شيب

Core meaning

To whiten with age: hair turning white, the visible sign of old age.

Uses

1. شَيْب → "white" : the whiteness that takes over the head.

   • «وَٱشْتَعَلَ ٱلرَّأْسُ شَيْبًۭا» — "the head has blazed white" (19:4)

2. شَيْبَة → "white hair" : hair turned white, sign of the last stage of life.

   • «ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍۢ ضَعْفًۭا وَشَيْبَةًۭ» — "then made, after strength, weakness and white hair" (30:54)

3. شِيب → "gray-haired" : those whose hair has turned white.

   • «يَوْمًۭا يَجْعَلُ ٱلْوِلْدَٰنَ شِيبًا» — "a Day that will turn children gray-haired" (73:17)

Evidence from the text

Zakariya tells his age by the whiteness of his head (19:4); 30:54 places white hair at the end of the cycle of life, after strength; 73:17 makes it a measure: that day is such that it whitens children, to whom age has not yet brought it.

Distinctions

• كبر — great age itself, whereas شيب names its visible sign

See also

شعل (to blaze) · شيخ (the old man)