ضَعِيفٌ

(S, O, Msb, K) and [in an intensive sense] ↓ ضَعُوفٌ (Ibn-Buzurj, O, K) and ↓ ضَعْفَانُ (K) Weak, feeble, faint, frail, infirm, or unsound: (S, * O, * Msb, K: *) plural (of the first, S, O, Msb) ضِعَافٌ and ضُعَفَاءُ and ضَعَفَةٌ, (S, O, Msb, K,) which last is [said to be] the only instance of its kind except خَبَثَةٌ plural of خَبِيثٌ [q. v.], (TA,) and ضَعْفَى, like جَرْحَى plural of جَرِيحٌ: (Msb:) feminine ↓ ضَعُوفٌ (Ibn-Burzurj, O, K) and ضَعِيفَةٌ; plural, applied to women, ضَعِيفَاتٌ (K) and ضَعَايءِفُ and ضِعَافٌ. (TA.) وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا (in the Qur'an, 4:32, O) means [For man was created weak, or] subject to be inclined by his desire. (O, L, K.) And الضَّعِيفَانِ [The two weak ones] means the woman and the slave: hence the tradition, اِتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ فِى الضَّعِيفَيْنِ [Fear ye God in respect of the woman and the slave]. (TA.)

In the dialect of Himyer, Blind: and [it is said that] thus it signifies in the phrase لَنَرَاكَ فِينَا ضَعِيفًا [Verily we see thee to be, among us, blind], (O, K,) in the Qur'an, 11:93: (O:) but Esh-Shiháb rejects this, in the 'Inayeh. (TA.)

[As a conventional term] in lexicology, applied to a word, [Of weak authority;] inferior to what is termed فَصِيحٌ, but superior to what is termed مُنْكَرٌ. (Mz, 10th نوع.)

Applied to verse, or poetry, [Weak;] unsound, or infirm; synonym عَلِيلٌ: thus used by Kh. (TA.)

The saying of a man who had found a thing dropped on the ground (وَجَدَ لُقَطَةً), فَعَرَّفْتُهَا ضَعِيفًا, means And I made it known in a suppressed, or low, [or weak,] voice. (Mgh in article نفر.)