Quranic root
أفل
ʾ · f · l
The root has two principal lexical branches: disappearance or absence, and the small or young among camels and related livestock.
The absence branch appears in the Quran chiefly as the setting and disappearance of celestial bodies, and in broader Classical Arabic as general absence or departure. Classical evidence also records a specialized use for conception settling in the womb; the separate livestock branch denotes a young camel and a reported term for young sheep.
- Maqāyīs · row 117
- Lane · entry 6935
- Lane · entry 6936
- Mufradāt · row 45
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَفَلَ
ʾafala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To set and disappear from sight.
In the supplied Quran occurrences, the verb describes a star, the moon, and the sun as they set or become absent from view.
- Lane · entry 6935
- Mufradāt · row 45
Selected Quran examples
آفِلٌ
ʾāfilun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One that sets or disappears from sight.
The Quranic plural form is applied to celestial bodies that set, in the expression referring to those that set.
- Lane · entry 6937
- Lane · entry 6935
- Mufradāt · row 45
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:76word 15
“the ones that set”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 4 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 4 Classical meanings
أَفَلَ
To become absent, hidden, or concealed; of a person, to go away from a country or town.
A broader Classical Arabic use for things generally and for a person departing from a locality, distinct from the Quranic celestial-body construction.
- Lane · entry 6935
أَفِيلٌ
A young or recently weaned camel.
The precise age range varies in the transmitted descriptions, which include a camel in its second or third year and a youthful weaned camel.
- Lane · entry 6936
- Maqāyīs · row 117
- Mufradāt · row 45
إِفَالٌ
Young sheep.
A reported livestock use of the plural or collective term; the supplied evidence does not make its relation to the camel term fully uniform.
- Mufradāt · row 45
- Lane · entry 6936
أَفَلَ
For conception or fertilization to settle in the womb.
A specialized reported Classical Arabic construction, not attested as a Quranic usage in the supplied form groups.
- Maqāyīs · row 117
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied evidence differs on the livestock term إِفَالٌ: its main Mufradat wording gives “young sheep,” while an inserted note and Lane's primary entry associate related forms with young camels. The sheep use is therefore retained as a separately reported Classical meaning.
The womb-settling usage is reported in the root-level Classical evidence and has no supplied Quran occurrence.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The precise lexical identity and livestock reference of إِفَالٌ are not fully stable across the packet: Mufradat's main text assigns it to young sheep, its inserted note assigns it to young camels, and Lane records إِفَالٌ chiefly as a plural of أَفِيلٌ while mentioning young sheep under an alternate cited form.