← All root families

ʾ d m

25 lemmas · 8 languages
hamzatedContains ʾ (glottal stop) in position 1 or 3. Glottal stops assimilate or elide in many inflections, producing irregular surface forms.T Gen.1.26
Themes:adam·5human·4man· رَجُل · אִישׁ·3earth· أَرْض · אֶרֶץ·3soil·3
POS shape:noun·13name·5adj·5verb·2

This root is attested across 8 Semitic languages in our index. Each section below shows representative lemmas; attested means a Wiktionary editor explicitly tagged the root, inferredmeans we derived it mechanically from the word's consonantal skeleton.

Etymology treehow this root diverged from Proto-Semitic through the family

*ʾ-d-mProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Ugaritic𐎀𐎄𐎎𐎀 𐎄 𐎎humankind
Canaanite
Hebrewאָדָםא ד םman, human
Phoenician𐤀𐤃𐤌𐤀 𐤃 𐤌man
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicאדםא ד מAdam.
Syriacܐܕܡܐ ܕ ܡAdam
Turoyoܐܕܡܐܐ ܕ ܡblood
Arabic
Arabicآدَمء د مhuman
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezአዳምአ ደ መdelightful, pleasant, sweet, beautiful

Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.

Ugaritic

irregular reflexug · 1 lemma
  • ảdmnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    humankind
    From Proto-Semitic *ʔadam-. Compare Hebrew אָדָם (ʾāḏām), אֲדָמָה (ʾăḏāmā).

Phoenician

irregular reflexphn · 1 lemma

Imperial Aramaic

arc · 2 lemmas
  • adámnameinferred𐡀 tg. Onk. Gen 1:27Wiktionary ↗
    Adam.
    Etymology tree
  • nouninferred𐡀 tg. Onk. Gen 2:5Wiktionary ↗
    earth, soil, dust

Classical Syriac

syc · 2 lemmas

Hebrew

he · 8 lemmas
  • adámnounattestedT Gen.1.26Wiktionary ↗
    man, human
    Inherited from Proto-Semitic *ʔadam-. Comparable to Phoenician 𐤀𐤃𐤌 (ʾdm, “man, earthling”), Ugaritic 𐎀𐎄𐎎 (ảdm, “man; red earth, red ochre”), Old South Arabian 𐩱𐩵𐩣 (ʾdm, “vassals, subjects”), Ge'ez ዶም (dom, “slave”), Akkadian 𒀀𒁕𒄠𒈬 (a-da-am-mu /⁠adamu⁠/, “blood”), Akkadian 𒀀𒁕𒈠𒌈 (a-da-ma-tum /⁠adamātu⁠/, “dark red earth…
    1 derivation
  • adámnameattestedT Gen.1.26Wiktionary ↗
    a male given name, equivalent to English Adam
    Inherited from Proto-Semitic *ʔadam-. Comparable to Phoenician 𐤀𐤃𐤌 (ʾdm, “man, earthling”), Ugaritic 𐎀𐎄𐎎 (ảdm, “man; red earth, red ochre”), Old South Arabian 𐩱𐩵𐩣 (ʾdm, “vassals, subjects”), Ge'ez ዶም (dom, “slave”), Akkadian 𒀀𒁕𒄠𒈬 (a-da-am-mu /⁠adamu⁠/, “blood”), Akkadian 𒀀𒁕𒈠𒌈 (a-da-ma-tum /⁠adamātu⁠/, “dark red earth…
  • adómadjattestedT Gen.1.26Wiktionary ↗
    defective spelling of אדום (adóm, “red”).
  • ódemnounattestedT Gen.1.26Wiktionary ↗
    defective spelling of אודם (ódem, “redness”).
  • adómadjattestedT Gen.1.26Wiktionary ↗
    red
    Compare Akkadian 𒌑𒁺𒈠𒀀𒀀, Classical Syriac ܐܕܘܡ, Arabic ادوم, Edomite 𐤀𐤃𐤌 (ʾdm).
  • adómnounattestedT Gen.1.26Wiktionary ↗
    red
    Compare Akkadian 𒌑𒁺𒈠𒀀𒀀, Classical Syriac ܐܕܘܡ, Arabic ادوم, Edomite 𐤀𐤃𐤌 (ʾdm).
  • adamánounattestedT Gen.4.2Wiktionary ↗
    earth, soil, land
  • adémetnounattestedT Gen.47.20Wiktionary ↗
    rubella (a mild disease caused by the Rubella virus infecting the respiratory tract, and characterised by a rash of pink dots, fever and swollen lymph nodes)

Arabic

ar · 8 lemmas
  • ʔādamnounattestedWiktionary ↗
    human
    Terminology of the religious sphere borrowed from Hebrew אָדָם (āḏā́m, “man, person”), with a foreign pattern like عَالَم (ʕālam, “world”).
  • ʔādamnameattestedWiktionary ↗
    Adam
    Terminology of the religious sphere borrowed from Hebrew אָדָם (āḏā́m, “man, person”), with a foreign pattern like عَالَم (ʕālam, “world”).
  • ʔādamadjattestedWiktionary ↗
    of an intermixed or tinged coloration, especially with added black or white, whitened, off-white
    Color or defect adjective from the root ء د م (ʔ d m).
  • ʔadamaverbattestedWiktionary ↗
    to enrich with some ingredient or company, to associate
  • ʔādamiyyadjattestedWiktionary ↗
    human, humane
    Etymology tree
  • ʔādamiyynounattestedWiktionary ↗
    human being, man
    Etymology tree
  • ʔādamnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    archaic spelling of آدَمْ (ʔādam, “Adam”)
  • ʔadminīverbinferredWiktionary ↗

Ge'ez

gez · 2 lemmas

Turoyo

tru · 1 lemma

Related rootsshare 2 of 3 consonants with ʾ-d-m

Compare two languages side-by-side