شمع

From the root ش م ع (š m ʕ) meaning "to spread or disperse", hence melting wax.

• IPA^(key): /ʃamʕ/, IPA^(key): /ʃa.maʕ/

• Audio:

  (file)

شَمْع or شَمَع • (šamʕ or šamaʕ) m (collective, singulative شَمْعَة f (šamʕa) or شَمَعَة (šamaʕa), plural شُمُوع (šumūʕ))

1. wax
2. candles
3. a thing one lights, a torch, lantern

• Maltese: xema’
• → Amharic: ሻማ (šama)
• → Aramaic:
  • Classical Syriac: ܫܡܥܐ (šamʿā)
• → Azerbaijani: şam, şəm
• → Bengali: শামা (śama)
• → Ge'ez: ሠምዕ (śämʿ)
  • Tigre: ሸምዕ (šämʿ)
  • → Amharic: ሰም (säm)
• → Persian: شمع (šam')
  • → Bashkir: шәм (şəm)
  • → Karakalpak: sham
  • → Kazakh: шам (şam)
  • → Kyrgyz: шам (şam)
  • → Urdu: شمع (śamā)
  • → Uzbek: sham
• → Somali: shumac
• ⇒ Swahili: mshumaa

Probably denominal.

شَمَّعَ • (šammaʕa) II (non-past يُشَمِّعُ (yušammiʕu), verbal noun تَشْمِيع (tašmīʕ))

1. to wax, to rub or smear with wax
2. to make waterproof or wax-coated

From the root ش م ع (š m ʕ) in the sense of "to disperse or go away", "to be away from work", hence "to be at leisure".

شَمَعَ • (šamaʕa) I (non-past يَشْمَعُ (yašmaʕu), verbal noun شَمْع (šamʕ) or شُمُوع (šumūʕ) or مَشْمَعَة (mašmaʕa))

1. to play, to sport, to game
2. to joke or jest
3. to be mirthful, to laugh

شَمَعَ • (šamaʕa) I (non-past يَشْمَعُ (yašmaʕu), verbal noun شُمُوع (šumūʕ))

1. to become scattered, to become dispersed

• Lane, Edward William (1863-1893) “شمع”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 1598.
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “شمع”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[1], London: W.H. Allen, page 556
• Wehr, Hans (1979) “شمع”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 568

Borrowed from Arabic شَمْع (šamʕ, “wax; candle”).

شمع • (şemʼ)

1. wax, an oily, water-resistant, semisolid substance

   Synonym: موم (mum)

2. wax-candle, a candle or taper made of wax

   Synonym: موم (mum)

• Turkish: şem

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “şem2”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4454
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “شمع”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 734
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Cera”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 170
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “شمع”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, columns 2861–2862
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “شمع”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1136

Borrowed from Arabic شَمْع (šamʕ).

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

شمع • (šam') (plural شمع‌ها)

1. candle

From Arabic شَمْع (šamʕ).

• IPA^(key): /ʃamʕ/, [ˈʃa.m(ɪ)ʕ]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

شمع • (šamʕ) m (collective, singulative شمعة f (šamʕa), paucal شمعات (šamʕāt))

1. wax
2. (uncountable) candles

• شمعدان (šamʕdān, “candlestick, candleholder”)

Borrowed from Classical Persian شَمْع (šam'), from Arabic شَمْع (šamʕ). First attested in c. 1564 as Middle Hindi شمع (śm' /⁠śam'⁠/).^[1]

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʃəm.ʔə/, [ʃə.mɑː]
• (colloquial) IPA^(key): [ʃə̃m.mɑː]
• Rhymes: -ɑː

شَمْع • (śam') f (Hindi spelling शमा) (chiefly poetic)

1. candle; lamp

   Synonym: بَتّی (battī)

2. (dated) candlestick
3. wax^[2]

   Synonym: موم (mom)

4. (religion, mysticism) the Light of God

• “شمع”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “شمع”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]