For example, a report is called mashhūr (مشہور). Here this is not merely everyday popularity; it describes narrator numbers:
• Mashhūr: three or more narrators in each generation, below the threshold of tawātur1.
• ʿAzīz (عزیز): no generation has fewer than two narrators.
• Gharīb (غریب): at least one generation has only one narrator.
Here, a ṭabaqah (طبقہ) is a generation of narrators. These names describe numbers; a name alone does not establish that a report is sound.
1. The tawātur threshold: such an abundance of narrators in every generation that their all joining in falsehood is ordinarily impossible.