Quranic root
حنك
ḥ · n · k
The root centers on the palate and mouth, extending by analogy to acts that reach, consume, control, or bring something to its furthest extent.
From the physical palate and mouth come the senses of eating, bridling, and the beak; figurative developments include consuming something completely, gaining mastery over it, reaching maturity through experience, and understanding something thoroughly.
- Maqāyīs · row 1464
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
اِحْتَنَكَ
āiḥtanaka
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- 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 consume, extirpate, or destroy completely.
In the Quranic threat, the verb is understood figuratively from consuming or exhausting something until nothing remains; it is one interpretation of the threat against the progeny of Adam.
- Lane · entry 15914
- Mufradāt · row 365
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:62word 12
“I will surely destroy”
To gain mastery over, subjugate, or lead as with a bridle.
In the Quranic construction, the verb may describe bringing the progeny under control, leading them to obedience, or figuratively bridling them. This is an alternative interpretation of the same threat.
- Lane · entry 15910
- Lane · entry 15914
- Mufradāt · row 365
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:62word 12
“I will surely destroy”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 17:62لَأَحْتَنِكَنَّI will surely destroy
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 20 Classical meanings
حَنَكَ
To rub a child's palate with chewed dates or a similar substance.
The resulting child may be called مَحْنُوكٌ or مُحَنَّكٌ.
- Lane · entry 15910
- Lane · entry 15928
حَنَّكَ
To rub or strike the palate with an object so as to make it bleed.
The described use includes inserting a piece of wood into a beast's upper palate.
- Lane · entry 15911
حُنْكَةٌ
Mature firmness and soundness of judgment produced by age, experience, or the management of affairs.
In related verbal and participial uses, experience or affairs make a person seasoned, experienced, disciplined, or tractable.
- Lane · entry 15910
- Lane · entry 15914
- Lane · entry 15920
- Lane · entry 15922
حَنَكَ
To understand a thing thoroughly and master it.
- Lane · entry 15910
أَحْنَكَ
To turn someone back or away from an affair.
- Lane · entry 15912
تَحَنَّكَ
To turn or tuck a cloth beneath the chin.
The use includes arranging a portion of a turban beneath the chin and turning a corpse's grave cloth beneath the lower jaw.
- Lane · entry 15911
- Lane · entry 15913
اِسْتَحْنَكَ
To eat vehemently or voraciously.
The description particularly concerns eating strongly after having eaten little or feebly.
- Lane · entry 15915
اِسْتَحْنَكَ
To be pulled up by the roots.
Used of trees or woody vegetation.
- Lane · entry 15915
حَنَكٌ
The palate or the region beneath the chin and lower jaw; by extension, the mouth or a bird's beak.
The term can refer to the upper palate, lower mouth region, both jaws, or, in a bird, the beak.
- Lane · entry 15918
- Mufradāt · row 365
حَانِكٌ
Intensely black.
Used in expressions such as أَسْوَدُ حَانِكٌ; حَنَكُ الغُرَابِ may refer to the crow's beak or, figuratively, its intense blackness.
- Lane · entry 15918
- Lane · entry 15923
أَحْنَاكٌ
A party of people seeking herbage in a district in order to pasture their animals.
This is a tropical plural use.
- Lane · entry 15918
حُنُكٌ
Intelligent.
The evidence applies this designation to both women and men.
- Lane · entry 15919
حُنُكٌ
Eaters.
Used as a designation for men in the cited plural use.
- Lane · entry 15919
حُنْكَةٌ
A thong or piece of wood joining parts of a saddle frame.
The object joins the wooden components of a riding saddle.
- Lane · entry 15920
حِنَاكٌ
A bond or restraint for the neck, used to bind a captive.
By extension, the expression أَخَذَ بِحِنَاكِ صَاحِبِهِ describes seizing someone by the chin and chest and dragging him.
- Lane · entry 15921
حَنِيكٌ
An old man.
- Lane · entry 15922
حَنِيكٌ
Niggardly, tenacious, or avaricious.
- Lane · entry 15922
حَنِيكَةٌ
A good eater.
Applied to a beast, including a she-camel or sheep or goat.
- Lane · entry 15922
أَحْنَكُ
The most voracious, or more voracious, of a group.
The cited comparisons apply to camels and to sheep or goats; the form is treated as an anomalous superlative for this natural attribute.
- Lane · entry 15924
المِحْنَكُ
A string used to tie up a corpse's lower jaw.
- Lane · entry 15926
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic occurrence in 17:62 has two directly attested lexical interpretations: complete extirpation/ destruction and gaining mastery or leading as with a bridle. The supplied contextual English rendering reflects the first interpretation.
The public headword اِحْتَنَكَ is the normalized perfect-tense dictionary citation form; the supplied Quran occurrence is an imperfect Form VIII form.