Quranic root
حصن
ḥ · ṣ · n
The root centers on protection, guarding, and secure enclosure.
The basic idea of making something inaccessible develops into fortresses and fortified objects, self-protection, and the figurative protection expressed by chastity, marriage, or protected status.
- Maqāyīs · row 1380
- Mufradāt · row 332
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 12
- Quran senses
- 18
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَحْصَنَ
ʾaḥṣana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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.
To protect, defend, or secure against access or harm.
The Quranic protective use includes protection supplied by a protective object or means.
- Lane · entry 14767
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:80word 5
“to protect you”
To preserve or store securely in a fortified place.
Used of provisions or other things kept safe in places functioning as fortresses.
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:48word 15
“you (will) store”
To preserve from illicit or indecorous sexual conduct; to maintain chastity.
Applied to preserving the pudendum and, more broadly, to protection from suspicion or sexual impropriety.
- Lane · entry 14767
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:91word 2
“guarded”
Quran 66:12word 5
“guarded”
To cause to be married; in the passive, to become married.
The Quranic occurrence is passive; the same Form IV construction is also explicitly used for marrying or giving a woman in marriage.
- Lane · entry 14767
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:25word 36
“they are married”
In a reported variant Quranic reading, to become Muslim.
This is a variant interpretation reported in the lexical evidence; no modern verse location is assigned to the historical citation.
- Lane · entry 14767
حِصْن
ḥiṣn
- 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.
A fortress, fort, or fortified place.
The Quranic plural denotes fortified places used for protection.
- Lane · entry 14769
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 59:2word 20
“their fortresses”
مُحْصَنَة
muḥṣanah
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
Married; protected by a marriage bond.
This sense is used of women whose existing marriage protects them from other marital access.
- Lane · entry 14771
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:24word 1
“And (prohibited are) the ones who are married”
Free, not enslaved.
A Quranic social-status use, especially in contrast with enslaved women.
- Lane · entry 14771
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:25word 8
“the free chaste”
Chaste or continent, abstaining from unlawful sexual conduct.
The Quranic contexts may present chastity as the relevant protected status; the form can also overlap contextually with protection through marriage.
- Lane · entry 14771
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:5word 14
“And the chaste women”
Quran 24:4word 3
“the chaste women”
مُحَصَّنَة
muḥaṣṣanah
- Part of speech
- Passive participle · Form II
- 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.
Fortified or made inaccessible.
Describes a place constructed or strengthened like a fortress.
- Lane · entry 14766
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 59:14word 7
“fortified”
مُحْصِن
muḥṣin
- Part of speech
- Active participle · Form IV
- 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.
Maintaining or seeking chastity; abstaining from illicit sexual conduct.
The Quranic construction contrasts this protected sexual conduct with promiscuous sexual activity.
- Lane · entry 14767
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:24word 19
“desiring to be chaste”
Quran 5:5word 27
“being chaste”
تَحَصُّن
taḥaṣṣun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun · Form V
- 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-protective restraint; in the Quranic use, maintaining chastity.
The verbal noun denotes taking protection for oneself and, in this occurrence, abstaining from illicit sexual conduct.
- Lane · entry 14768
- Mufradāt · row 332
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:33word 35
“chastity”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:24۞ وَٱلْمُحْصَنَـٰتُAnd (prohibited are) the ones who are married
- 4:24مُّحْصِنِينَdesiring to be chaste
- 4:25ٱلْمُحْصَنَـٰتِthe free chaste
- 4:25مُحْصَنَـٰتٍ(They should be) chaste
- 4:25أُحْصِنَّthey are married
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 25 Classical meanings
حَصُنَ
To be or become inaccessible, difficult of access, or fortified.
Form I intransitive; said of a fortress or place.
- Lane · entry 14765
حَصُنَ
Of a woman, to be continent or chaste, abstaining from what is unlawful or indecorous.
A Classical Form I use referring to a woman's protected sexual conduct.
