Core sense — a father; an ancestor; a paternal unclegenerated
1figurative · مجاز — inferreda father, in the ordinary sense, and also an ancestor—أَبًا
The word is originally أَبَوٌ, as is shown by the first of its dual forms and of its plural forms given below.
A dialectal variant, the same in the nominative, accusative and genitive, like قَفًا.
a father—أَبٌّ
[A dialectal variant of the same, the second letter being doubled to make up for the suppressed و, as is the case in أَخٌّ: see أَخٌ.] It is rare.
this is his father—هٰذَاأَبُوهُ
In the dialect commonly used, when it is a prefixed noun it is declined with the letters و, ا and ى.
your father—أَبُوكَ
I saw his father—رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ
I passed by his father—مَرَرْتُ بِأَبِيهِ
According to another dialect, one says هٰذَا أَبَاهُ, أَبَاكَ, رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ and مَرَرْتُ بِأَبَاهُ.
According to one dialect, the rarest of all, it is defective in every case, like يَدٌ and دَمٌ, so that one says هٰذَا أَبُوكَ.
two fathers; father and mother—أَبَوَانِ
Some say أَبَانِ.
they two are his father and mother—هُمَاأَبَوَاهُ
In poetry you may say هُمَا أَبَاهُ.
I saw his father and mother—رَأَيْتُ أَبَيْهِ
your father and mother—أَبَيْكَ
The usual, or chaste, form is رَأَيْتُ أَبَوَيْهِ.
The plural is آبَآءٌ, the best form, and أَبُونَ and أُبُوٌّ [in the CK الاَبْوٌ is wrongly put for الأُبُوٌّ] and أُبُوَّةٌ, like عُمُومَةٌ and خُؤُولَةٌ.
these are your fathers—هٰؤُلَآءِ أَبُوكُمْ
Meaning آبَاؤُكُمْ.
and the God of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac—وَإِلٰهَ أَبِيكَ إِبرٰهِيمَ وَإِسْمٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحٰقَ
So in the Qur'ān 2:127, according to one reading; the word here is the plural of أبٌ, that is أَبِينَكَ, of which the ن is dropped because the noun is prefixed to the pronoun.
our fathers are the most generous of fathers—أَبُوَّتُنَا أَكْرَمُ الآبَآءِ
Said by some of the Arabs.
The diminutive is أُبَّىٌّ, originally أُبَيْوٌ, with the final radical letter restored.
1.1he does not know who his father is—مَا يَدْرِى لَهُ مِنْ أَبٍ
he does not know what his father is—مَا أَبٌ
on this sense Both sayings are mentioned by Lh on the authority of Ks.
1.2you deserve, in my judgement, to be told: may you have no father!—لَا أَبَا لِكَ
[According to the dialect of one who says أَبًا instead of أَبٌ.]
لَا أَبَ لَكَ and لَا أَبَاكَ are used in the same way. [The last, according to J, because the ل (meaning the ل in لك in the phrases above) is as though it were redundant; but he seems not to have known the dialectal variant أَبًا, and I rather think that لَا أَبَاكَ is for لَا أَبْقَى ٱللّٰهُ أَبَاكَ or the like.]
Mbr gives لَا أَبَكَ also, and لَابَ لَكَ, which is for لَا أَبَ لَكَ.
It is used in the manner of a proverb, occurs often in poetry, is said both to one who has a father and to one who has not, and is necessarily a curse in meaning, though a khabar in form.
Hence the saying of Jereer
shāhid 1يَا تَيْمُ تَيْمَ عَدِىٍّ لَا أَبَا لَكُمْ
[O Teym, Teym of 'Ades, may you have no father!].
This is the strongest evidence that it is a proverb and has no literal meaning; for all of the tribe of Teym could not have one father, but all of them were fit objects of cursing and rough speech.
It is an expression of praise: a curse against the person addressed, but not said with any wish that it take effect, rather on an occasion of intense love, like لَا أُمَّ لَكَ and the like; sometimes in dispraise, like لَا أُمَّ لَكَ; and in wonder, like لِلّهِ دَرُّكَ.
