Quranic root
حسب
ḥ · s · b
The root centers on counting, reckoning, and assessing; related developments include supposing or deeming, determining what is sufficient, and reckoning something as belonging to one's account.
From counting and assessment arise the senses of calculation, accountability, expectation, and reckoning a matter as included or stored. A separate lexical branch concerns sufficiency, while other Classical branches concern support, honor, and distinctive color or disease terms.
- Maqāyīs · row 1355
- 8
- Quran-attested forms
- 14
- Quran senses
- 109
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
حَسِبَ
ḥasiba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 44 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 think, suppose, or deem something to be so.
Often takes an object together with a predicate or complement, or introduces a proposition; the judgment may be mistaken or uncertain.
- Lane · entry 14408
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:214word 2
“(do) you think”
Quran 24:11word 8
“think it”
حَاسَبَ
ḥāsaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 reckon with someone; to call someone to account.
Used for holding a person or community accountable for deeds, conduct, or an account.
- Lane · entry 14410
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:284word 15
“will call you to account”
Quran 84:8word 2
“his account will be taken”
اِحْتَسَبَ
āiḥtasaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- 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 reckon upon, expect, or anticipate something.
Used for an outcome or circumstance that one expects or takes as part of one's calculation.
- Lane · entry 14413
Selected Quran examples
Quran 59:2word 28
“they expected”
To count something among one's reckonings; to take it into account or regard it as significant.
A construction of inclusion in a calculation or assessment, rather than merely expecting an event.
- Lane · entry 14413
Selected Quran examples
Quran 39:47word 25
“taken into account”
حَاسِبٌ
ḥāsibun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who reckons or takes accounts; a reckoner or accountant.
The Quranic plural refers to those who reckon or account.
- Lane · entry 14424
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:47word 20
“(as) Reckoners”
Quran 6:62word 12
“(of) the Reckoners”
حَسِيبٌ
ḥasībun
- Part of speech
- Adjective / noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
A reckoner, accountant, or one who takes account.
In Quranic usage, the term can describe one who observes, assesses, and accounts for deeds or obligations.
- Lane · entry 14422
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:6word 37
“(as) a Reckoner”
Quran 33:39word 13
“(as) a Reckoner”
Quran 17:14word 7
“(as) accountant”
One who suffices or provides what is sufficient.
This sense appears in the predication that God is حَسِيبٌ, where sufficiency and reckoning may be understood together.
- Lane · entry 14422
- Mufradāt · row 321
حَسْبٌ
ḥasbun
- Part of speech
- 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.
Sufficiency; that which is enough or sufficient.
Frequently used in constructions with a pronoun or complement, such as “so-and-so is sufficient for him.”
- Lane · entry 14415
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:173word 14
“Sufficient for us”
Quran 65:3word 11
“(is) sufficient for him”
حِسَابٌ
ḥisābun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 39 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.
Counting, calculation, or measured reckoning; a numerical measure or account.
Includes calculation of quantities, times, provisions, and other things that can be counted or measured.
- Lane · entry 14408
- Lane · entry 14421
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:5word 13
“and the count (of time)”
Reckoning or accounting, especially the assessment of deeds and obligations.
In eschatological and ethical contexts, it denotes the taking, examination, or rendering of an account.
- Lane · entry 14408
- Lane · entry 14421
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:1word 3
“their account”
A reckoned due, recompense, or apportioned gift.
In Quranic expressions concerning provision or reward, it can indicate an allotment according to measure, works, or what is sufficient.
- Lane · entry 14408
- Lane · entry 14421
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 78:36word 5
“(according to) account”
حُسْبَانٌ
ḥusbānun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Calculation, reckoning, or a measured and orderly course.
Used for calculation or precise reckoning, including the ordered measurement of celestial movements.
- Lane · entry 14408
- Lane · entry 14421
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:96word 8
“(for) reckoning”
Quran 55:5word 3
“by (precise) calculation”
A revolving course or firmament.
