هشم

Core meaning

Dried and broken plant matter that the wind scatters: the end of greenery.

Uses

1. هَشِيمًا → "chaff" : what the vegetation of the present life becomes.

   • «فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًۭا تَذْرُوهُ ٱلرِّيَٰحُ» — "then it becomes chaff scattered by the winds" (18:45)

2. كَهَشِيمِ → "like the dry twigs" : the image of a people struck down by a single cry.

   • «فَكَانُوا۟ كَهَشِيمِ ٱلْمُحْتَظِرِ» — "and they became like the dry twigs of a pen-builder" (54:31)

Evidence from the text

In 18:45, the word completes the example of the present life: water comes down, vegetation mixes with it, then it becomes "chaff scattered by the winds". In 54:31, a people struck by a single cry becomes "like the dry twigs of a pen-builder". Both uses show the same state: what was green has become dry, brittle, without hold.

Distinctions

• هبو — impalpable dust; الهشيم still keeps the shape of twigs.