every case, meaning Thirteen,] is pronounced by some of the Arabs ثَلَاثَةَ عْشَرَ: and [the fem.] عَشْرَةَ, thus in the dial. of El- Hijáz [and of most of the Arabs], is pronounced ثَلَاثَ عَشِرَةَ in the dial. of Nejd. (S in art. عشر.)
Lane's Lexicon + Hans Wehr + Mufradat

Three dictionaries. One search.

"The product of over thirty years of unrelenting labor — to this day supreme in the field of Arabic lexicography."

47,000+ classical entries Root-based navigation Full text search Hyperlinked definitions
Try Now

Trusted by researchers at University of Michigan, Duke, Alberta & more