لازم

Arabic

Etymology

Root
ل ز م (l z m)
17 terms

Derived from the active participle of لَزِمَ (lazima, “to be necessary, to be inseparable”).

Adjective

لَازِم • (lāzim) (feminine لَازِمَة (lāzima), masculine plural لَازِمُونَ (lāzimūna), feminine plural لَازِمَات (lāzimāt) or لَوَازِم (lawāzim), elative أَلْزَم (ʔalzam))

1. necessary, urgent, unavoidable
2. obligatory
3. closely adhering to, inseparable, inherent
4. entirely addicted or devoted to
5. worthy, fit
6. (grammar) intransitive, neuter

   Antonym: مُتَعَدٍّ (mutaʕaddin)

Declension

Declension of adjective لَازِم (lāzim)

singular	masculine		feminine
	basic singular triptote		singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
informal	لَازِم lāzim	اللَّازِم al-lāzim	لَازِمَة lāzima	اللَّازِمَة al-lāzima
nominative	لَازِمٌ lāzimun	اللَّازِمُ al-lāzimu	لَازِمَةٌ lāzimatun	اللَّازِمَةُ al-lāzimatu
accusative	لَازِمًا lāziman	اللَّازِمَ al-lāzima	لَازِمَةً lāzimatan	اللَّازِمَةَ al-lāzimata
genitive	لَازِمٍ lāzimin	اللَّازِمِ al-lāzimi	لَازِمَةٍ lāzimatin	اللَّازِمَةِ al-lāzimati
dual	masculine		feminine
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
informal	لَازِمَيْن lāzimayn	اللَّازِمَيْن al-lāzimayn	لَازِمَتَيْن lāzimatayn	اللَّازِمَتَيْن al-lāzimatayn
nominative	لَازِمَانِ lāzimāni	اللَّازِمَانِ al-lāzimāni	لَازِمَتَانِ lāzimatāni	اللَّازِمَتَانِ al-lāzimatāni
accusative	لَازِمَيْنِ lāzimayni	اللَّازِمَيْنِ al-lāzimayni	لَازِمَتَيْنِ lāzimatayni	اللَّازِمَتَيْنِ al-lāzimatayni
genitive	لَازِمَيْنِ lāzimayni	اللَّازِمَيْنِ al-lāzimayni	لَازِمَتَيْنِ lāzimatayni	اللَّازِمَتَيْنِ al-lāzimatayni
plural	masculine		feminine
	sound masculine plural		sound feminine plural‎; basic broken plural diptote
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
informal	لَازِمِين lāzimīn	اللَّازِمِين al-lāzimīn	لَازِمَات‎; لَوَازِم lāzimāt‎; lawāzim	اللَّازِمَات‎; اللَّوَازِم al-lāzimāt‎; al-lawāzim
nominative	لَازِمُونَ lāzimūna	اللَّازِمُونَ al-lāzimūna	لَازِمَاتٌ‎; لَوَازِمُ lāzimātun‎; lawāzimu	اللَّازِمَاتُ‎; اللَّوَازِمُ al-lāzimātu‎; al-lawāzimu
accusative	لَازِمِينَ lāzimīna	اللَّازِمِينَ al-lāzimīna	لَازِمَاتٍ‎; لَوَازِمَ lāzimātin‎; lawāzima	اللَّازِمَاتِ‎; اللَّوَازِمَ al-lāzimāti‎; al-lawāzima
genitive	لَازِمِينَ lāzimīna	اللَّازِمِينَ al-lāzimīna	لَازِمَاتٍ‎; لَوَازِمَ lāzimātin‎; lawāzima	اللَّازِمَاتِ‎; اللَّوَازِمِ al-lāzimāti‎; al-lawāzimi

Derived terms

• فِعْل لَازِم (fiʕl lāzim)
• مِن اللَازِم (min al-lāzim)

Descendants

• → Malay: lazim
  • → Indonesian: lazim
• North Levantine Arabic: لازم (lāzim)
• → Ottoman Turkish: لازم
  • Turkish: lazım
• → Persian: لازم (lâzem)
  • → Azerbaijani: lazım
  • → Kazakh: лазым (lazym), ләзім (läzım)
  • → Hindustani:

    Hindi: लाज़िम (lāzim)

    Urdu: لَازِم (lāzim)

  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi script: ਲਾਜ਼ਮ (lāzam)

    Shahmukhi script: لَازِم (lāzim)

  • → Uyghur: لازىم (lazim)
  • → Uzbek: lozim
• → Swahili: lazima

References

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “لازم”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[1], London: W.H. Allen
• Wehr, Hans (1979) “لزم”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic لَازِم (lāzim, “necessary, urgent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛːzɪm], [ˈleːzɪm]

Adverb

لازم • (lāzim)

1. (false verb, followed by subjunctive verb) must; gotta

   لأ سوري، لازم تسأل حدا تاني

   Laʾ sōrī, lāzim tisʾal ḥadā tānī.

   No, sorry, you gotta ask someone else.

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic لَازِم (lāzim).

Adjective

لازم • (lazım)

1. necessary

Descendants

• Turkish: lazım

References

• Mallouf, Nassif (1856) “nécessaire”, in Dictionnaire français-turc, 2nd edition, Paris: Maisonneuve, page 503

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic لَازِم (lāzim).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [lɑː.ˈzim]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [lɑː.zɪ́m]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [lɑː.zɪ́m]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [lɑː.zɪ́m]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [lɔː.zím]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [lɒː.zém]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [lɔ.zím]

Readings
Classical reading?	lāzim
Dari reading?	lāzim
Iranian reading?	lâzem
Tajik reading?	lozim

Adjective

Dari	لازم
Iranian Persian
Tajik	лозим

لازِم • (lâzem) (comparative لازِم‌تَر (lâzem-tar), superlative لازِم‌تَرین (lâzem-tarin))

1. necessary
   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume IV, verse 2626:

     گفت با هامان بگویم ای ستیر / شاه را لازم بود رای وزیر

     goft bâ hâmân be-guyam ey satir / šâh-râ lâzem bud rây-e vazir

     He [Pharaoh] said, "I will tell Hámán, O veiled [modest] one: the counsel of the vizier is necessary to the king."

Derived terms

• لازم داشتن (lâzem dâštan, “to need”)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: lazım
• → Kazakh: лазым (lazym), ләзім (läzım)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: लाज़िम (lāzim)

  Urdu: لَازِم (lāzim)

• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਲਾਜ਼ਮ (lāzam)

  Shahmukhi script: لَازِم (lāzim)

• → Uyghur: لازىم (lazim)
• → Uzbek: lozim

South Levantine Arabic

Root
ل ز م
3 terms

Etymology

From Arabic لَازِم (lāzim, “necessary, urgent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laː.zim/, [ˈlæː.zɪm]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

Adjective

لازم • (lāzem) (feminine لازمة (lāzme), common plural لوازم (lawāzem))

1. necessary

Adverb

لازم • (lāzem)

1. (false verb, followed by subjunctive verb) must

See also

• اضطر (iḍṭarr, “to have to, be obligated to”)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian لَازِم (lāzim), from Arabic لَازِم (lāzim).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /lɑː.zɪm/
• Rhymes: -ɪm
• Hyphenation: لا‧زِم

Adjective

لازِم • (lāzim) (Hindi spelling लाज़िम)

1. necessary, imperative

   Synonym: واجِب (vājib)

2. inevitable
3. (grammar) intransitive

Further reading

• “لازم”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “لازم”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “لازم”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.