Or, as A Heyth says on the authority of Aboo-Sa'eed Ed-Dareer, it expresses the utmost degree of reviling, meaning: you have no known father. لَا أُمَّ لَكَ is reviling too, but means: you have no free, or ingenuous, mother. [See أُمَّ.]
Sometimes it means: strive, or exert yourself, in your affair; for a man who has a father relies on him in some circumstances of his case.
According to Kh, it means: you have none to stand in your own stead.
Fr says that the Arabs use the phrase parenthetically, to divide their speech. So Zufar Ibn-El-Hārith says
shāhid 2أَرِينِى سِلَاحِى لَا أَبَا لَكَ إِنَّنِىأَرَى الحَرْبَ لَا تَزْدَادُ إِلَّا تَمَادِيَا
[Show me my weapons: (may you have no father! or you have no father:) I see that the war, or battle, increases only in perseverance].
[Aboo-'Alee, as cited in the M, observes that the ا (meaning the final ا) in أَبَا in the phrase لَا أَبَا لَكَ shows that it is a prefixed noun and determinate, while the ل in لك, together with the government exercised on the noun by لا, shows that it is on the contrary indeterminate and separate from what follows it; but it seems that he did not know the dialectal variant أَبَّا, for لَا أَبَا لَكَ in the dialect of one who uses the form أَبَّا instead of أَبٌ is grammatically the same as لَا أَبَ لَكَ in the dialect of one who uses the form أَبٌ.]
Suleymān Ibn-'Abd-El-Melik heard an Arab of the desert say, in a year of drought, أَنْزِلْ عَلَيْنَا الغَيْثَ لَا أَبَا لَكَ, and put the best construction on it, [as though it meant, Send down upon us rain: You have no father], saying, I testify that He has no father, nor female companion, nor offspring.
They also say, in paying honour to someone, لَا أَبَ لِشَانِئِكَ and لَا أَبَ لِشَانِئِكَ, that is: may the one who hates you have no father! Or, according to ISk, each is a metonymic expression for لَا أَبَا لَكَ. See art. شنأ.
1.3to God be attributed the excellence of your father!—لَلِّهِ أَبُوكَ
Said when something approved and commended happens, to express wonder and praise: your father begat you a generous son and produced the like of you.
It means that to God alone belongs the power to create the like of this man, from whom this wonderful action has come.
1.4she resembles her father—هِىَ بِنْتُ أَبِيهَا
That is, in strength of mind, or spirit, and sharpness of disposition, and in hastening, or striving to be first, to do things.
Said of Hafsah, by 'Āïsheh.
1.5with my father may you be ransomed—بِأَبِى
Also بِأَبِى أَنْتَ, said to a person; T, in art. بأ.
may you be ransomed with my father—فُدِيتَ بِأَبِى
I will ransom you with my father—أَفْدِيكَ بِأَبِى
you are, or shall be, ransomed with my father—أَنْتَ مَفْدِىٌّ بِأَبِى
I have in my heart ransomed you with my father—فَدَيُتُكَ بِأَبِى
The ب depends on a word left out, which some hold to be a passive participial noun and others a verb; the word is left out because the phrase is used so often.
with my father may you be ransomed, and with my mother—بِأَبِى أَنْتَ وَ أُمِّى
may the one I love be ransomed with my father—بِأَبِى مَنْ وَدَدتُّهُ
That is, فُدِىَ بِأَبِى مَنْ وَدَدتُّهُ, meaning: may my father be made a ransom for the one I love.
Sometimes they change the ى into ا. A poet says
shāhid 1وَقَدْ زَعَمُوا أَنِّى جَزِعْتُ عَلَيْهِمَاوَهَلْ جَزَعٌ أَنْ قُلْتُ وَا بِأَبَا هُمَا
[And they have claimed that I have become impatient on account of those two: but is it a proof of impatience that I said, Alas, with my father may those two be ransomed?]; meaning وَا بِأَبِى هُمَا.
alas, with my father may you be ransomed—وَا بِأَبَا أَنْتَ
Some of the Arabs used to say this. AM says it is like يَا وَيْلَتَا for يَا وَيْلَتِى, and so also يَا بَيْبَا, with the hemzeh changed into ى, originally يَا بِأَبَا, meaning يَابِأَبِى.
