Quranic root
عري
ʿ · r · y
The root centers on being without covering or protection: nakedness, exposure, and open or unhidden space.
The supplied lexical material extends this orientation from lack of clothing to exposed terrain, denuded objects, bareness of flesh, and related states of being unencumbered. Approach, release, and certain figurative uses are separately attested lexical branches rather than automatic meanings of every form.
- Mufradāt · row 967
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 3
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَرِيَ
ʿariya
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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 be or become naked, bare, or without clothing.
An intransitive state of lacking clothing; the lexical usage can also describe being bare of outer clothing while retaining one or more inner garments.
- Lane · entry 2999
- Mufradāt · row 967
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:118word 7
“you will be unclothed”
عَرَاءٌ
ʿarāʾun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
An open, exposed tract of land where nothing conceals or hides a person; an open shore or vacant surface.
In the Quranic occurrences, the noun denotes an exposed place or shore, with the emphasis on its lack of shelter or concealment.
- Lane · entry 3013
- Mufradāt · row 967
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:145word 2
“onto the open shore”
Quran 68:49word 8
“onto (the) naked shore”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 20:118تَعْرَىٰyou will be unclothed
- 37:145بِٱلْعَرَآءِonto the open shore
- 68:49بِٱلْعَرَآءِonto (the) naked shore
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 33 Classical meanings
عَرِيَ
To become bare of flesh; to become lean.
Applied, for example, to a body that has become thin or fleshless.
- Lane · entry 2999
عَرِيَ
To be or become free from a fault, defect, blemish, or affair; to be exempt from something.
Used with مِنْ for release or exemption, including the conventional statement that no one is exempt from death.
- Lane · entry 2999
عَرَيْتُهُ
To come to or approach someone.
A transitive usage synonymous with coming to or visiting someone.
- Lane · entry 2999
- Mufradāt · row 967
اِعْتَرَى
To befall or afflict someone, especially with an evil or misfortune.
Attested in the conventional expression اعتراك بعض آلهتنا بسوء, ‘some of our gods has afflicted you with evil.’
- Mufradāt · row 967
عَرَّى
To free someone from an affair or obligation.
A transitive Form II usage.
- Lane · entry 3000
عَرَّى
To leave something or let it alone.
A Form II usage applied broadly to an object or matter that is left unattended.
- Lane · entry 3000
نُعَارِي
To ride horses without saddles.
A Form III construction describing riding unsaddled horses.
- Lane · entry 3001
أَعْرَى
To denude, strip, or make someone bare of clothing.
A transitive Form IV construction used with the person and the garment or clothing removed.
- Lane · entry 3002
أَعْرَى
To pluck the hair from a horse’s tail.
A specialized transitive usage applied to a horse’s tail.
- Lane · entry 3002
أَعْرَى
To journey, remain, or dwell in a bare, open tract or in a lateral or adjacent area.
An intransitive Form IV usage associated with an exposed tract or its side.
- Lane · entry 3002
أَعْرَى
To become distant, withdraw, or keep away.
A Form IV usage expressing avoidance, remoteness, or withdrawal.
- Lane · entry 3002
اِعْرَوْرَى
To ride a horse or other beast without a saddle or anything beneath the rider.
A specialized Form XII construction; it can also describe venturing without protection.
- Lane · entry 3006
اِعْرَوْرَى
To venture into a place of danger or difficulty without protection.
A figurative extension of riding or proceeding bare, including entering a waterless desert or places of peril without anything to shield one.
- Lane · entry 3006
اِعْرَوْرَى
To surmount or ride over hills or mounds, said of a mirage.
A figurative usage applied to a mirage overtopping elevated ground.
- Lane · entry 3006
اِعْرَوْرَى
To undertake or commit an evil or foul thing.
A figurative Form XII usage synonymous with doing or undertaking the act.
- Lane · entry 3006
اِعْرَوْرَى
To journey alone through the land.
