اسم

See also: آسم‎, أسم‎, and أشم‎

Arabic

Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *šim-, from Proto-Afroasiatic *sim- (“name”). Leveled in Arabic to the roots و س م‎ (w-s-m) and س م و‎ (s-m-w).

Cognate with Hebrew שם‎ (shém).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ism/

• Audio

  (file)

  • (Gulf Arabic) IPA^(key): /i.sim/

Noun

اِسْم • (ism) m (plural أَسْمَاء‎ (ʔasmāʔ) or أَسَامٍ‎ (ʔasāmin))

1. name

   ‏مَا ٱسْمُكَ؟‎‎ ― mā smuka? ― What is your name?

   ‏بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ‎ ― bismi allāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi ― in the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

   ‏بِسْمِ ٱلْآبِ وَٱلِٱبْنِ وَٱلرُّوحِ ٱلْقُدُسِ‎ ― bismi l-ʔābi wal-ibni war-rūḥi l-qudusi ― In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost

2. appellation
3. reputation, prestige
4. (grammar) noun (a category above, including pronouns and substantives like adjectives and participles, see the derived terms to get a picture of the usage)

Declension

Declension of noun اِسْم (ism)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	اِسْم ism	الِاسْم‎ al-ism	اِسْم ism
Nominative	اِسْمٌ ismun	الِاسْمُ‎ al-ismu	اِسْمُ ismu
Accusative	اِسْمًا‎ isman	الِاسْمَ‎ al-isma	اِسْمَ isma
Genitive	اِسْمٍ ismin	الِاسْمِ‎ al-ismi	اِسْمِ ismi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	اِسْمَيْن‎ ismayn	الِاسْمَيْن‎ al-ismayn	اِسْمَيْ‎ ismay
Nominative	اِسْمَانِ‎ ismāni	الِاسْمَانِ‎ al-ismāni	اِسْمَا‎ ismā
Accusative	اِسْمَيْنِ‎ ismayni	الِاسْمَيْنِ‎ al-ismayni	اِسْمَيْ‎ ismay
Genitive	اِسْمَيْنِ‎ ismayni	الِاسْمَيْنِ‎ al-ismayni	اِسْمَيْ‎ ismay
Plural	basic broken plural triptote‎; broken plural diptote in ـٍ (-in)
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	أَسْمَاء‎‎; أَسَامِي‎ ʔasmāʔ‎; ʔasāmī	الْأَسْمَاء‎‎; الْأَسَامِي‎ al-ʔasmāʔ‎; al-ʔasāmī	أَسْمَاء‎‎; أَسَامِي‎ ʔasmāʔ‎; ʔasāmī
Nominative	أَسْمَاءٌ‎‎; أَسَامٍ‎ ʔasmāʔun‎; ʔasāmin	الْأَسْمَاءُ‎‎; الْأَسَامِي‎ al-ʔasmāʔu‎; al-ʔasāmī	أَسْمَاءُ‎‎; أَسَامِي‎ ʔasmāʔu‎; ʔasāmī
Accusative	أَسْمَاءً‎‎; أَسَامِيَ‎ ʔasmāʔan‎; ʔasāmiya	الْأَسْمَاءَ‎‎; الْأَسَامِيَ‎ al-ʔasmāʔa‎; al-ʔasāmiya	أَسْمَاءَ‎‎; أَسَامِيَ‎ ʔasmāʔa‎; ʔasāmiya
Genitive	أَسْمَاءٍ‎‎; أَسَامٍ‎ ʔasmāʔin‎; ʔasāmin	الْأَسْمَاءِ‎‎; الْأَسَامِي‎ al-ʔasmāʔi‎; al-ʔasāmī	أَسْمَاءِ‎‎; أَسَامِي‎ ʔasmāʔi‎; ʔasāmī

