قدم

Arabic

Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *q-d-m (“to precede, come before”). Compare Hebrew קדם and Classical Syriac ܩܕܡ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qa.da.ma/

Verb

قَدَمَ • (qadama) I, non-past يَقْدُمُ‎ (yaqdumu)

1. (transitive) to precede

Conjugation

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qa.di.ma/

Verb

قَدِمَ • (qadima) I, non-past يَقْدَمُ‎ (yaqdamu)

1. to return from a journey
2. (transitive) to come to, arrive at, to reach
3. to step up to (عَلَى (ʕalā) something)

Conjugation

References

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “قدم”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎, London: W.H. Allen

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qa.du.ma/

Verb

قَدُمَ • (qaduma) I, non-past يَقْدُمُ‎ (yaqdumu)

1. to be old, to be ancient

Conjugation

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qad.da.ma/

Verb

قَدَّمَ • (qaddama) II, non-past يُقَدِّمُ‎ (yuqaddimu)

1. to introduce (someone to someone else)
2. to let precede, to make precede, to send ahead, to dispatch
3. to set forth beforehand, to place at the front, to place at the head
4. to do earlier, to do beforehand
5. to give precedence, to prefer
6. to appoint as guardian
7. to prepare, to get ready, to make ready
8. to provide, to set aside, to earmark, to make provision
9. to offer, to proffer, to tender, to extend
10. to present, to produce, to exhibit, to display
11. to hand over, to deliver, to give, to hand over, to grant
12. to submit, to refer, to lay before, to offer up
13. to dedicate

Conjugation

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qa.dam/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

قَدَم • (qadam) f (dual قَدَمَانِ (qadamāni), plural أَقْدَام (ʔaqdām))

1. foot
2. foot (a measure)
3. step

Declension

Derived terms

• كُرَة اَلْقَدَم (kurat al-qadam, “football”)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: qədəm
• → Baluchi: قدم (qadam)
• → Bengali: কদম (kodom)
• → English: kadam (via a language of India)
• → Persian: قدم (qadam)
• → Kazakh: қадам (qadam)
• → Hindi: क़दम (qadam)
• → Urdu: قدم
• → Kazakh: қадам (qadam)
• → Northern Kurdish: qedûm, qidûm, qudum, qudûm, qedem
  • → Armenian: ղուդում (ġudum)
• → Nepali: कदम (kadam)
• → Ottoman Turkish: قدم (kadem)
  • Turkish: kadem
  • → Armenian: խատէմ (xatēm)

Etymology 6

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qadm/

Noun

قَدْم • (qadm) m

1. verbal noun of قَدَمَ (qadama) (form I)

Declension

Etymology 7

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qi.dam/

Noun

قِدَم • (qidam) m

1. verbal noun of قَدُمَ (qaduma) (form I)

Declension

Etymology 8

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qidm/

Adverb

قِدْم • (qidm)

1. time long past, old times

Etymology 9

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qu.dum/

Adverb

قُدُم • (qudum)

1. straight ahead, forward

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “قدم”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Baluchi

Etymology

From Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

Noun

قدم • (qadam)

1. step

See also

• گام (gám)

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology 1

From Arabic قَدُمَ (qaduma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡi.dim/

Verb

قدم • (gidim) I (non-past يِقْدَم (yigdam))

1. to be old, to be ancient

Conjugation

Etymology 2

From Arabic قَدَّمَ (qaddama).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡad.dam/

Verb

قدم • (gaddam) II (non-past يِقَدِّم (yigaddim))

1. to introduce (someone to someone else)
2. to set forth beforehand, to place at the front, to place at the head
3. to do earlier, to do beforehand
4. to give precedence, to prefer
5. to provide
6. to offer, to proffer, to tender, to extend
7. to present, to produce, to exhibit, to display
8. to give, to hand over, to grant
9. to submit

Conjugation

Etymology 3

From Arabic قِدَم (qidam).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡu.dum/

Noun

قدم • (gudum) m (construct state قُدْم (gudm))

1. old

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

Pronunciation

Noun

قدم • (qadam) (plural اقدام (aqdâm))

1. step

   Synonym: گام (gâm)

   اولین قدم ― avvalin qadam ― the first step

   یک قدم پیش یک قدم پس (Dari)

   yak qadam pēš yak qadam pas

   one step forward, one step back

   • c. 1060, Alī Hujwīrī, کشف المحجوب [Kashf al-Maḥjūb]‎:

     وی به حکم تواجد قدمی چند بر زمین زد. چون نگاه کردم، آن اقدام وی، چون به موم، به سنگ فرو می‌رفت. آنگاه بی هوش بیفتاد. چون به هوش آمد مرا گفت: «اندر روضهٔ بهشت بودم. تو ندیدی.»

     way ba hukm-i tawājud qadamē čand bar zamīn zad. čūn nigāh kardam, ān aqdām-i way čūn ba mōm⁠, ba sang furō mē-raft. āngāh bē hōš biyuftād. čūn ba hōš āmad ma-rā guft: "andar rawza-yi bihišt būdam. tu na-dīdī."

     In a state of rapture, he stepped a few times on the ground. When I looked, his steps were sinking into the rock as if it were wax. Then he fell unconscious. When he recovered his senses, he told me: "I was in the garden of paradise. You did not see."

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

2. foot

   Synonym: پا (pâ)

   • c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 216”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎:

     آن یار کز او خانه ما جای پری بود
     سر تا قدمش چون پری از عیب بری بود

     ān yār k-az ō xāna-yi mā jā-yi parī būd
     sar tā qadam-aš čūn parī az ayb barī būd

     The beloved thanks to whom my house was the place of nymphs:
     From head to foot, she is—like the nymphs—unsullied by fault.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

3. pace (in walking, also music)

   قدم آهسته ― qadam-e âheste ― slow pace

4. (figurative) the luck of someone upon arrival at a place

Derived terms

Further reading

• Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–) “قدم”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press
• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “قدم”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

From Arabic قَدَّمَ (qaddama).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Urban) /ʔad.dam/,
• IPA^(key): (Bedouin) /ɡad.dam/,

• Audio (al-Lidd)

  (file)

Verb

قدّم • (ʔaddam) II (present بقدّم (biʔaddem))

1. to advance, to move forward
2. to present, to offer, to provide
3. to apply, to submit

   Synonym: سلّم (sallam)

Conjugation

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qa.dam/,

• Audio (Ramallah)

  (file)

Noun

قدم • (qadam) m (plural أقدام (ʔaqdām))

1. (formal) foot

   Synonyms: إجر (ʔijr), رجل (rijl)

Urdu

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Classical Persian قدم (qadam), from Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /qə.d̪əm/

• Audio (PK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əm
• Hyphenation: قَ‧دَم

Noun

قَدَم • (qadam) m (formal plural اِقْدام (iqdām), Hindi spelling क़दम)

1. footstep, step

Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Classical Persian قدم (qidam), from Arabic قِدَم (qidam).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /qɪ.d̪əm/
• Rhymes: -əm
• Hyphenation: قِ‧دَم

Noun

قِدَم • (qidam) m (Hindi spelling क़िदम)

1. antiquity, ancientness, preceding (in point of time)
2. antiquity, oldness, ancientness
3. perpetuity, permanence

Declension

Further reading

• “قدم”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “قدم”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary , Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “قدم”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John Thompson (1884) “قدم”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., →ISBN, →OCLC

Ushojo

Etymology

From Urdu قدم (qadam).

Noun

قدم (qadam)

1. step, steps