Quran Root Words > Root ʾ-r-d
The Arabic root أ ر ض (ʾ-r-d) occurs 461 times in the Quran, and every one of those occurrences is the same word: أَرْض (arḍ). It is number 13 of the 1,642 roots in the Quranic Arabic Corpus by frequency.
What the root ʾ-r-d means
The Quranic Arabic Corpus glosses أَرْض (arḍ), which occurs 461 times, as "the Earth, land".
One letter of ʾ-r-d is a hamza, the glottal stop. Arabic writes a hamza on a seat chosen by the vowels around it (أ, إ, ؤ, ئ, or ء on its own); in أَرْض (arḍ) it is written أ.
Every word from the root ʾ-r-d in the Quran
The Quran uses one word from ʾ-r-d. The table gives its spelling as the corpus writes it, its type, its meaning and its count. The Quran uses no verb from ʾ-r-d: all 461 occurrences are nouns, adjectives or participles.
| Arabic | Transliteration | Word type | Meaning | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَرْض | arḍ | Noun | the Earth, land | 461 |
| أ ر ض | ʾ-r-d | All words from ʾ-r-d | 461 |
Meanings in quotation marks are MASAQ word-by-word glosses, the others the corpus dictionary's, and the word types follow the dictionary. Every count on this page is a lemma count from the Quranic Arabic Corpus, version 0.4. We compared this count, the root total of 461, with the corpus's own dictionary entry for ʾ-r-d, and it matches.
The root ʾ-r-d in the verses of the Quran
Words from ʾ-r-d appear in 440 verses spread over 80 of the Quran's 114 suras. Sura 2 has the most of them, 21 verses. Below are the shortest verses in which the root's most frequent words occur, with the word marked. The text is the Uthmani text of Tanzil, and each reference opens the verse on quran.com with translations.
أَرْض (arḍ), 461 times
وَإِذَا ٱلْأَرْضُ مُدَّتْ
Quran 84:3; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "the earth"
وَٱلْأَرْضِ ذَاتِ ٱلصَّدْعِ
Quran 86:12; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "and the earth"
إِذَا رُجَّتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ رَجًّا
Quran 56:4; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "the earth"
Learning the words of ʾ-r-d
أَرْض (arḍ), no. 21 with 461, is on our list of the 100 most common Quran words, which counts it the same way. The root ʾ-r-d is one of the 1,642 roots you can search in our Quran root word explorer; for the rest of the language, see our Arabic learning resources by level.
Frequently asked questions
How many times is the root ʾ-r-d used in the Quran?
461 times, always as the same word, أَرْض (arḍ), according to the Quranic Arabic Corpus.
What does the Arabic root أ ر ض (ʾ-r-d) mean?
The Quranic Arabic Corpus glosses أَرْض (arḍ), which occurs 461 times, as "the Earth, land". The root gives the Quran one word only.
Does the Quran use a verb from the root ʾ-r-d?
No. All 461 occurrences of ʾ-r-d in the Quran are nouns, adjectives or participles; the most frequent is أَرْض (arḍ).