Hence what is related in a tradition of Umm-'Ateeyeh: that she never mentioned the Prophet without saying بِيَبَا [for بِأَبِ هُوَ]. See art. بأ.
A woman said
shāhid 2يَا بِأَبِى أَنْتَ وَ يَا فَوْقَ البِيَبْ
[O you to whom I would say, With my father may you be ransomed! and O you who are above the one to whom I would address that saying!].
About this Fr observes that the two words [بِ and أَب] are made into one, by prefixing the article, because they occur so often.
Aboo-'Alee says that the ى in بِيَب is substituted for ء, though not necessarily; but ISk quotes the words as beginning with يَا بِيَبَا, which is the right reading, so that this expression may agree with البِئَبْ, which is derived from it. Et-Tebreezee, however, reports Abu-l-'Alà reciting the words as ending with البِئَبْ, saying that this is compounded from the phrase بِأَبِي, and that the ء is therefore kept.
[See also the first paragraph in art. بأ.]
1.6O my father—يَا أَبَتِ
يَا أَبَتَ and يَاأَبَتُ are also said (Z, in the Ksh 12:4), and يَا أَبَهْ when you pause after it.
The ة [here written ت], the sign of the feminine, is substituted for the pronominal affix ى, as in يَاأُمَّتِ, and is like the ة in عَمَةٌ and خَالَةٌ, as is shown by saying, in pause, يَا أَبَهٌ, just as one says يَا خَالَةٌ.
Attaching the feminine ت to a masculine noun in this case is allowable, as it is in حَمَامَةٌ ذَكَرٌ, شَاةٌ ذَكَرٌ, رَجُلٌ رَبْعَةٌ and غَلَامٌ يَفَعَةٌ; and making it a substitute for the affix ى is allowable because each of these is an addition at the end of a noun. The kesreh is the same as the one in the phrase يَا أَبِى.
O my father, do such a thing—يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ
The ت does not drop from اب in the phrase يَا أَبَتِ when nothing follows in pause, though it sometimes drops from أُمّ in a like phrase in that case, because the former word, having only two letters, is as though it were defective.
يَا أَبَتَ is for يَا أَبَتَا, the ا [and ه] being dropped; or for يَا أَبَتَا, the ا being dropped, as the ى is in يَا غُلَامِ; or it may follow the manner of يَاأَبِىَ.
يَا أَبَتُ is pronounced in the usual way of a noun ending with the feminine ة, without regard to the fact that in it the ت is a substitute for the suffix ى.
يَا أَبَهْ is said in a case of pause, except in the Qur'ān, where in that case one says يَا أَبَهْ, following the written text; and some of the Arabs pronounce the feminine ة in a case of pause as ت in other instances, saying يَا طَلْحَتُ.
يَا أَبَاهُ is also said, though hardly ever.
A poet uses the expression يَا أَبَاتَ for يَا أَبَتَاهْ; IB says that this is used only by poetic licence, in a case of necessity in verse.
1.7figurative · مجازa grandfather, or any ancestor—أَبٌ
1.8figurative · مجاز — inferred
It is also used to mean a paternal uncle, as in the Qur'ān 2:127, quoted above.
Qur’ān 2:133 approximate — somewhere between 2:128 and 2:143 Lane cites “Kur ii. 127”
Qur’ān 2:133 the verse Lane’s citation points to, and it uses this root
أَمْ كُنتُمْ شُهَدَآءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ ٱلْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنۢ بَعْدِى قَالُوا۟ نَعْبُدُ إِلَـٰهَكَ وَإِلَـٰهَ ءَابَآئِكَ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ وَإِسْمَـٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحَـٰقَ إِلَـٰهًا وَٰحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُۥ مُسْلِمُونَWere ye witnesses when death appeared before Jacob? Behold, he said to his sons: "What will ye worship after me?" They said: "We shall worship Thy god and the god of thy fathers, of Abraham, Isma'il and Isaac,- the one (True) Allah: To Him we bow (in Islam)."Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’ān (1934)
1.9
[It is also prefixed to nouns of various meanings, like أُمّ, اِبْن and بِنْت. Most of the compounds so formed are explained in the articles of the nouns that stand second; the following are among the more common, and are given here as examples of different kinds.]