- Lane · entry 14765
حَصُنَ
Of a woman, to be married or to have a husband.
A Classical Form I use distinct from the intransitive meaning of being chaste.
- Lane · entry 14765
حَصُنَ
Of a woman, to become pregnant.
A rare Classical use explained figuratively as pregnancy protecting her from intercourse.
- Lane · entry 14765
حَصَنَ
To preserve or guard a person or thing in an inaccessible place, as in a fortress.
A transitive Form I construction.
- Lane · entry 14765
حِصْن
Figuratively, horses regarded as protective strongholds.
A tropical or figurative plural use of the fortress image.
- Lane · entry 14769
حِصْن
Arms or weapons.
Figurative Classical usage.
- Lane · entry 14769
حِصْن
The new moon or the moon when called هِلَال.
A separate lexical use recorded in Classical Arabic.
- Lane · entry 14769
حَصَان
A woman regarded as protected through chastity, marriage, emancipation, or becoming Muslim; also one made continent by her husband.
These are broader Classical applications of the feminine epithet and are not all assigned to the Quranic occurrences.
- Lane · entry 14771
حَصَان
A pearl, especially a large pearl.
Explained figuratively as protected within the shell.
- Lane · entry 14771
حِصَان
A generous, high-bred, male, or stallion horse; a horse fit to cover.
The word is explained through the horse's protective relation to its rider and the guarded use of its seed.
- Lane · entry 14772
حَصِين
Inaccessible, unapproachable, or strongly protected; a building that offers refuge.
An adjectival derivative applied to places or fortresses.
- Lane · entry 14773
حَصِينَة
A firmly and compactly made coat of mail that resists weapons.
The protective quality is compared with a fortress for the body.
- Lane · entry 14773
أَبُو الحُصَيْن
The fox.
An idiomatic name explained by the fox's skill in protecting itself from harm.
- Lane · entry 14774
حَاصِنَة
A man's wife.
A lexical use of the feminine derivative.
- Lane · entry 14775
أَحْصَن
More or most strongly fortified or protected against attack.
A comparative or superlative adjectival use.
- Lane · entry 14776
مُحْصَن
Wheat that has been stored up.
A specialized passive-participial use.
- Lane · entry 14777
مُحْصَن
A man made continent by marriage, or a married man who has a wife.
Classical masculine usage; it is kept distinct from the Quranic feminine form مُحْصَنَة.
- Lane · entry 14777
إِحْصَان
In juridical usage, the protected sexual status relevant to certain legal rulings.
For stoning, the conditions listed include Islam, freedom, sound intellect, maturity, valid marriage, and consummation; in accusation-of-adultery cases, chastity is included among the conditions.
- Lane · entry 14767
أَحْصَنَ
Of a man, to marry or take a wife; in legal usage, to have intercourse within a valid marriage.
A Classical and juridical Form IV use distinct from the Quranic passive construction meaning to become married.
- Lane · entry 14767
تَحَصَّنَ
To fortify oneself, enter a fortress, protect oneself by it, or take it as a dwelling.
Form V reflexive use, extended to guarding oneself by any means.
- Lane · entry 14768
تَحَصَّنَ
Of a horse, to become or affect to be a stallion or fit to cover.
A specialized Classical use applied to a horse.
- Lane · entry 14768
مِحْصَن
A lock.
A specialized noun for a securing device.
- Lane · entry 14779
مِحْصَن
The iron piece extending upward on a horse's nose and forming part of its bridle.
A technical equestrian term.
- Lane · entry 14779
مِحْصَن
A basket of the type called زَبِيل.
A specialized nominal use; the source notes that the feminine form is not used for this meaning.
- Lane · entry 14779
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic senses of مُحْصَنَة and مُحَصَّنَة are kept separate: the former is the Form IV passive participle associated with protected status, while the latter is the Form II passive participle meaning fortified.
A reported variant Quranic reading associated with أَحْصَنَ is preserved without converting Lane's historical citation notation into a modern verse location.