اسف

أَسِيفٌ ذ Grieving, lamenting, or regretting, (K, * TA,) most intensely, on account of a thing that has escaped: (M, TA:) and quickly affected with grief, (S, Mgh, K,) and tender-hearted; as also ↓ أَسُوفٌ: (S, K:) or, as also ↓ أَسُوفٌ (M) and ↓ أَسْفَانُ and ↓ اآسِفٌ (M, TA) and ↓ أَسِفٌ , (M,) grieving exceedingly: (M:) or grieved: (TA:) and sometimes the first signifies angry, and at the same time grieving, or lamenting: (S:) pl. أُسَفَاآءُ. (M.) See also أَسِفٌ. ― -b2- A slave: (ISk, S, M, K:) and a hired man: (ISk, M, K:) because of their state of abasement and subjection: fem. with ة: (M:) and pl. as above. (S, M.) ― -b3- A captive. (TA.) ― -b4- A very old man: (K:) pl. as above: so in a trad., in which the slaying of such is forbidden. (TA.) ― -b5- One who scarcely, or never, becomes fat. (K.) ― -b6- (assumed tropical:) A region, or country, that does not give growth to anything, or produce any vegetation; as also أَسِيفَةٌ and ↓ أُسَافَةٌ and ↓ أَسَافَةٌ: (M:) and ↓ أَسَافَةٌ also signifies (assumed tropical:) thin, or shallow, earth: (AHn, M:) and أَرْضٌ أَسِيفَةٌ, (tropical:) thin, or shallow, earth, which scarcely, or never, gives growth to anything, or produces any vegetation: (S:) or which is not commended for its vegetation: (A, TA:) or, as also ↓ أُسَافَةٌ and ↓ أَسَافَةٌ, (assumed tropical:) thin, or shallow, earth: or such as does not produce vegetation: and ↓ (assumed tropical:) أَرْضٌ أَسِفَةٌ land which scarcely, or never, produces vegetation. (K.)