بَشَرٌ

: see بَشَرَةٌ

[Hence,] البَشَرُ (assumed tropical:) Mankind: (S, Msb, K:) and the human being: (Msb, K:) applied to the male and to the female; and used alike as singular and plural (Msb, K, TA) and dual: (TA:) so that you say, هُوَ بَشَرٌ He is a human being, and هِىَ بَشَرٌ She is a human being, and هُمْ بَشَرٌ They (more than two) are human beings, and هُمَا بَشَرٌ They two are human beings: (TA:) but sometimes it has the dual form; (Msb, K;) as in the Qur'an, 23:49; (Msb, TA;) though the Arabs may have used the dual form in the sense of the singular: (MF:) and sometimes it has a plural, namely, أَبْشَارٌ. (K.) This is a secondary application of the word: (Msb:) i. e., this signification is tropical; or, as some say, the word is so much used in this sense as to be, so used, conventionally regarded as proper; the sense not depending upon its having another word connected with it: but in the S and K, and by the generality of authors, this signification is given as proper. (MF.) Some say that a human being is thus called because his بَشَرَة is bare of hair and of wool. (MF.) [Hence,] أَبُو البَشَرِ [The father of mankind; meaning] Adam. (K.)