Quranic root
عنت
ʿ · n · t
The root centers on encountering or imposing hardship, distress, and what is contrary to ease.
From the basic idea of severe difficulty, the lexicon develops causative uses for imposing hardship, and related uses for peril, wrongdoing, physical harm, and entangling difficulty.
- Maqāyīs · row 3320
- Mufradāt · row 1016
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَنِتَ
ʿanita
- 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 fall into, experience, or suffer difficulty, hardship, or distress.
In the Quranic occurrences, the verb describes hardship or distress affecting the addressee or community. It may be used of what causes such difficulty.
- Lane · entry 4930
- Mufradāt · row 1016
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:118word 14
“distresses you”
Quran 9:128word 9
“you suffer”
Quran 49:7word 12
“surely you would be in difficulty”
To incur or commit sinful wrongdoing.
A secondary interpretation of ما عَنِتُّمْ in 3:118 understands the expression as referring to having sinned; this reading is distinct from the ordinary sense of experiencing hardship.
- Lane · entry 4930
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:118word 14
“distresses you”
أَعْنَتَ
ʾaʿnata
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 cause someone to fall into hardship or distress; to impose a severe constraint or demand.
In لَأَعْنَتَكُمْ, the causative verb can describe imposing a burden or requiring what is difficult, or beyond one's power, to perform.
- Lane · entry 4931
- Lane · entry 4932
- Mufradāt · row 1016
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:220word 22
“surely He (could have) put you in difficulties”
To destroy or cause to perish.
This is an alternative interpretation of لَأَعْنَتَكُمْ in 2:220, presenting the imposed hardship as destruction or ruin.
- Lane · entry 4931
عَنَتٌ
ʿanatun
- Part of speech
- 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.
Severe hardship, distress, or peril, including the prospect of ruin.
In خَشِيَ الْعَنَتَ, the noun denotes a feared condition of severe difficulty or peril; some interpretations specifically explain it as perdition or destruction.
- Lane · entry 4935
- Mufradāt · row 1016
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:25word 50
“committing sin”
Fornication or adultery, understood as grave sexual sin.
A conventional Quranic interpretation of الْعَنَتَ in 4:25; some explanations describe the meaning as perdition through fornication rather than the act alone.
- Lane · entry 4935
- Mufradāt · row 1016
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:25word 50
“committing sin”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:220لَأَعْنَتَكُمْ ۚsurely He (could have) put you in difficulties
- 3:118عَنِتُّمْdistresses you
- 4:25ٱلْعَنَتَcommitting sin
- 9:128عَنِتُّمْyou suffer
- 49:7لَعَنِتُّمْsurely you would be in difficulty
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
عَنِتَ
Of a beast: to become lame or halt because of harsh or rough treatment.
A physical use describing impairment resulting from treatment the animal cannot bear.
- Lane · entry 4930
عَنِتَ
Of a bone: to weaken and break, or to break again after having been set and united.
Used of a previously treated fracture or of a bone that becomes weak after being set.
- Lane · entry 4930
عَنَّتَهُ
To treat someone with hardness or severity and constrain him to do what is difficult for him.
This is the Form II causative/intensive use, distinct from the Quranic Form IV form.
- Lane · entry 4931
عَنَّتَهُ
To destroy someone or cause him to perish.
An extended Form II use in which severe treatment results in ruin.
- Lane · entry 4931
أَعْنَتَهُ
To treat a beast roughly so that it becomes lame or halts; to treat a sick person without gentleness and injure him; or to worsen a previously set fracture.
A physical Form IV causative use involving harsh handling and resulting harm.
- Lane · entry 4932
تَعَنَّتَهُ
To bring annoyance, molestation, harm, or hurt upon someone, or to seek to cause him difficulty.
A Form V use describing deliberate or troublesome imposition of harm or hardship.
- Lane · entry 4933
تَعَنَّتَهُ
To question someone in a way intended to entangle him in confusion or doubt.
Used of pressing a witness or another person with searching questions designed to create uncertainty or expose him to difficulty.
- Lane · entry 4933
عَنْتَتَ
Of the horn of a young goat: to rise or rise high.
A specialized rural or zoological use of the R.Q. form.
- Lane · entry 4934
عَنْتَتَ
To turn away from, avoid, or shun someone or something.
A separate use of the same rare form, construed with عَنْهُ.
- Lane · entry 4934
عَنَتٌ
A bad, evil, or corrupt state, or bad, evil, or corrupt conduct.
A broader moral and behavioral noun use outside the specific Quranic interpretation retained above.
- Lane · entry 4935
عَنَتٌ
A sin, crime, or act of disobedience deserving punishment.
This general moral sense is broader than the specifically sexual Quranic interpretation of 4:25.
- Lane · entry 4935
عَنَتٌ
A wrong action, error, or mistake, whether intentional or unintentional.
A general noun for erroneous or wrongful action.
- Lane · entry 4935
عَنَتٌ
Wrongful, unjust, injurious, or tyrannical conduct; annoyance, harm, hurt, or afflicting injury.
This branch emphasizes harmful treatment or conduct rather than hardship simply as a condition.
- Lane · entry 4935
عَنَتٌ
Contention, especially striving for superiority, persistent opposition, or vain disputation.
A figurative or interpersonal use attributed to the relevant lexical tradition.
- Lane · entry 4935
عَنِتٌ
A bone broken after having been set and united.
An adjectival description of a previously treated bone that has fractured again.
- Lane · entry 4936
عَنُوتٌ
A hill difficult to ascend; a high and difficult ascent.
A topographical adjective or noun describing steepness and difficulty of ascent.
- Lane · entry 4937
عُنْتُوتٌ
The notch in a bow into which the ring at the head of the string enters.
A specialized term for a part of a bow.
- Lane · entry 4938
عُنْتُوتٌ
The first part, beginning, or commencement of anything.
A nominal use unrelated to the Quranic forms displayed above.
- Lane · entry 4938
عُنْتُوتٌ
A dry plant called حَلِيّ or حَلْي.
A botanical use recorded as a separate lexical branch.
- Lane · entry 4938
عَانِتٌ
An epithet for a woman, equivalent to عَانِسٌ.
The evidence presents this as a dialectal, substituted, or possibly mispronounced form; it is retained as a distinct lexical item.
- Lane · entry 4939
مَعْنَتَةٌ
A cause of difficulty, hardship, or distress.
A derived noun denoting the source or occasion of hardship.
- Lane · entry 4941
مُتَعَنِّتٌ
Seeking to cause someone to fall into a wrong action, error, or wrongdoing.
Illustrated in the phrase جَاءَنِي فُلَانٌ مُتَعَنِّتًا; the participle describes the person's intention toward the other party.
- Lane · entry 4942
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic noun in 4:25 retains two established interpretive readings: severe hardship or peril, and fornication or grave sexual sin.
The Form I occurrence in 3:118 is ordinarily understood as distress or hardship, while a secondary lexical interpretation understands ما عَنِتُّمْ as having sinned.
The expression عَنَتِ الْوُجُوهُ cited in the Quran-focused discussion is explicitly identified there as belonging to a different etymological باب and is not assigned to this root.