previous next

طِحَالٌ ذ [The spleen;] one of the intestines, (Msb,) or a piece of flesh, (K, TA,) well known, (S, O, Msb, K,) black, (or rather blackish,] and broad, in the belly of man and of others, on the left, cleaving to the side, (TA,) or cleaving to the ribs on the left side, (Zj in his “ Khalk el-Insán, ”) and said to pertain to every ruminant except the horse, which has none: (Msb: [a strange assertion, involving a double mistake; partly originating from a saying which will be mentioned in what follows:]) it is of the masc. gender: (Lh, TA:) the pl. is طُحُلٌ (Msb, K, TA) and أَطْحِلَةٌ and طِحَالَاتٌ. (Msb. [The second and third of these pls. appear to be rare; for it is said in the TA that the first is the only pl. form: and the last is anomalous.]) One says of the horse, لَا طِحَالَ لَهُ [lit. He has no spleen]; which is a metaphor, meaning (tropical:) he is quick, or swift, in his running; like as one says of the camel, لَا مَرَارَةَ لَهُ [lit. “ he has no gall-bladder ”]; meaning “ he has no daring. ” (S, O.)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: