ضَعِيفٌ

Full Definition

ضَعِيفٌ and [in an intensive sense] ضَعُوفٌ and ضَعْفَانُ Weak, feeble, faint, frail, infirm, or unsound: pl. ضِعَافٌ and ضُعَفَآءُ and ضَعَفَةٌ, which last is [said to be] the only instance of its kind except خَبَثَةٌ pl. of خَبِيثٌ [q. v.], and ضَعْفَى, like جَرْحَى pl. of جَرِيحٌ: fem. ضَعُوفٌ and ضَعِيفَةٌ; pl., applied to women, ضَعِيفَاتٌ and ضَعَائِفُ and ضِعَافٌ. وَخُلِقَ ٱلْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا means [For man was created weak, or] subject to be inclined by his desire. And الضَّعِيفَانِ [The two weak ones] means the woman and the slave: hence the trad., اِتَّقُوا ٱللّٰهَ فِى الضَّعِيفَيْنِ [Fear ye God in respect of the woman and the slave].
2 In the dial. of Himyer, Blind: and [it is said that] thus it signifies in the phrase لَنَرَاكَ فِينَا ضَعِيفًا [Verily we see thee to be, among us, blind], in the Kur [xi. 93]: but Esh-Shiháb rejects this, in the 'Inayeh.
3 [As a conventional term] in lexicology, applied to a word, [Of weak authority;] inferior to what is termed فَصِيحٌ, but superior to what is termed مُنْكَرٌ. (Mz, 10th نوع.)
4 Applied to verse, or poetry, [Weak;] unsound, or infirm; syn. عَلِيلٌ: thus used by Kh.
5 The saying of a man who had found a thing dropped on the ground (وَجَدَ لُقَطَةً), فَعَرَّفْتُهَا ضَعِيفًا, means And I made it known in a suppressed, or low, [or weak,] voice. (Mgh in art. نفر.)

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Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

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