قدم

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

• IPA^(key): /qa.da.ma/

قَدَمَ • (qadama) I (non-past يَقْدُمُ (yaqdumu), verbal noun قَدْم (qadm) or قُدُوم (qudūm))

1. (transitive) to precede

• IPA^(key): /qa.di.ma/

قَدِمَ • (qadima) I (non-past يَقْدَمُ (yaqdamu), verbal noun قُدُوم (qudūm) or قِدْمَان (qidmān) or مَقْدَم (maqdam))

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

   سَأَقْدَمُ عَلَى هٰذِهِ ٱلْمُخَاطَرَةِ لِأَنَّنِي مُتَأَكِّدٌ مِنْ بَرَاءَتِهِ.

   saʔaqdamu ʕalā hāḏihi l-muḵāṭarati liʔannanī mutaʔakkidun min barāʔatihi.

   I am going to take this risk because I am sure of his innocence.

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “قدم”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[1], London: W.H. Allen

• IPA^(key): /qa.du.ma/

قَدُمَ • (qaduma) I (non-past يَقْدُمُ (yaqdumu), verbal noun قِدَم (qidam))

1. to be old, to be ancient

• IPA^(key): /qad.da.ma/

قَدَّمَ • (qaddama) II (non-past يُقَدِّمُ (yuqaddimu), verbal noun تَقْدِيم (taqdīm))

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
10. to extend
11. to present, to produce, to exhibit, to display
12. to hand over, to deliver, to give, to hand over, to grant

    يقدِّم لنا يهوه في الكتاب المقدس إرشادات أخلاقية توجِّهنا حين نأخذ قرارات مهمة في حياتنا.

    In the Bible, Jehovah gives us moral guidance to guide us as we make important decisions in our lives.

13. to submit, to refer, to lay before, to offer up
14. to dedicate

• IPA^(key): /qa.dam/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

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

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

• → 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)

• IPA^(key): /qadm/

قَدْم • (qadm) m

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

• IPA^(key): /qi.dam/

قِدَم • (qidam) m

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

• IPA^(key): /qidm/

قِدْم • (qidm)

1. time long past, old times

• IPA^(key): /qu.dum/

قُدُم • (qudum)

1. straight ahead, forward

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

From Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

قدم • (qadam)

1. step

• گام (gám)

From Arabic قَدَّمَ (qaddama).

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

1. to introduce
2. to present, to expose
3. to propose (to ask for a person's hand in marriage)
4. to go in front, to take the lead
5. to damage, to use up, to wear out

• Heath, Judith, Mahadi, Mahamat Zene (2021) Lexique Arabe Tchadien-Français‎^[2] (in French), 11th edition, N'Djamena, Chad: SIL Chad, page 49
• Pommerol, Patrice Jullien de (1999) Dictionnaire Arabe Tchadien-Français (in French), Éditions Karthala, →ISBN, page 476

From Arabic قَدُمَ (qaduma).

• IPA^(key): /ɡi.dim/

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

1. to be old, to be ancient

From Arabic قَدَّمَ (qaddama).

• IPA^(key): /ɡad.dam/

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

From Arabic قِدَم (qidam).

• IPA^(key): /ɡu.dum/

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

1. old

Borrowed from Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

Readings
Classical reading?	qadam
Dari reading?	qadam
Iranian reading?	ġadam
Tajik reading?	qadam

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-Mahjub]‎^[3]:

     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]‎^[4]:

     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

• 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

From Arabic قَدَّمَ (qaddama).

• IPA^(key): (Urban) /ʔad.dam/, [ˈʔad.dam]
• IPA^(key): (Bedouin) /ɡad.dam/, [ˈɡad.dam]

• Audio (al-Lidd):

  (file)

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)

Learned borrowing from Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

• IPA^(key): /qa.dam/, [ˈqɑ.dɑm]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

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

1. (formal) foot

   Synonyms: إجر (ʔijr), رجل (rijl)

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

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

• Audio (Pakistan):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əm
• Hyphenation: قَ‧دَم

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

1. footstep, step

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

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

قِدَم • (qidam) m (Hindi spelling क़िदम)

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

• “قدم”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “قدم”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “قدم”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “قدم”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.

From Urdu قدم (qadam), from Arabic قَدَم (qadam).

قدم (qadam)

1. step, steps