Quranic root
عرب
ʿ · r · b
The root gathers three principal orientations: making something clear or expressive, liveliness and pleasant spirit, and corruption or disorder in a body or organ.
From the orientation of clarity developed the vocabulary of Arabic speech, Arab identity, and explicit expression; other branches preserve notions of vitality, affection, abundance, and bodily corruption. These root-level relations do not make every branch a meaning of every derived form.
- Maqāyīs · row 3169
- Mufradāt · row 960
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 22
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَعْرَاب
ʾaʿrāb
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 10 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.
The desert-dwelling Arabs; Bedouins as a collective group.
A collective designation for Arabs who live in the desert and move in search of pasture and water, distinct in usage from the broader term for the Arabs as a people.
- Mufradāt · row 960
- Lane · entry 2636
Selected Quran examples
عَرَبِيّ
ʿarabiyy
- Part of speech
- Adjective / Noun
- 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.
Arabic; belonging to the Arabs or expressed in the Arabic language.
Used adjectivally with the Qur'an, revelation, tongue, or judgment. In descriptions of speech and writing, it can also emphasize clear, articulate, intelligible expression.
- Mufradāt · row 960
- Lane · entry 2626
- Lane · entry 2643
- Lane · entry 2644
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:2word 4
“(as) a Quran in Arabic”
Quran 13:37word 4
“(in) Arabic”
Quran 16:103word 15
“Arabic”
Quran 26:195word 2
“Arabic”
An Arab or Arabian person.
Nominal use referring to an Arab person, including in the expression of an Arabian prophet; this use is distinct from the adjectival description of language or speech.
- Lane · entry 2642
Selected Quran examples
Quran 41:44word 10
“and an Arab”
عُرُب
ʿurub
- 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.
Affectionate and amorous toward their husbands; expressive of loving attachment.
A feminine plural description in the Quranic context, applied to women characterized by affection, fondness, and amorous behavior toward their husbands. Classical explanations also associate the word with cheerfulness and good spirits.
- Mufradāt · row 960
- Lane · entry 2650
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:37word 1
“Devoted”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 9:90ٱلْأَعْرَابِthe bedouins
- 9:97ٱلْأَعْرَابُThe bedouins
- 9:98ٱلْأَعْرَابِthe bedouins
- 9:99ٱلْأَعْرَابِthe bedouins
- 9:101ٱلْأَعْرَابِthe bedouins
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 45 Classical meanings
عَرِبَ
To become disordered or diseased, especially of the stomach; of a camel's hump, to swell and become purulent; of a wound, to become corrupt, reopen, or leave a scar.
Applied to bodily organs, humps, wounds, and similar physical conditions.
- Lane · entry 2626
- Lane · entry 2637
عَرِبَ
To contain or become abundant in clear, limpid water.
Said of a river, well, or other water source.
- Lane · entry 2626
- Lane · entry 2637
عَرِبٌ
Briskness, liveliness, or sprightly energy.
Used as an abstract noun or descriptive term for active, lively behavior.
- Lane · entry 2626
- Lane · entry 2633
عَرَبَ
To eat food.
- Lane · entry 2626
عَرَّبَ
To Arabicize a foreign word or expression, teach Arabic, or make speech conform to Arabic usage.
Applied to language, pronunciation, and the process of rendering a foreign expression Arabic.
- Lane · entry 2627
عَرَّبَ
To rebuke, expose as bad or improper, reject, or prevent something in response to speech or conduct.
The construction may involve reproaching a person, correcting an utterance, replying against it, or disallowing it.
- Lane · entry 2627
تَعْرِيبٌ
To treat medically a person whose stomach is disordered.
A specialized therapeutic use connected with the bodily disorder described under عَرِبَ.
- Lane · entry 2627
عَرَّبَ
To lop or prune a palm tree by cutting away some of its branches.
Applied specifically to the pruning of a palm.
- Lane · entry 2627
عَرَّبَ
To scarify and cauterize the skin near a horse's hoof, in order to strengthen or inspect the part.
A veterinary procedure applied to a horse or similar beast; the incision can reveal whether the hoof is sound or diseased.
- Lane · entry 2627
تَعْرِيبٌ
To obtain or procure something Arabian, especially a purebred Arabian horse; also to make or acquire an Arabian bow.
A specialized Form II usage concerning Arabian-bred animals or an Arabian type of bow.
- Lane · entry 2627
تَعْرِيبٌ
To drink much clear or limpid water.
A specialized verbal-noun usage associated with drinking abundant pure water.
- Lane · entry 2627
عَرَّبَ
To make a cow receptive to copulation.
Said of a bull in relation to a cow.
- Lane · entry 2627
اِسْتَعْرَبَ
To become sexually receptive or desirous of the male.
Attested of a cow desiring the bull; this is a specialized animal-behavior use.
- Lane · entry 2631
عَرَبُون
An earnest or deposit paid toward a sale or hire and counted as part of the price if the transaction proceeds.
The deposit is forfeited or not reclaimed if the sale or hire does not take effect; the form has several dialectal variants.
- Lane · entry 2627
- Lane · entry 2646
مُعَارَبَة
Sexual intercourse, or an indirect reference to it.
A conventional euphemistic or oblique expression for intercourse.
- Lane · entry 2628
- Lane · entry 2629
- Lane · entry 2653
أَعْرَبَ
To make something clear or explicit, to state what is in one's mind, or to speak and plead on behalf of a person, group, or cause.
The construction may take عن or be used with a speech, argument, need, or person for whom one speaks.
- Lane · entry 2629
إِعْرَاب
Grammatical inflection, parsing, or the analysis of a word or sentence through its syntactic endings.
