Word of the Day, Issue #022

to plant = زَرَعَ

زَرَعَ (zara’a) (imperfect يَزْرَع , verbal noun زِرَاعَة ) means to plant, sow. Its object can be either what was sown or where it was sown, and it is usually used with reference seeds (rather than trees), e.g. زَرَعَ الْحَبَّ he sowed the seeds, and زَرَعَ أَرْضَهُ he planted (seeds in) his land. As in English, it may be used figuratively, e.g. زَرَعَتْ أَخْلاقُهُ الْحُبَّ فِيْ قُلُوبِ النَّاسِ لَهُ his good character sowed love in people’s hearts for him. It may also be used to mean to cause (the seeds) to grow, germinate, increase, and it is in this sense in which it is used in the Quran, where it says: أَأَنْتُمْ تَزْرَعُوْنَهُ أَمْ نَحْنُ الزَّارِعُوْن do you cause (what you have sown) to grow, or do We cause it to grow? Although it can also be used with reference to trees, this is rarer, and we usually use غَرَس (gharasa) (imperfect يَغْرِس , verbal noun غَرْس ) to mean to plant a tree: غَرَسَ الشَّجَرَة he planted a tree.