Quranic root
ذقن
dh · q · n
The root centers on the chin, the point where the lower jaws meet, and extends to actions, bodily descriptions, and shapes associated with it.
From the anatomical base, the vocabulary develops meanings involving striking or resting on the chin, movement of the head, and figurative inclination or falling; related terms also describe the projecting throat region and an unevenly inclined bucket.
- Maqāyīs · row 1904
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 3
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
ذَقَنٌ
dhaqanun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
The chin: the lower-jaw region where the two jaws meet.
The Quranic plural أَذْقَان occurs in expressions of falling or prostrating with the chins toward the ground; the construction may be rendered contextually as falling on one's face. It also occurs as the body part itself.
- Lane · entry 21579
- Mufradāt · row 506
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:109word 2
“on their faces”
Quran 36:8word 8
“the chins”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 3 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 13 Classical meanings
ذَقَنَ
To strike the chin; also to strike a person on the rear neck or adjacent head with the inside of the hand, or to beat him with a stick.
A Form I verb with the person struck as its object.
- Lane · entry 21574
ذَقَنَ
To place the chin on the hand, a staff, or a whip and lean upon it.
A conventional physical-support construction.
- Lane · entry 21574
ذَقِنَ
Of a bucket, to be or become large and inclined or uneven, of the type called ذَقُون or ذَقْنَاء.
Used of the bucket’s shape or condition.
- Lane · entry 21574
ذَاقَنَ
To straiten someone.
A Form III verb with the person straitened as its object.
- Lane · entry 21576
ذِقْنٌ
A decrepit, old and weak, or extremely aged man.
- Lane · entry 21578
ذَقَنٌ
To seek support from a low, weak, or powerless person.
A proverbial extension based on an overloaded camel using its chin to help itself rise.
- Lane · entry 21579
ذَقَنٌ
In figurative expressions of trees or stones, to fall, bend down, or be overturned to the ground, expressed as falling to the chin.
A metaphorical extension of the body-part expression to nonhuman objects.
- Lane · entry 21579
ذَقَنٌ
The hair growing on the chin; the beard.
Reported as vulgar or post-classical usage, and also as a Nabataean term.
- Lane · entry 21579
ذَقُونٌ
A she-camel that lowers or relaxes her chin while walking, moves her head as she walks, or lengthens her stride with lively strength.
The descriptions vary in emphasis between chin movement, head movement, and brisk movement.
- Lane · entry 21582
ذَقُونٌ
A leather bucket whose lip inclines to one side; a large or otherwise unevenly inclined bucket.
The term is also linked with the feminine form ذَقْنَاء in descriptions of an inclined bucket.
- Lane · entry 21582
الذَّاقِنَةُ
An anatomical region associated with the chin and upper throat or chest: the part beneath the chin, the throat’s projecting extremity, or an adjacent upper-chest region; it is also reported for the upper abdomen or stomach.
The term has several attested anatomical applications, including the region reached by the chin and the area referred to in the expression “between my حَاقِنَة and my ذَاقِنَة.”
- Lane · entry 21583
أَذْقَنٌ
A man with a long chin; also one whose mouth is inclined or wry at the sides.
- Lane · entry 21584
ذَقْنَاءُ
Applied figuratively to a woman whose pudendum is inclined or wry.
A comparison-based figurative adjective.
- Lane · entry 21584
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The source tradition gives several competing anatomical identifications for الذَّاقِنَةُ; these are retained as attested variants rather than reduced to one precise body location.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:*qn:21577:g1:main reports that اذقن was said to mean “to furnish aid in removing a thing,” but explicitly says the cited lexical form is the infinitive of ازقن, not of اذقن; the sense is therefore left unassigned.