Quranic root
عجب
ʿ · j · b
The root has two principal branches: judging something extraordinary, producing wonder, admiration, or astonishment; and a concrete anatomical sense referring to the base of an animal's tail.
The evaluative branch develops from treating something as unusually great or extraordinary into verbs of wondering and pleasing, adjectives for what is astonishing, and expressions of self-admiration. A separate concrete branch names the tail-base and, by extension, the narrow rear end of a sand formation.
- Maqāyīs · row 3141
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 27
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَجِبَ
ʿajiba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 8 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 wonder at something; to deem it strange, extraordinary, or improbable.
Used of a person's response to something unfamiliar or difficult to expect. The Quranic contexts include wonder at denial of revelation, resurrection, or other extraordinary claims; wonder may be approving or disapproving according to context.
- Lane · entry 2161
- Mufradāt · row 947
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:63word 1
“Do you wonder”
Quran 37:12word 2
“you wonder”
In a reported divine attribution or reading, to requite or favor in response to another's wonder, rather than to undergo human wonder.
This tropical theological interpretation is associated particularly with the reported reading and interpretation of 37:12; it is not the ordinary human sense of the verb. Related explanations include divine reward or being well pleased.
- Lane · entry 2161
- Mufradāt · row 947
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:12word 2
“you wonder”
أَعْجَبَ
ʾaʿjaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 11 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 please, impress, delight, or excite someone's admiration.
A causative construction in which a thing, person, quality, or event produces admiration or pleasure in an experiencer, commonly expressed with the experiencer as object.
- Lane · entry 2163
- Mufradāt · row 947
Selected Quran examples
عَجَبٌ
ʿajabun
- Part of speech
- Noun / Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
A wonder; something extraordinary, astonishing, or unfamiliar.
Used as a noun for a marvel or as an epithet for an event, affair, saying, or thing that elicits wonder. The Quranic usage does not require that the response be favorable.
- Lane · entry 2169
- Mufradāt · row 947
Selected Quran examples
عَجِيبٌ
ʿajībun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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.
Wonderful, astonishing, or unprecedented.
Applied to something not previously encountered in the same way and therefore regarded as remarkable or difficult to explain.
- Lane · entry 2169
- Mufradāt · row 947
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:72word 12
“amazing”
Quran 50:2word 11
“amazing”
عُجَابٌ
ʿujābun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Exceedingly astonishing; surpassing the ordinary degree of wondrousness.
An intensive adjective, stronger than عَجِيبٌ in the classical distinction preserved in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 2169
- Mufradāt · row 947
Selected Quran examples
Quran 38:5word 8
“curious”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:204يُعْجِبُكَpleases you
- 2:221أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ ۗshe pleases you
- 2:221أَعْجَبَكُمْ ۗhe pleases you
- 5:100أَعْجَبَكَimpresses you
- 7:63أَوَعَجِبْتُمْDo you wonder
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 22 Classical meanings
عَجِبَ إِلَيْهِ
To love or like someone or something.
A distinct construction with إِلَى, attested as a conventional Classical Arabic usage.
- Lane · entry 2161
عَجِبَتْ
Of a she-camel, to have the conformation called عَجْبَاءُ.
A specialized zoological usage referring to the animal's hind or tail-base formation.
- Lane · entry 2161
عَجَّبَ
To cause someone to wonder by means of something.
Form II causative usage, distinct from Form IV and from the intransitive Form I.
- Lane · entry 2162
أَعْجَبَ
To induce or excite someone to wonder.
The broader causative sense is distinguished from the Quranic usage centered on pleasing, admiration, and delight.
- Lane · entry 2163
عُجْبٌ
Self-admiration, self-conceit, vanity, or pride.
Includes being pleased with or proud of oneself, one's judgment, or something belonging to oneself; the related expression مُعْجَبٌ بِنَفْسِهِ is used for a self-conceited person.
