ثَلَاثَةٌ

, also written ثَلٰثَةٌ, a noun of number, [i. e. Three,] is masculine, (S, M, Msb,) and is also written and pronounced ↓ ثُلَاثَةٌ, with damm: (IAar, M, TA:) the feminine is ↓ ثَلَاثٌ, also written ثَلٰثٌ; (S, M, Msb;) [and apparently ثُلَاثٌ also, mentioned above, under the head of ثُلَاثُ, but only as occurring with ذُو prefixed to it.] You say ثُلَاثَةُ رِجَالٍ [Three men]: and نِسْوَةٍ ↓ ثَلَاثُ [three women]. (Msb.) In the saying of Mohammad, ↓ رُفِعَ القَلَمُ عَنْ ثَلَاثٍ [The pen of the recording angel is withheld from three persons] ثلاث is for ثَلَاثِ أَنْفُسٍ. (Msb. [See article رفع.]) [In like manner, ↓ ثَلَاثٌ occurs in several trads. for ثَلَاثُ خِصَالٍ; as, for instance, in the saying,] ثَلَاثٌ مَنْ كُنَّ فِيهِ حَاسَبَهُ اللّٰهُ حِسَابًا يَسِيرًا [There are three qualities: in whomsoever they be, God will reckon with him with an easy reckoning]: these are, thy giving to him who denies thee, and forgiving him who wrongs thee, and being kind to him who cuts thee off from him. (El-Jámi' es-Sagheer.) The people of El-Hijáz say, أَتَوْنِى ثَلَاثَتَهُمْ [The three of them came to me], and أَرْبَعَتَهُمْ, and so on to ten [inclusive], with nasb in every case; and in like manner in the feminine, ↓ أَتَيْنَنِى ثَلَاثَهُنَّ, and أَرْبَعَهُنَّ: but others decline the word with the three vowels, making it like كُلُّهُمْ: after ten, however, only nasb is used; so that you say, أَتَوْنِى أَحَدَ عَشَرَهُمْ [and ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَهُمْ], and إِحْدَى عَشْرَتَهُنَّ [and ثَلَاثَ عَشْرَتَهُنَّ]. (S.) The saying وَلَدُ الزِّنَا شَرٌ الثَّلَاثَةِ means [The offspring of adultery, or fornication, is the worst of the three] if he do the deeds of his parents. (Mgh.) [It is said that when ثلاثة means the things numbered, not the amount of the number, it is imperfectly decl., being regarded as a proper name; and so are other ns. of number. (See ثُمَانِيةٌ.) See also سِتَّةٌ.]

ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَ [indecl. in every case, meaning Thirteen,] is pronounced by some of the Arabs ثَلَاثَةَ عْشَرَ: and [the feminine] عَشْرَةَ ↓ ثَلَاثَ, thus in the dialect of El- Hijáz [and of most of the Arabs], is pronounced ثَلَاثَ عَشِرَةَ in the dialect of Nejd. (S in article عشر.)