Quranic root
عفف
ʿ · f · f
The root centers on self-restraint: a condition or practice by which desire is held in check, especially through abstinence and chastity.
The Quran-focused evidence connects seeking عفّة with practicing restraint and relates the idea to taking only a little or to a remainder. Classical evidence also preserves specialized branches involving residual milk and selectively taking what remains or what is best.
- Mufradāt · row 993
- Lane · entry 3866
- Lane · entry 3877
- 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.
اِسْتَعْفَفَ
āistaʿfafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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 seek abstinence; to restrain oneself from what is unlawful or from overpowering desire, and thus preserve chastity.
A self-directed Form X construction, used with an expressed object or with عن, and often leaving the object implicit. The Quranic occurrences apply this self-restraint in contexts including the handling of dependent wealth and maintaining chastity when marriage is unavailable.
- Lane · entry 3866
- Mufradāt · row 993
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:6word 23
“then he should refrain”
Quran 24:33word 1
“And let be chaste”
Quran 24:60word 18
“they modestly refrain”
تَعَفُّفٌ
taʿaffufun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- 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.
Self-restraint, abstinence, or chastity: the cultivated state or practice of holding desire in check.
A Form V verbal noun denoting the state or practice of restraint rather than a single act. In the Quranic occurrence it describes the restraint of people whose need is not readily apparent.
- Mufradāt · row 993
- Lane · entry 3866
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:273word 16
“(their) restraint”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:273ٱلتَّعَفُّفِ(their) restraint
- 4:6فَلْيَسْتَعْفِفْ ۖthen he should refrain
- 24:33وَلْيَسْتَعْفِفِAnd let be chaste
- 24:60يَسْتَعْفِفْنَthey modestly refrain
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 18 Classical meanings
عَفَّ
To abstain or refrain from an unlawful, unseemly, indecorous, or otherwise inviolable thing; to be abstinent, continent, chaste, modest, or decorous.
Form I. The object may be left unexpressed or introduced with عن; عفَّ عن المسألة specifically means to refrain from begging.
- Lane · entry 3866
عَفَّ
Of milk, to collect in the udder or to remain there.
Said specifically of milk in the udder; the lexical reports distinguish newly collected milk from milk remaining after most has been taken.
- Lane · entry 3866
اِسْتِعْفَافٌ
Seeking abstinence, including refraining from begging or asking people.
A classical extension of the Form X verbal noun; the construction may combine abstention from unlawful things with abstention from begging.
- Lane · entry 3866
عَفَّفَ
To give someone to drink عُفَافَة, the milk left in an udder.
Form II, transitive; the object supplied as drink is the residual milk called عُفَافَة.
- Lane · entry 3867
أَعَفَّ
To make someone abstinent or chaste.
Form IV causative usage, as in making a person عفيف.
- Lane · entry 3868
أَعَفَّ
Of a ewe or she-goat, to have milk collected or remaining in the udder.
Form IV usage said of a ewe or she-goat and connected with the milk sense of عُفَافَة.
- Lane · entry 3868
تَعَفَّفَ
To drink عُفَافَة, the residual milk left in an udder.
Form V usage with a person as subject and residual milk as the consumed object.
- Lane · entry 3869
تَعَافَّ
To milk one's camel after the first milking.
Form VI construction used with a camel as the object.
- Lane · entry 3870
تَعَافَّ
To treat oneself medically or seek medical treatment.
Form VI reflexive usage; it may occur in the question بِأَيِّ شَيْءٍ نَتَعَافُّ, “With what shall we treat ourselves medically?”
- Lane · entry 3870
اِعْتَفَفَ
Of camels, to lick up or take the choicest dry herbage from above the ground or dust.
Form VIII usage describing selective taking of dry herbage with the tongue.
- Lane · entry 3871
عُفَّةٌ
An old woman.
A separate nominal usage reported as a substituted form related to عُثَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 3874
عُفَّةٌ
A certain small, smooth, white fish, said when cooked to taste like rice.
A specialized noun for the fish described in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 3874
عِفَافٌ
A medicine or remedy.
A specialized nominal usage distinct from the abstinence sense.
- Lane · entry 3875
عَفِيفٌ
Abstinent, continent, chaste, virtuous, modest, decent, or decorous.
An adjective derived from the abstinence sense; its feminine form is عَفِيفَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 3876
عَفِيفَةٌ
Excellent, high-born, good, righteous, or virtuous.
A feminine adjective applied to a woman; the same form is also commonly used in the sense “chaste,” which belongs to the preceding adjectival branch.
- Lane · entry 3876
عُفَافَةٌ
The milk collected in an udder, or the milk remaining there after most has been sucked.
A noun derived from the milk usage of عَفَّ; the evidence reports both a collected-milk and a residual-milk interpretation.
- Lane · entry 3877
عُفَافَةٌ
What is taken piece by piece from the ground by licking or similar means, especially the choicest portion.
A specialized interpretation attributed in the lexical discussion; the explanation may refer to the thing taken rather than to the act of taking it.
- Lane · entry 3877
عِفَّانِ
In the expression جاء على عِفَّانِ ذلك, at the time of that.
A dialectal or substituted form used in a fixed temporal expression.
- Lane · entry 3878
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
No Maqayis entry was supplied; the root-level orientation is therefore based on the supplied Quran-focused and Lane evidence.
The Quranic Form X headword is normalized to the Classical Arabic perfect citation form اِسْتَعْفَفَ from imperfect Quran occurrences.