عَدَدٌ
1.
a subst. from عَدَّهُ “ he numbered it; ” as also
عَدِيدٌ: (S, O, K:) [originally] What is numbered, counted, reckoned, or computed: (O, Msb, K: [in the CK, a و is inadvertently omitted after the explanation of this meaning:]) [and hence,] a number; (Msb;) and
عَدِيدٌ is synonym therewith [in this sense, as will be seen in what follows]; (A;) a quantity composed of units; and therefore not [properly] applicable to one; but according to the grammarians, one belongs to the predicament ofالعَدَدُ because it is the root thereof, and because it implies quantity, for when it is said “ How many hast thou? ” it is as proper to answer “ One ” as it is to answer “ Three ” &c.: (Msb:) plural أَعْدَادٌ. (TA.)
مَا أَكْثَرَ عَدِيدَهُمْ means عَدَدَهُمْ [i. e. How great is their number!]. (A.) Zj says that عَدَدٌ is sometimes used in the sense of a verbal noun; as in the phrase in the Qur'an, 18:10, سِنِينَ عَدَدًا: but many say that it is in this instance used in its proper sense, meaning مَعْدُودَةً [i. e. numbered], and is made masculine because سِنِين is synonym with أَعْوَام. (Msb.) In the phrase وَأَحْصَى
كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عَدَدًا, in the Qur'an, 72, last verse, it is used in its proper sense of مَعْدُودًا, and is put in the accusative case as a denotative of state; or it is used in this case as a verbal noun (IAth, O.)