ضَعْفٌ

a verbal noun of 1, like ↓ ضُعْفٌ, (S, * O, * Msb, K,) [both, when used as simple substs., signifying Weakness, feebleness, &c.,] but some say that the former is in the judgment or opinion, and the latter in the body; (O, Msb, K;) and ↓ ضَعَفٌ signifies the same, (IAar, K, TA,) and is in the body and also in the judgment or opinion and the intellect. (TA.)

ضَعْفُ التَّأْلِيفِ [Weakness of construction, in language,] is such a construction of the members of a sentence as is contrary to the [generally approved] rules of syntax; as when a pronoun is introduced before its noun with respect to the actual order of the words and the order of the sense [in a case in which the pronoun is affixed to the agent in a verbal proposition]; for instance, in the phrase, ضَرَبَ غُلَامُهُ زَيْدًا [“ His, ” i. e. Zeyd's, “ young man beat Zeyd ”]. (KT.) When the pronoun is affixed to the objective complement, as in خَافَ رَبَّهُ عُمَرُ [“ 'Omar feared his Lord ”] such introduction of it is common: (I'Ak p. 128:) and it is [universally] allowable when the pronoun is of the kind called ضَمِيرُ الشَّأْنِ, as in إِنَّهُ زَيْدٌ قَايءِمٌ; or ضَمِيرُ رُبَّ, as in رُبَّهُ رَجُلًا لَقِيتُهُ; or ضَمِيرُ نِعْمَ, as in نِعْمَهُ رَجُلًا زَيْدٌ. (Kull p. 56.)

[In the CK, a signification belonging to ضُعْف is assigned to ضَعْف.]