- Lane · entry 2163
- Lane · entry 2167
- Lane · entry 2181
مَا أَعْجَبَهُ
How wonderful it is!
A conventional exclamatory expression of wonder.
- Lane · entry 2163
تَعَجَّبَ
To display self-admiration or self-regard.
Attested especially of displaying عُجْبٌ in one's gait or manner.
- Lane · entry 2164
تَعَجَّبَنِي
To excite desire, attract, beguile, or captivate someone.
A specialized Form V usage said of a man who draws another's inclination or captivates his heart.
- Lane · entry 2164
اِسْتَعْجَبَ
To wonder intensely.
The derived form is explained as شدت التعجب, intensification of wondering.
- Maqāyīs · row 3141
عَجْبٌ
The base or root of an animal's tail, especially the bone at the lower end of the spine.
An anatomical term also used for the tail-base bone between or behind the buttocks.
- Lane · entry 2166
- Maqāyīs · row 3141
عَجْبٌ
The narrow rear end of a tract, mound, or formation of sand, or of another extended thing.
A tropical extension of the anatomical sense, especially the thin hinder portion of a sand-hill.
- Lane · entry 2166
- Maqāyīs · row 3141
عُجْبٌ
A man who is comfortable in women's company, or with whom women are pleased.
A specialized social description explicitly applied to a man who sits and converses with women without causing suspicion, or who is liked by them.
- Lane · entry 2167
عَجَبٌ
Wonderful, admirable, or pleasing as an epithet of a thing, affair, event, or case.
An adjectival use for something that induces wonder, admiration, pleasure, or joy; it may occur in emphatic combinations such as عَجَبٌ عَاجِبٌ.
- Lane · entry 2169
- Lane · entry 2176
عَجَبٌ
Wonders or wonderful things; by extension, a person who performs wonderful feats.
A substantival use that may have a plural sense; the same branch can refer to a practitioner of legerdemain or anyone who does extraordinary things.
- Lane · entry 2169
عَجَبٌ
A practitioner of legerdemain or sleight-of-hand.
A specialized extension of the sense of wonderful things to a person who performs them.
- Lane · entry 2169
عَجِيبٌ
Loved, beloved, or an object of love.
A specialized adjectival use distinct from the Quranic sense of astonishing or unprecedented.
- Lane · entry 2173
عَجِيبَةٌ
A wonderful thing, marvel, or thing at which one wonders.
The related forms أُعْجُوبَةٌ and تَعَاجِيبُ are cross-referenced in this lexical branch; the latter is a plural form without an ordinary singular pattern.
- Lane · entry 2174
أَعْجَبُ
More or most wonderful, admirable, or pleasing.
A comparative or superlative adjectival form.
- Lane · entry 2177
عَجْبَاءُ
A female regarded as remarkable for beauty or for ugliness.
The adjective may describe a female whose appearance provokes wonder in either a favorable or unfavorable direction.
- Lane · entry 2177
أَعْجَبُ / عَجْبَاءُ
A thick, coarse, or otherwise malformed camel, especially one with a distinctive tail-base or hindquarter conformation.
A specialized zoological usage: the hind or upper tail-base may be narrow with prominent buttocks; the form is characterized as ugly.
- Lane · entry 2177
تِعْجَابَةٌ
A man endowed with wonders or wonderful qualities.
A specialized descriptive noun for a man characterized by wonderful things.
- Lane · entry 2179
مُعْجِبٌ
Inducing wonder or admiration; very good, beautiful, or pleasing.
An active participial adjective for something that produces admiration or is especially good-looking or excellent.
- Lane · entry 2182
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The divine-attribution sense of Form I is tied to a reported reading and tropical interpretation of 37:12; it should not be generalized to ordinary human uses of عَجِبَ.
The Quranic nominal and adjectival forms distinguish ordinary wondrousness from the intensive force of عُجَابٌ; contextual translations may render both with similar English words.