1.10figurative · مجاز — inferredthe woman's husband—أَبُو المَرْأَةِ
Ibn-Habeeb. The TS says that الأَبُ, in certain dialects, means the husband; MF thinks this meaning strange.
the master of the dwelling, or place of abode; also the guest—أَبُو المَثْوَى
K, in art. ثوى.
the very hospitable man—أَبُو الأَضْيَافِ
1.11figurative · مجاز — inferredthe lion—أَبُو الحَارِثِ
the wolf—أَبُو جَعْدَةَ
the fox—أَبُو الحُصَيْنِ
1.12figurative · مجاز — inferredbread—أَبُو جَابِر
S and K, in art. جبر.
1.13figurative · مجاز — inferredextreme old age; also hunger—أَبُو مَالِكٍ
MF, in art. جبر.
Qur’ānic occurrences أَبٌ 5 shown of 40
12:16
وَجَآءُوٓ أَبَاهُمْ عِشَآءً يَبْكُونَThen they came to their father in the early part of the night, weeping.
26:70
إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِۦ مَا تَعْبُدُونَBehold, he said to his father and his people: "What worship ye?"
26:86
وَٱغْفِرْ لِأَبِىٓ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلضَّآلِّينَ"Forgive my father, for that he is among those astray;
37:85
إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِۦ مَاذَا تَعْبُدُونَBehold! he said to his father and to his people, "What is that which ye worship?
80:35
وَأُمِّهِۦ وَأَبِيهِAnd from his mother and his father,
Occurrences of this form in the Qur’ān, not Lane’s choice of verse. They show the word in use; they do not say which sense above applies. Where more occur than are shown, the shortest āyāt are chosen.
Show Lane's original text
is originally أَبَوٌ , (S, Msb, K,) as is shown by the first of its dual forms and of its pl. forms mentioned below; (S, Msb;) and signifies A father [in the ordinary sense: and also as meaning an ancestor]: (M:) as also أَبًا , a dial. var., (M, K,) the same in the nom. and accus. and gen. cases, like قَفًا : (M:) and أَبٌّ is a dial. var. of the same, [the second letter being doubled to compensate for the و suppressed, as is the case in أَخٌّ , (TA voce أَخٌ )] but is rare. (Msb.) Accord. to the dial. commonly obtaining, when you use it as a prefixed noun, you decline it with the letters و and ا and ى , saying, هٰذَاأَبُوهُ [This is his father], (Msb,) and أَبُوكَ [thy father]; (M;) and رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ [I saw his father]; and مَرَرْتُ بِأَبِيهِ [I passed by his father]: (Msb:) but accord. to one dial., you say, هٰذَا أَبَاهُ , (Msb:) and أَبَاكَ ; (M;) and رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ ; and مَرَرْتُ بِأَبَاهُ : (Msb:) and accord. to one dial., which is the rarest of all, it is defective in every case, like يَدٌ and دَمٌ ; (Msb;) and [thus] you say, هٰذَا أَبُوكَ [&c.]. (M.) The dual is أَبَوَانِ , (S, M, Msb,) meaning [two fathers, and] father and mother; and some say أَبَانِ : (S, M:) you say, هُمَاأَبَوَاهُ , meaning They two are his father and mother; and in poetry you may say, هُمَا أَبَاهُ ; and in like manner, رَأَيْتُ أَبَيْهِ [I saw his father and mother], (T,) and أَبَيْكَ [thy father and mother]; (S;) but the usual, or chaste, form is رَأَيْتُ أَبَوَيْهِ . (T.) The pl. is آبَآءٌ , (T, S, M, Msb, K,) the best form, (T,) and أَبُونَ , (T, S, M, K,) and أُبُوٌّ (M, K, [in the CK الاَبْوٌ is erroneously put for الأُبُوٌّ ,]) and أُبُوَّةٌ , (Lh, T, S, M, K, *) like عُمُومَةٌ and خُؤُولَةٌ : (T, S:) you say, هٰؤُلَآءِ أَبُوكُمْ , meaning آبَاؤُكُمْ [These are your fathers]; (T;) and hence, in the Kur [ii. 127], accord. to one reading, وَإِلٰهَ أَبِيكَ إِبرٰهِيمَ وَإِسْمٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحٰقَ [And the God of thy fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac], meaning