A Form XII usage emphasizing solitary travel.
- Lane · entry 3006
عَرًى
A hard, elevated, or elevated-and-level open tract of land.
The noun has the plural أَعْرَاءٌ and is distinct in form from عَرَاءٌ.
- Lane · entry 3007
عَرًى
A wall, enclosed garden, or palm garden surrounded by a wall.
A separate nominal usage equated with حائط and related enclosure terms.
- Lane · entry 3007
عُرْىٌ
The condition of a horse being without a saddle, saddle-cloth, or other riding equipment.
A noun describing an unsaddled horse or the state of riding without such equipment; it is not simply an adjective applied indiscriminately to a man or horse.
- Lane · entry 3009
حَسَنَةُ العُرْيَةِ
Beautiful in the parts shown when unclad; beautiful in an unclad state.
A conventional descriptive expression, especially for a woman’s appearance when unclad.
- Lane · entry 3010
مَعَارِي
The exposed or visible parts of the body, especially the hands or arms, feet or legs, and face.
The expression may refer to parts that are normally visible or necessarily exposed; alternative reports extend it to places where the bones show and to the pudenda or vulva.
- Lane · entry 3010
عُرْيَانٌ
A naked, nude, bare, or unclothed person.
The masculine form applies to a man and has a feminine counterpart عُرْيَانَةٌ; the word can also be extended to other things that are bare.
- Lane · entry 3012
عُرْيَانٌ
An extended or gibbous tract of sand without trees.
A figurative nominal use applied to a bare sandy tract.
- Lane · entry 3012
عُرْيَانٌ
Apparent or exposed, said of a plant or herbage.
A figurative use describing vegetation that has become visible or exposed.
- Lane · entry 3012
عُرْيَانُ النَّجِيِّ
A wife; alternatively, one who does not conceal a secret.
A conventional epithet whose interpretation is reported in these two related ways.
- Lane · entry 3012
عُرْيَانٌ
Light, active, quick, tall, and long-legged, said of a horse.
A figurative horse description, distinct from the literal sense of being unsaddled.
- Lane · entry 3012
عَرَاءٌ
Nakedness or bareness of the bones through loss of flesh; leanness of the bones.
Attested in the expression عَرَاءُ العِظَامِ مِنَ اللَّحْمِ.
- Lane · entry 3013
عَارِي الثَّنْدُؤَتَيْنِ
Having little or no flesh on the two breasts.
A specialized anatomical expression.
- Lane · entry 3014
عَارٍ
Manifest or plainly evident, literally ‘naked’ of concealment.
Figuratively applied to truth or another matter that is exposed and clear.
- Lane · entry 3014
اِعْرَوْرَى
A rugged road.
A reported nominal usage with an uncertain transmitted spelling or morphological analysis.
- Lane · entry 3015
مَعَارٍ
Places that do not produce plants or herbage.
A plural nominal usage for barren or unproductive places.
- Lane · entry 3016
مَعَارٍ
Beds or bedding.
A separate plural usage equated with فُرُشٌ; the form مَعَارِي may occur by poetic license.
- Lane · entry 3016
المُعَرَّى
A camel or other beast left to pasture by itself and carrying no burden.
A substantivized passive participle describing an unburdened, freely pastured animal.
- Lane · entry 3018
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The nominal Quran surface form عَرَاءِ is presented under the normalized dictionary citation form عَرَاءٌ.
The reported spelling and analysis of اِعْرَوْرَى in the rugged-road entry are uncertain, so that usage is retained with an explicit qualification.
No Maqāyīs entry was supplied; the root idea is therefore an orientation drawn from the supplied lexical material, not an independently sourced Maqāyīs formulation.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
Mufradat row 967 also discusses عُرْوَةٌ, the tree called عُرْوَةٌ, and the legal-commercial term العَرَايَا. Those branches are not assigned here because their connection to the canonical QAC root عري is not independently established by the supplied Lane primary evidence.