Arabic word sheet
مَسَّ
he touched; (a harm) befell him
- Type
- verb
- Root
- م س س
Meaning and usage
To touch
To come into contact with a thing or a person, usually with the hand, and actually feel it.
مَسَّ الطِّفْلُ الْقِطَّةَ بِيَدِهِ.
The child touched the cat with his hand.
To befall, to afflict
Said of a harm, a hardship or a painful state that comes upon someone: illness, weariness, old age, misfortune.
مَسَّ الْمُسَافِرِينَ جُوعٌ فِي الطَّرِيقِ.
Hunger came upon the travellers on the road.
To affect, to encroach on modern usage
In today’s language: to bear closely on a thing or to harm it, speaking of interests, rights, a reputation.
مَسَّ الْقَرَارُ مَصَالِحَ التُّجَّارِ.
The decision affected the merchants’ interests.
Word family
What the root means م س س
The root carries the idea of contact: putting the hand on a thing with nothing in between. From it come touch, two things touching each other, making someone touch a thing and a need that presses.
touch, contact
مَسٌّ
touching
مَسِيسٌ
to be in contact with
مَاسَّ
to touch each other
تَمَاسَّ
to make (someone) touch
أَمَسَّ
Synonyms
to touch, to feel
لَمَسَ
It is also said of the hand groping for a thing, even without finding it, whereas the headword supposes that contact really takes place.
to hit, to befall
أَصَابَ
Close to the headword only in its sense of “to befall”: more neutral, it is said of good fortune as readily as of harm.