the pl. of أبٌ , i. e. أَبِينَكَ , of which the ن is suppressed because the noun is prefixed [to the pronoun]; (S;) and some of the Arabs say, أَبُوَّتُنَا أَكْرَمُ الآبَآءِ [Our fathers are the most generous of fathers]. (T.) The dim. is أُبَّىٌّ ; originally أُبَيْوٌ , with the final radical letter restored. (Msb.) مَا يَدْرِى لَهُ مِنْ أَبٍ , and مَا أَبٌ , mean- ing He knows not who is his father, and what is his father, are sayings mentioned by Lh on the authority of Ks. (M.) لَا أَبَا لِكَ , (T, S, M, K, &c.,) [accord. to the dial. of him who says أَبًا instead of أَبٌ ,] as also لَا أَبَ لَكَ , and لَا أَبَاكَ , (S, K,) [the last, accord. to J, because the ل (meaning the ل in لك in the preceding phrases) is as though it were redundant, but he seems not to have known the dial. var. أَبًا , and I rather think that لَا أَبَاكَ , is for لَا أَبْقَى ٱللّٰهُ أَبَاكَ , or the like,] and لَا أَبَكَ , (Mbr, Sgh, K,) and لَابَ لَكَ , (K,) which is for لَا أَبَ لَكَ , (M,) means Thou art, in my estimation, one deserving of its being said to him, Mayest thou have no father! it is used in the manner of a proverb, is of frequent occurrence in poetry, (M,) is said to him who has a father and to him who has not a father, and is an imprecation as to the meaning, of necessity, though enunciative as to the letter; (M, K;) and hence the saying of Jereer, 1 [O Teym, Teym of 'Ades, may ye have no father!]; which is the strongest evidence of its being a proverb, and not having a literal meaning; for all of [the tribe of] Teym could not have one father, but all of them were fit objects of imprecation and rough speech: (M:) it is an expression of praise: (S:) [i. e.] it is an imprecation against him to whom it is addressed, not, however, said with the desire of its having effect, but on an occasion of intense love, like لَا أُمَّ لَكَ , &c.: (Har p. 165:) and sometimes in dispraise, like لَا أُمَّ لَكَ : and in wonder, like لِلّهِ دَرُّكَ : (TA:) or, as A Heyth says, on the authority of Aboo-Sa'eed Ed- Dareer, it expresses the utmost degree of reviling; [meaning Thou hast no known father;] and لَا أُمَّ لَكَ expresses reviling also, but means Thou hast no free, or ingenuous, mother: (Meyd in Har p. 165: [see أُمَّ :]) sometimes it means Strive, or exert thyself, in thine affair; for he who has a father relies upon him in some circumstances of his case: (TA:) accord. to Kh, it means Thou hast none to stand thee in stead of thyself: (ISh, TA:) Fr says that it is a phrase used by the Arabs [parenthetically, i.e.,] to divide their speech: (TA:) [thus, for instance,] Zufar Ibn-El-Hárith says, 2 [Show thou me my weapons: (mayest thou have no father! or thou hast no father: &c.:) verily I see the war, or battle, increases not save in perseverance]. (TA.) [Aboo-'Alee, as cited in the M, observes that the ا (meaning the final ا ) in أَبَا , in the phrase لَا أَبَا لَكَ , indicates that it is a prefixed noun, and determinate; whereas the ل in لك together with the government exercised upon the noun by لا indicates that it is, on the contrary, indeterminate, and separate from what follows it: but it seems that he was unacquainted with the dial. var. أَبَّا ; for لَا أَبَا لَكَ in the dial. of him who uses the form أَبَّا instead of أَبٌ is the same grammatically as لَا أَبَ لَكَ in the dial. of him who uses the form أَبٌ .] Suleymán Ibn-'Abd-El-Melik heard an Arab of the desert, in a year of drought, say, أَنْزِلْ عَلَيْنَا الغَيْثَ لَا أَبَا لَكَ , and Suleymán put the best construction upon it, [as though it meant, Send