Arabic vocabulary
اِسْتَأْصَلَto uproot in Arabic
اِسْتَأْصَلَ is how you say “to uproot” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in a real example sentence from classical texts below.
Root ا ص ل (ʾ-ṣ-l)verb (form X)Pronounced istaʾṣala
Meaning of to uproot in Arabic
- to uproot, eradicate, extirpate — to pull something up, out, or off entirely from its root, foundation, or lowest part (e.g. a tree), or to cut it off together with its roots
- to destroy utterly, annihilate completely — said of God destroying a people or disbelievers altogether; cf. the precative phrase استأصل الله شأفتهم, 'may God remove the last remnant of them'
- to remove something completely, down to nothing left — extended to specific acts, e.g. performing circumcision so as to remove the prepuce utterly
Form X of أصل, built on the base sense of أَصْل ("root, foundation"), so istaʾṣala literally means to go after something's very root and remove it entirely. It is used concretely of trees and other physical things ("cut off from its root or lowest part") and figuratively of peoples or enemies ("cut off their root/stock" i.e. wipe them out). It appears often in a precative or curse-like register — استأصل الله شأفتهم / استأصل الله الكفار, "may God extirpate/destroy them utterly" — a common formula in classical usage against enemies or evildoers.
Words from the same root
- أَصْلٌroot, foundation, lowest part of a thing
- تَأْصِيلٌgiving something a firm root or foundation; establishing firmly
- أَصَالَةٌfirmness, being firmly rooted; soundness of judgment
- مُسْتَأْصِلٌone who/that which uproots or extirpates
- مُسْتَأْصَلَةٌuprooted, extirpated
- أَصَلَةٌa highly venomous serpent (linked to the idea of striking at the root)
Common questions
- How do you say "to uproot" in Arabic?
- اِسْتَأْصَلَ (istaʾṣala) — literally, to remove something entirely by its root or foundation.
- What does استأصل الله شأفتهم mean?
- "May God extirpate them" or "cut off the last remnant of them" — a classical precative curse invoking total removal, from the same root as istaʾṣala.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
فَاسْتَأْصَلَهُ
So he uprooted it.
فَاسْتَأْصَلَهُ — so he uprooted it. Consecutive fa- ('so') on a heavy-pattern (Form X) past-tense verb with 'he' inside and an attached -hu, 'it', as its object. The added shell of this pattern gives the verb a thorough 'root-and-all' force, here 'uprooted it completely'.
From: Sheba's Garden and Destruction →
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