Derived terms

• اَلْأَسْمَاء الْخَمْسَة‎ (al-ʔasmāʔ al-ḵamsa, “the five nouns”)
• اِسْم آلَة‎ (ism ʔāla, “nomen instrumenti”)
• اِسْم إِشَارَة‎ (ism ʔišāra, “pronomen demonstrativum”)
• اِسْم اِسْتِفْهَام‎ (ism istifhām, “pronomen interrogativum”)
• اِسْم تَفْضِيل‎ (ism tafḍīl, “elativus”)
• اِسْم جَمْع‎ (ism jamʕ, “nomen generis”)
• اِسْم جِنْس إِفْرَادِيّ‎ (ism jins ʔifrādiyy)
• اِسْم جِنْس جَمْعِيّ‎ (ism jins jamʕiyy)
• اِسْم جِنْس‎ (ism jins, “nomen appellativum”)
• اِسْم زَمَان‎ (ism zamān, “nomen temporis”)
• اِسْم عَدَد‎ (ism ʕadad, “nomen numeri”)
• اِسْم عَلَم‎ (ism ʕalam, “nomen proprium”)
• اِسْم فَاعِل‎ (ism fāʕil, “participium activum”)
• اِسْم مَرَّة‎ (ism marra, “nomen vicis”)
• اِسْم مَفْعُول‎ (ism mafʕūl, “participium passivum”)
• اِسْم مَقْصُور‎ (ism maqṣūr, “noun ending in ى‎ or ا‎”)
• اِسْم مَكَان‎ (ism makān, “nomen loci”)
• اِسْم مَنْقُوص‎ (ism manqūṣ, “noun ending in ـٍ‎ (-in)”)
• اِسْم مَوْصُول‎ (ism mawṣūl, “pronomen relativum”)
• اِسْم نَوْع‎ (ism nawʕ, “nomen speciei”)
• اِسْم هَيْئَة‎ (ism hayʔa, “nomen speciei”)
• اِسْم وَحْدَة‎ (ism waḥda, “nomen unitatis”)
• اِسْم وِعَاء‎ (ism wiʕāʔ, “nomen vasis”)
• اِسْمِيّ‎ (ismiyy, “nominal, titular”)

 

Descendants

• Cypriot Arabic: اسم (ism)
• Hijazi Arabic: اسم‎ (isim)
• Maltese: isem
• Moroccan Arabic: اسم‎ (ism)
• Tunisian Arabic: اسم‎ (ism)
• → Azerbaijani: ایسیم‎, isim (or via Persian)
• → Bashkir: исем (isem)
• → Kazakh: есім (esım)
• → Malay: اسم‎, isim
• → Classical Persian: اسم‎ (ism) (see there for further descendants)
• → Swahili: isimu

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /us.mu/

Verb

اُسْمُ • (usmu) (form I)

1. second-person masculine singular active imperative of سَمَا‎ (samā)

Further reading

• Freytag, Georg (1833), “اسم”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 359–360
• Carter, Michael George (2017), “The Seven Deadly Sins of Arabic Studies”, in Manuel Sartori, Manuela E. B. Giolfo, Philippe Cassuto, editors, Approaches to the History and Dialectology of Arabic in Honor of Pierre Larcher (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics; 88), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 519–521
• Kasher, Almog (1 October 2009), “Term Ism in Medieval Arabic Grammatical Tradition: A Hyponym of Itself”, in Journal of Semitic Studies‎^[1], Oxford Academix, retrieved 26 October 2018
• Wehr, Hans (1979), “سم”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Azerbaijani

Noun

اسم (ism) (definite accusative اسمی‎, plural اسملر‎)

1. Alternative spelling of ایسیم‎

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /isim/, [e̞se̞m]

Noun

اسم • (isim) m (plural أسماء‎ (ʔasmāʔ))

1. name

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism).