down upon us rain: Thou hast no father], and said, I testify that He hath no father nor female companion nor offspring. (TA.) They say also, in paying honour [to a person], لَا أَبَ لِشَانِئِكَ , and لَا أَبَ لِشَانِئِكَ , (TA,) i. e. May thy hater have no father! or, accord. to ISk, each is a metonymical expression for لَا أَبَا لَكَ . (S in art. شنأ , q. v.) يَا تَيْمُ تَيْمَ عَدِىٍّ لَا أَبَا لَكُمْ أَرِينِى سِلَاحِى لَا أَبَا لَكَ إِنَّنِى | أَرَى الحَرْبَ لَا تَزْدَادُ إِلَّا تَمَادِيَا One also says, on the occasion of an occurrence that is approved and commended, by way of expressing wonder and praise, لَلِّهِ أَبُوكَ , meaning To God, purely, is attributable [the excellence of] thy father, seeing that he begat thee a generous son, and produced the like of thee! (TA;) [or to God be attributed (the excellence of) thy father!] it means that to God [alone] belongs the power to create the like of this man [to whom it relates], from whom has proceeded this wonderful action. (Har p. 44.) And هِىَ بِنْتُ أَبِيهَا , meaning She resembles her father in strength of mind, or spirit, and sharpness of disposition, and in hastening, or striving to be first, to do things: said of Hafsah, by 'Áïsheh. (TA.) بِأَبِى , (TA,) or بِأَبِى أَنْتَ , (T in art. بأ ,) [said to a person,] means [ فُدِيتَ بِأَبِى Mayest thou be ransomed with my father! (see the next sentence but one;) or] أَفْدِيكَ بِأَبِى [I will ransom thee with my father]; (T ubi suprà;) or أَنْتَ مَفْدِىٌّ بِأَبِى Thou art, or shalt be, ransomed with my father]; or فَدَيُتُكَ بِأَبِى [I have in my heart ransomed thee, or I would ransom thee, with my father]; the ب being dependent upon a word suppressed, which, accord. to some, is a [pass. participial] noun, and accord. to others, a verb; and this word is suppressed because of the frequent usage of the phrase. (TA.) You say also, بِأَبِى أَنْتَ وَ أُمِّى [With my father mayest thou be ransomed, and with my mother!]. (TA.) And بِأَبِى مَنْ وَدَدتُّهُ , i. e. فُدِىَ بِأَبِى مَنْ وَدَدتُّهُ [May he whom I love be ransomed with my father!], meaning may he [my father] be made a ransom for him [whom I love]! (El-Wáhidee on the Deewán of El-Mutanebbee, in De Sacy's Chrest. Arabe, sec. ed. vol. iii. p. 35 of the Arabic text.) Sometimes they change the ى into ا : a poet says, 1 [And they have asserted that I have become impatient on account of them two: but is it an evidence of impatience that I said, Alas, with my father may they two be ransomed?]; meaning وَا بِأَبِى هُمَا . (S.) And some of the Arabs used to say, وَا بِأَبَا أَنْتَ [Alas, with my father mayest thou be ransomed!]: this, says AM, being like يَا وَيْلَتَا for يَا وَيْلَتِى ; as also يَا بَيْبَا , with the hemzeh changed into ى , originally يَا بِأَبَا , meaning يَابِأَبِى : and hence what is related, in a trad., of Umm- 'Ateeyeh; that she used not to mention the Prophet without saying, بِيَبَا [for بِأَبِ هُوَ ]. (TA in art. بأ .) A woman said, 2 [O thou to whom I would say, With my father mayest thou be ransomed! and O thou who art above him to whom I would address the saying, With my father mayest thou be ransomed!]; respecting which Fr observes that the two words [ بِ and أَب ] are made as one [by prefixing the article] because of their frequent occurrence; (S;) and Aboo-'Alee says that the ى in بِيَب is substituted for ء , not necessarily; but ISk quotes the words as commencing with يَا بِيَبَا , which is the right reading, in order that this expression may agree with البِئَبْ , which is derived from it: EtTebreezee, however, relates Abu-l-'Alà's