A Quranic interpretation of the expression concerning the sun and moon takes the noun as referring to the revolving celestial course or firmament.
- Lane · entry 14408
- Lane · entry 14419
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:5word 3
“by (precise) calculation”
A destructive visitation, calamity, or punitive affliction.
In the Quranic expression concerning a visitation from the sky, the term has been explained variously as punishment, hail, fire, thunderbolt, locusts, dust or smoke, and other destructive affliction.
- Lane · entry 14419
- Lane · entry 14420
- Maqāyīs · row 1355
- Mufradāt · row 321
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:40word 10
“a calamity”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:202ٱلْحِسَابِ(in taking) account
- 2:206فَحَسْبُهُۥThen enough for him
- 2:212حِسَابٍۢmeasure
- 2:214حَسِبْتُمْ(do) you think
- 2:273يَحْسَبُهُمُThink (about) them
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 38 Classical meanings
حَسَبَ
To number, count, reckon, calculate, or compute something.
A transitive Form I use for counting or determining an amount.
- Lane · entry 14408
حَسُبَ
To be characterized or distinguished by hasab, grounds of honor or distinction.
A stative Form I use connected with honor or estimable qualities.
- Lane · entry 14408
حَسَّبَ
To place or support someone on a small pillow.
A Form II use involving seating or supporting a person on a pillow.
- Lane · entry 14409
حَسَّبَ
To honor someone.
A distinct Form II use derived from the act of giving someone a place of support or distinction.
- Lane · entry 14409
حَسَّبَ
To bury someone, including burying the dead among stones or wrapped in grave-clothes.
A rare Form II burial usage.
- Lane · entry 14409
أَحْسَبَ
To give someone enough, satisfy him, or provide food and drink until he is satisfied.
A causative Form IV use describing provision sufficient to satisfy.
- Lane · entry 14411
أَحْسَبَ
To suffice for someone or supply the place of another by being adequate.
Used of a thing or person that is sufficient for another.
- Lane · entry 14411
تَحَسَّبَ
To seek, inquire after, or repeatedly investigate news.
A Form V use, including searching after information as a spy; a reported variant also concerns determining the time of prayer.
- Lane · entry 14412
تَحَسَّبَ
To recline upon a pillow.
A separate Form V usage.
- Lane · entry 14412
اِحْتَسَبَ
To reckon upon, seek, or lay up a reward with God by an action.
A conventional religious use for performing an act for the sake of reward, including patiently enduring a loss while hoping for reward.
- Lane · entry 14413
اِحْتَسَبَ
To become content or sufficiently provided for.
A reported Form VIII use of becoming satisfied or having no further need.
- Lane · entry 14413
اِحْتَسَبَ
To desist or abstain.
An extended use explained as stopping because one is content or sufficiently provided for.
- Lane · entry 14413
اِحْتَسَبَ
To disapprove or disallow an action; in a related imprecatory construction, to invoke punishment or vengeance.
Used with a person or deed, especially a foul deed; the imprecation is a conventional extension.
- Lane · entry 14413
اِحْتَسَبَ
To endeavor to learn what someone has in mind or possesses.
A figurative Form VIII use of investigating or probing for information.
- Lane · entry 14413
اِحْسَبَّ
To become mottled with intermingled whiteness, redness, and blackness.
A Form IX description of distinctive coloration, especially in a camel.
- Lane · entry 14414
حَسْبٌ
Burial of the dead, including burial among stones or wrapped in grave-clothes.
A rare nominal usage distinct from حَسْبٌ meaning sufficiency.
- Lane · entry 14415
حَسَبٌ
A counted number, amount, quantity, or value.
Used for what has been numbered or reckoned and, by extension, its amount or equivalent value.
- Lane · entry 14416
حَسَبٌ
Grounds of honor, nobility, standing, or estimability, including ancestry, praised qualities, good conduct, piety, wealth, or other causes of distinction; also one's relations.
