12 times in the Quran · 2 word forms · rank 513

The Quran root ع ص و ʿ-ṣ-w

Words built from the root ع ص و ([ʿ-ṣ-w]) appear 12 times in the Quran. The most common is عَصا, “staff”, which comes 10 times. Learn the root once and you can recognise every word made from it.

Words from this root

Word	Say it	Meaning	Times
عَصا	ʿaṣaa	staff	10
عِصِيّ	ʿiṣiyy	staffs	2

Examples from the Quran

وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا مِن رِّزْقِ اللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ ٦٠

بِّعَصَاكَ biʿaṣāka · with your staff

And [recall] when Moses prayed for water for his people, so We said, "Strike with your staff the stone." And there gushed forth from it twelve springs, and every people [i.e., tribe] knew its watering place. "Eat and drink from the provision of Allāh, and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption." (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:60)

فَأَلْقَىٰ عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُّبِينٌ ١٠٧

عَصَاهُ ʿaṣāhu · his staff

So he [i.e., Moses] threw his staff, and suddenly it was a serpent, manifest. (Surah Al-A'raf, 7:107)

قَالَ بَلْ أَلْقُوا فَإِذَا حِبَالُهُمْ وَعِصِيُّهُمْ يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ مِن سِحْرِهِمْ أَنَّهَا تَسْعَىٰ ٦٦

وَعِصِيُّهُمْ waʿiṣiyyuhum · and their staffs

He said, "Rather, you throw." And suddenly their ropes and staffs seemed to him from their magic that they were moving [like snakes]. (Surah Taha, 20:66)

Surahs where it comes most

Each meaning is taken from the word-by-word translation of the verses, so a word can show two meanings from different contexts. Root and base-word data come from the Quranic Arabic Corpus.