A technical grammatical use, including the distinction of meanings through inflection and the parsing of sentences.
- Lane · entry 2629
إِعْرَاب
To make someone desist from or retract foul speech.
A specialized use in which the action turns a person away from obscene or improper language.
- Lane · entry 2629
إِعْرَاب
To speak foul or obscene language.
This use is reported as a contrary sense to making someone desist from foul speech.
- Lane · entry 2629
- Lane · entry 2654
أَعْرَبَ
To have a child born with Arabian complexion or coloring.
A specialized description of the child's appearance or coloring.
- Lane · entry 2629
عِرَاب
Purebred Arabian animals, especially horses, camels, or oxen, free from admixture with another stock.
The term may describe the animals themselves or their established Arabian lineage; different animal classes are specified by context.
- Lane · entry 2629
- Lane · entry 2649
- Lane · entry 2667
أَعْرَبَ
To make a horse run.
A specialized equestrian usage, with a variant expression also reported.
- Lane · entry 2629
إِعْرَاب
To take as one's wife a woman characterized as عَرُوب.
The construction refers to marriage to a woman described by the affectionate and amorous qualities of عَرُوب.
- Lane · entry 2629
أَعْرَبَ
To make the watering schedule of a group uniform after it had alternated between different intervals.
Said of a people's watering of their camels.
- Lane · entry 2629
تَعَرَّبَ
To assimilate oneself to the Arabs, adopt their language and manner, or join the desert Arabs and live in the desert.
It can describe a non-Arab becoming naturalized among Arabs, a settled person returning to the desert, or dwelling there.
- Lane · entry 2630
تَعَرَّبَتْ
To behave amorously and manifest love toward one's husband.
A feminine construction describing affectionate or amorous conduct toward the husband.
- Lane · entry 2630
اِسْتَعْرَبَ
To be affected by mange or scab spreading from the armpits, groin, lips, or similar parts over the skin.
Attested specifically of a camel.
- Lane · entry 2631
العَرَب
The Arabs or Arabians as a people; in different classifications, the genuine, naturalized, urban, or desert branches of that people.
The broad collective term may contrast with non-Arabs and may distinguish established Arab lineage or language from naturalized affiliation and from the desert-dwelling group called الأعراب.
- Lane · entry 2636
العَرَب
Vagueness or obscurity in a word.
A tentatively reported figurative extension connected with the notion of linguistic fault or disorder.
- Lane · entry 2636
عِرْب
Dried plant matter, especially dried barley-grass or another herb or legume; also the prickles of the barley-grass called بُهْمَى.
A botanical noun with the singular feminine form used for an individual specimen.
- Lane · entry 2635
عَرَبَة
A river flowing with a vehement or strong current.
- Lane · entry 2639
عَرَبَة
The soul, mind, self, or inner person.
A poetic use is also interpreted as referring to the souls or persons affected by a gift.
- Lane · entry 2639
عَرَبَة
In a poetic expression, to spread news of something or make it widely talked about.
A figurative interpretation of the expression in which the Arabs make a matter fly by speaking of it to people.
- Lane · entry 2639
عَرَبَات
Certain stationary vessels formerly used on the Tigris.
عَرَبَة is given as the singular of this specialized plural.
- Lane · entry 2639
عَرَبُون
In the expression أَلْقَى عَرَبُونَهُ, to eject excrement or ordure.
A fixed figurative or idiomatic expression.
- Lane · entry 2646
عَرَبْرَب
Sumac.
A plant name; the feminine derivative can describe a dish prepared with sumac.
- Lane · entry 2660
عَرَبْرَبِيَّة
A pot or dish in which food prepared with sumac is cooked.
Used adjectivally with قِدْرٌ in the cited culinary expression.
- Lane · entry 2661
عَرِيب
Anyone or any person, especially in the negative expression “there is no one in the house.”
This sense is restricted to a negative phrase and can apply to either sex.
- Lane · entry 2651
عَرَابَة
A bag or covering placed over the udder of a sheep or goat.
The plural is used for such udder-covering bags.
- Lane · entry 2653
عَرُوبَة
Friday, including an ancient name for that day.
The expression يوم العروبة is a conventional day-name; its etymology is disputed.
- Lane · entry 2655
عُرُوبَة
The quality or condition of being Arabian, especially the Arabian character of a horse.
An abstract noun describing Arabian identity or breed quality.
- Lane · entry 2656
عَرُوبَاء
A name for the seventh heaven, or, in an alternative account, the seventh earth.
The term is reported with variant interpretations and related forms.
- Lane · entry 2657
عَرَّاب
A person who makes udder-covering bags for sheep or goats.
Derived from عَرَابَات, the plural of the bag-name عَرَابَة.
- Lane · entry 2659
مُعَرَّب
A foreign noun adopted into Arabic and adapted, where possible, to Arabic word-patterns or pronunciation.
A foreign proper name is normally classified separately rather than as an Arabicized common noun.
- Lane · entry 2668
عَرَبِيٌّ
A white barley whose ears are bifurcate and whose grain is large and especially fine.
A specialized botanical/agricultural noun referring to a highly regarded variety of barley.
- Lane · entry 2642
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
أَعْرَاب is a collective term for desert-dwelling Arabs and should not be treated as a generic plural equivalent of the broader term العَرَب.
Classical sources record contrary extensions for عَرُوب, but the Quran-focused evidence for عُرُب supports the affectionate, amorous description of women toward their husbands.
The Lane discussions of Arabic identity and language include historical and etymological alternatives; those alternatives do not establish additional Quranic senses or modern Quran verse locations.