Pronunciation

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /isem/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /isɪm/
• Rhymes: -isem, -sem, -em

Noun

اسم (plural اسم-اسم or اسم۲‎, informal 1st possessive اسمکو‎, 2nd possessive اسممو‎, 3rd possessive اسمڽ‎)

1. Jawi spelling of isim

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism).

Noun

اسم • (ism, isim) (plural اسملر‎)

1. name
2. (grammar) noun

Synonyms

• آد‎ (ad)

Descendants

• Turkish: isim

Persian

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ʔism]

 

• (Dari, formal/KBL) IPA^(key): [ʔɪsm]

• (Dari, formal/KBL) IPA^(key): [ʔɪsm]
  • (Hazaragi/approx.) IPA^(key): [ʔism]

• (Iran, formal/TEH) IPA^(key): [ʔesm]

• (Tajik, formal/DUS) IPA^(key): [ʔism]

• Phonetic Persian:

Traditional: [اِسْم]‎

Iranian: [اِسْم]‎

Readings
Classical reading?	ism
Dari reading?	ism
Iranian reading?	esm
Tajik reading?	ism

• audio (Iranian Persian)

  (file)

Noun

Dari	اسم
Iranian Persian
Tajik	исм

اسم • (esm) (plural اسم‌ها‎ (esm-hâ) or اسامی‎ (asâmi) or اَسْماء‎ (asmâ(')))

1. (Iran, informal, elsewhere, uncommon) name

   Synonym: نام‎ (nâm)

2. appellation

   Synonym: نامیده‎ (nâmide)

3. (grammar) noun

   Hyponym: اسم خاص‎

Usage notes

• In Iran, when referring to names, نام‎ is more common in formal speech and اسم is more common in informal speech.
• In Dari and Tajik, when referring to names, اسم is not commonly used at any level of formality. Though other senses besides "name" are commonly used.

Descendants

• Tajik: исм (ism)
  • → Uzbek: ism
• → Gujarati: ઇસમ (isam)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: इस्म (ism)

  Urdu: اِسْم‎ (ism)

• → Kannada: ಇಸಮು (isamu)
• → Marathi: इसम (isam)
• → Ottoman Turkish: اسم‎ (ism, isim)
  • → Turkish: isim
• → Uyghur: ئىسىم‎ (isim)

South Levantine Arabic

Root
و س م‎
1 term

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔism/, [ˈʔɪ.s(ɪ)m]
• IPA^(key): /ʔusm/, [ˈʔʊ.s(ʊ)m]

• Audio (Jerusalem)

  (file)

Noun

اسم • (ʔism, ʔusm) m (plural أسامي‎ (ʔasāmi))

1. name

   ‏اسم العيلة‎‎ ― ʔism il-ʕēle ― surname, family name

   Audio (Ramallah)

   (file)

   ‏اسم الشخص‎‎ ― ʔism iš-šaḵṣ ― first name

   Audio (Ramallah)

   (file)

   ‏شو اسمك؟‎‎ ― šu ʔismak? ― What's your name?

   ‏شو الاسم الكريم؟‎‎ ― šu l-ʔism il-karīm? ― What's your noble name?

2. noun

Tunisian Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism).

Noun

اسم (ʔism) m

1. name

   ‏شسمك ؟‎‎

   šismik

   What's your name?

2. noun
3. title

   ‏ما ختارش اسم باهي لكتابه‎

   mā ḵtāriš ʔism bāhi liktābu

   He didn't choose a good title for his book

4. first name

Urdu

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Classical Persian اسم‎ (ism), from Arabic اِسْم‎ (ism), from Proto-Semitic *šim-.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ɪsm/

Noun

اِسْم • (ism) m (Hindi spelling इस्म)

1. name, appellation, designation
2. (grammar) noun, substantive

Synonyms

• نام‎ (nām)

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit असम (asama).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ə.səm/

Adjective

اَسَم • (asam) (Hindi spelling असम)

1. unequal
2. uneven
3. dissimilar
4. unusual

Further reading

• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “اسم”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.