The term may concern inherited or personal grounds of honor and is also used elliptically of a person possessing hasab.
- Lane · entry 14416
حُسْبَةٌ
A mottled coloration involving whiteness, redness, and blackness; also disease-produced whitening and redness of the hair or skin, and leprosy.
Used of a camel or person according to the described coloration or disease.
- Lane · entry 14417
حِسْبَةٌ
The act, mode, or manner of numbering or counting.
A nominal expression for the manner in which a calculation is performed.
- Lane · entry 14418
حِسْبَةٌ
Reckoning upon, seeking, or laying up a reward or recompense.
A noun formed from the religious use of اِحْتَسَبَ; it can also denote a reward or recompense.
- Lane · entry 14418
حِسْبَةٌ
Good management, ordering, regulation, examination, judgment, or practical handling of an affair.
This sense is explicitly distinguished from reckoning upon a reward.
- Lane · entry 14418
حِسْبَةٌ
The office or function of the market inspector.
A later institutional sense associated with supervising markets, weights, and measures.
- Lane · entry 14418
حُسْبَانٌ
Small or short arrows, especially arrows discharged from a Persian bow or from a reed or cane.
A weapon noun with a corresponding feminine singulative حُسْبَانَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 14419
حُسْبَانٌ
The circumference or revolving rim of a millstone.
A reported concrete nominal sense that also underlies one explanation of the celestial usage.
- Lane · entry 14419
حُسْبَانَةٌ
A thunderbolt.
A singulative noun; the plural is used for thunderbolts.
- Lane · entry 14420
حُسْبَانَةٌ
A hailstone.
A concrete weather term distinct from the broader noun حُسْبَانٌ.
- Lane · entry 14420
حُسْبَانَةٌ
A cloud.
A reported concrete nominal sense.
- Lane · entry 14420
حُسْبَانَةٌ
A small ant.
A separate concrete nominal sense.
- Lane · entry 14420
حُسْبَانَةٌ
A small pillow, especially a pillow of skin or leather.
The noun also supplies the basis for the Form II use of supporting someone on a pillow.
- Lane · entry 14420
حِسَابٌ
The enumeration or recounting of causes of glory, memorable deeds, or generous qualities.
A Classical use of reckoning in the sense of recounting achievements, distinct from numerical or judicial accounting.
- Lane · entry 14421
حِسَابٌ
A great number of men.
A dialectal or figurative use.
- Lane · entry 14421
حَسِيبٌ
In an imprecatory expression, one by whom punishment or vengeance is invoked.
A conventional extension of the reckoner or judge sense and not the ordinary Quranic predication.
- Lane · entry 14422
حَسِيبٌ
Generous, liberal, honorable, noble, or bountiful; also one having a numerous household.
An adjective derived from حَسَبٌ meaning honor or distinction.
- Lane · entry 14422
أَحْسَبُ
A person or camel marked by mottled white, red, and black coloration, including disease-produced discoloration; also a leper.
An adjectival description of appearance or disease.
- Lane · entry 14425
أَحْسَبُ
A mean or avaricious man.
A figurative or assumed-tropical adjectival use.
- Lane · entry 14425
مُحْسِبَةٌ
Camels having much flesh and fat; by another analysis, noble camels or camels whose milk satisfies their owners and guests.
A specialized description of camels with alternative lexical derivations reported for the term.
- Lane · entry 14426
مُحْتَسِبٌ
An inspector of markets, weights, measures, and related public standards.
An institutional agent noun derived from اِحْتَسَبَ.
- Lane · entry 14430
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Some Lane Quran citations use historical citation conventions and are not reproduced here as modern verse locations; modern examples follow independently supplied QAC locations.
حُسْبَانٌ in the Quranic sky-visitation expression has several reported interpretations, which are grouped under the broader destructive-visitation sense rather than treated as unrelated ordinary meanings.