خنفس

خُنْفَسٌ and its variations: see what here follows.

خُنْفَسَآءُ (S, Msb, K) [in two copies of the S, in which it is without the article, written without tenween, but in the Msb and K it has the article prefixed, and is therefore necessarily without tenween,] and خُنْفُسَآء, (Msb, TA,) which is more common, (Msb,) [but this I doubt, for I have found it nowhere else,] and ↓ خُنْفَسٌ (S, K) and خُنْفُسٌ (TA) and خِنْفِسٌ, (K,) which last is of the dial. of the people of El-Basrah, (TA,) and خُنْفُسَةٌ and خُنْفُسَةٌ, (K,) [The black beetle: or a certain species thereof:] a well-known creeping thing; (Msb;) a certain insect, (S, K,) black, (K,) of fetid odour, smaller than the جُعَل, found in the bottoms of walls: (TA:) the first and second of these words are both applied to the male and the female: (Msb:) or خُنْفَسٌ is applied to the male, (AA, Msb,) by some of the Arabs, (Msb,) and is syn. with عُنْظَبٌ and حُنْظَبٌ, (AA, TA,) and خُنْفُسٌ is not disallowable, being agree-able with analogy: (Msb:) and خُنْفَسَاءَةٌ is applied to the female, [which, if correct, shows خنفسآء to be with tenween,] and so is خُنْفَسَةٌ: (S:) or خنفساءة, with ة, is not allowable; [and if so, خنفسآء is without tenween;] (As, TA;) and خنفسة is [not applied to the female, but] used by the Benoo-Asad for خنفسآء, as though they made the ة a substitute for the ا: (Msb:) [and this seems to indicate that the ا is a fem. ا, grammatically speaking, and that the word is therefore without tenween:] the pl. is خَنَافِسُ. (Msb.) One says, هُوَ أَلَحُّ مِنَ الخُنْفَسَآءِ [He is more persevering than the black beetle]: because it returns to thee as often as thou throwest it away. (TA.) [Accord. to the K, the ن in the words of this art. is radical; but accord. to the S and Msb, augmentative.]