reciting the words as ending with البِئَبْ ; saying that this is compounded from the phrase بِأَبِي , and that therefore the ء is preserved. (TA.) [See also the first paragraph in art. بأ .] وَقَدْ زَعَمُوا أَنِّى جَزِعْتُ عَلَيْهِمَا | وَهَلْ جَزَعٌ أَنْ قُلْتُ وَا بِأَبَا هُمَا يَا بِأَبِى أَنْتَ وَ يَا فَوْقَ البِيَبْ You say also, يَا أَبَتِ [meaning O my father], (S, M, K,) as in يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ [O my father, do thou such a thing]; (S;) and يَا أَبَتَ ; (S, M, K;) and يَاأَبَتُ ; (Z in the Ksh xii. 4;) and يَا أَبَهْ (S, M, K) when you pause after it. (S, M.) The ة , [here written ت ,] (Kh, M,) the sign of the fem. gender, (S, Z,) is substituted for the [pronominal] affix ى , (Kh, S, M, Z,) as in يَاأُمَّتِ ; (S;) and is like the ة in عَمَةٌ and خَالَةٌ , as is shown by your saying, in pausing, يَا أَبَهٌ , like as you say, يَا خَالَةٌ : (Kh, M:) the annexing of the fem. ت to a masc. noun in this case is allowable, like as it is in حَمَامَةٌ ذَكَرٌ and شَاةٌ ذَكَرٌ and رَجُلٌ رَبْعَةٌ and غَلَامٌ يَفَعَةٌ : its being made a substitute for the affix ى is allowable because each of these is an augmentative added at the end of a noun: and the kesreh is the same that is in the phrase يَا أَبِى : (Z ubi suprà:) the ت does not fall from اب in the phrase يَا أَبَتِ when there is no pause after it, though it [sometimes] does from أُمّ in the like phrase in that case, because the former word, being of [only] two letters, is as though it were defective. (S.) يَا أَبَتَ is for يَا أَبَتَا , (Aboo-'Othmán El-Mázinee, S, * M, [the latter expression mentioned also in the K, but not as being the original of the former,]) the ا [and ه ] being suppressed; (the same Aboo- 'Othmán and M;) or for يَا أَبَتَا , the ا being suppressed, like as the ى is in يَا غُلَامِ ; or it may be after the manner of يَاأَبِىَ . (Z ubi suprà.) يَا أَبَتُ is thus pronounced after the usual manner of a noun ending with the fem. ة , without regard to the fact that the ت is in the former a substitute for the suffix ى . (Z ubi suprà.) يَا أَبَهْ is said in a case of pause, except in the Kur-án, in which, in this case, you say, يَا أَبَهْ , following the written text; and some of the Arabs pronounce the fem. ة , in a case of pause, ت [in other instances], thus saying, يَا طَلْحَتُ . (S.) يَا أَبَاهُ is also said; (M, K;) though scarcely ever. (M.) A poet uses the expression يَا أَبَاتَ , for يَا أَبَتَاهْ : (S, M:) IB says that this is used only by poetic license, in a case of necessity in verse. (TA.) أَبٌ is tropically applied to signify A grandfather, or any ancestor. (Msb.) It is also applied to signify A paternal uncle; as in the Kur ii. 127, quoted before. (M.) [It is also (like أُمّ and اِبْن and بِنْت ) prefixed to nouns of various significations. Most of the compounds thus formed will be found explained in the arts. to which belong the nouns that occupy the second place. The following are among the more common, and are therefore here mentioned, as exs. of different kinds.] أَبُو المَرْأَةِ The woman's husband: (Ibn-Habeeb, M:) it is said in the TS that الأَبُ , in certain of the dials., signifies the husband: MF deems this meaning strange. (TA.) أَبُو المَثْوَى The master of the dwelling, or of the place of abode: (TA:) and the guest. (K in art. ثوى .) أَبُو الأَضْيَافِ The very hospitable man. (TA.) أَبُو الحَارِثِ The lion. (TA.) أَبُو جَعْدَةَ The wolf. (TA.) أَبُو الحُصَيْنِ The fox. (TA.) أَبُو جَابِر Bread. (S and K in art. جبر .) أَبُو مَالِكٍ Extreme old age: (TA:) and hunger. (MF in art. جبر .)