Quranic root
أبق
ʾ · b · q
An orientation toward unauthorized flight or withdrawal, associated in the root tradition with constraint and strictness in dealing.
The lexical field extends from fleeing to hiding, holding oneself back, and abstaining. Derived Form V develops specialized uses for withholding milk and denying or disavowing, while a distinct noun denotes hemp.
- Maqāyīs · row 11
- Lane · entry 5976
- Mufradāt · row 10
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَبَقَ
ʾabaqa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To flee or run away, especially in an unauthorized departure.
The Quranic occurrence describes Jonah fleeing toward the laden ship after departing from his people. The same flight sense is classically used for a slave leaving a master without permission and may be extended figuratively to a fish.
- Lane · entry 5976
- Mufradāt · row 10
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:140word 2
“he ran away”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 37:140أَبَقَhe ran away
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 7 Classical meanings
أَبَقَ
To hide or conceal oneself, sometimes hiding before subsequently going away.
The lexical discussion also gives poetic applications involving not hiding or not going far.
- Lane · entry 5976
أَبَقَ
To restrain, confine, or withhold oneself; to refrain from something, including a sin or crime.
Poetic applications include holding back speech or oneself; variant interpretations include not refraining and not disdaining or scorning.
- Lane · entry 5976
تَأَبَّقَ
To hide oneself by imitating a runaway.
A Form V intransitive use describing a person's concealment.
- Mufradāt · row 10
تَأَبَّقَ
To withhold milk.
A Form V use attested of a camel withholding her milk.
- Lane · entry 5977
تَأَبَّقَ
To deny or disavow something; to refuse to acknowledge an attributed quality or a kinship relation.
A Form V construction may take either an asserted quality or a relationship as the matter being denied.
- Lane · entry 5977
آبِقٌ (also أَبُوقٌ، أَبَّاقٌ)
A runaway or fugitive slave.
آبِقٌ is the active participle of أَبَقَ. أَبَّاقٌ can carry an intensive or frequentative sense, referring to one who runs away often.
- Lane · entry 5980
- Lane · entry 5978
- Lane · entry 5979
- Mufradāt · row 10
أَبَقٌ
Hemp, or the bast-fiber plant whose stems are beaten to release the fiber.
This is a distinct nominal use, reported as an identification of the plant mentioned in poetic evidence.
- Maqāyīs · row 11
- Mufradāt · row 10
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The hemp identification is explicitly reported as tentative lexical evidence and is therefore kept as a Classical Arabic meaning rather than a Quranic sense.