Quranic root
حسن
ḥ · s · n
The root centers on goodness, beauty, and the pleasing quality that contrasts with ugliness or defect.
Its semantic range develops from perceptible beauty and comeliness to goodness recognized by judgment, beneficial conduct, excellence in action, favorable outcomes, and the best or most excellent state.
- Maqāyīs · row 1362
- Mufradāt · row 325
- 9
- Quran-attested forms
- 20
- Quran senses
- 194
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
حَسُنَ
ḥasuna
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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 be or become good, beautiful, comely, or pleasing.
An intransitive description of a person, thing, or state possessing or acquiring the quality of ḥusn.
- Lane · entry 14475
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
أَحْسَنَ
ʾaḥsana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 21 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 do good, act well, or deal graciously and beneficially with someone.
May be construed with إِلَى or بِ for good treatment toward another; the construction may also describe excellent conduct generally.
- Lane · entry 14478
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:195word 10
“And do good”
Quran 28:77word 12
“And do good”
To make, render, or complete something well; to perfect it.
A causative use in which an object is brought into a good, fitting, or complete condition.
- Lane · entry 14478
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 32:7word 2
“made good”
Quran 40:64word 10
“and perfected”
إِحْسَان
ʾiḥsān
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 12 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.
Good treatment, beneficence, or kindness toward another.
The outward exercise of goodness in which more is given than is strictly owed and less is taken than is due; it is broader than mere benefaction and exceeds strict justice.
- Lane · entry 14478
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Excellence in one's own action, conduct, or performance.
Includes doing an act well, maintaining good obedience, and acting with moral or practical excellence; it may apply to one's own action as well as to treatment of others.
- Lane · entry 14478
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:60word 5
“good”
Sincerity, watchful obedience, and steadfast adherence to the righteous way.
A Quran-attested theological and devotional use in which ihsān denotes inward sincerity together with vigilant, sound obedience and following the established path of the righteous.
- Lane · entry 14478
أَحْسَن
ʾaḥsan
- Part of speech
- Elative adjective / substantive
- Quran occurrences
- 36 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.
Better, best, or most excellent; the superior or most fitting course or quality.
The elative form, used adjectivally or substantivized for comparison and superlative judgment, including the best speech, conduct, judgment, or manner of dealing.
- Lane · entry 14497
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:152word 8
“(is) best”
Quran 12:3word 4
“the best”
Quran 16:125word 11
“(is) best”
Quran 39:18word 5
“the best thereof”
حَسَن
ḥasan
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 21 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.
Good, beneficial, pleasing, or favorable in quality.
May describe an object, event, provision, circumstance, or conduct; in Quranic usage it often concerns goodness recognized by judgment rather than physical appearance alone.
- Lane · entry 14483
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:67word 9
“good”
Quran 57:11word 7
“goodly”
Beautiful or comely in appearance.
An adjectival use for perceptible attractiveness or pleasing form.
- Lane · entry 14483
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:70word 3
“and beautiful ones”
Quran 55:76word 6
“beautiful”
حَسَنَة
ḥasanah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 31 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 good act, good deed, or act of obedience.
As a substantive, especially contrasted with sayyiʾah; the plural حَسَنَات denotes good deeds or acts of obedience.
- Lane · entry 14487
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:114word 9
“the good deeds”
Quran 25:70word 12
“(with) good ones”
A good, benefit, blessing, or favorable condition that befalls a person.
Depending on context, may denote fertility, abundance, success, prosperity, or another favorable circumstance, contrasted with an adverse event.
- Lane · entry 14487
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:78word 12
“any good”
Quran 7:131word 3
“the good”
A good reward or positive recompense.
A favorable result or reward received in return for good; this sense is distinct from the good act that produces it.
- Lane · entry 14487
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:79word 4
“(the) good”
حُسْن
ḥusn
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 13 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.
Goodness, excellence, or a pleasing quality in conduct, speech, circumstances, or things.
An abstract noun for what is approved or desired; it can qualify both substances and events and is often associated in the Quran with morally or intellectually recognized goodness.
- Lane · entry 14482
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:83word 18
“good”
Quran 29:8word 4
“goodness to his parents”
Beauty or pleasing appearance.
A perceptible quality of attractiveness, including the beauty of a person or bodily appearance.
- Lane · entry 14482
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:52word 15
“their beauty”
حُسْنَى
ḥusnā
- Part of speech
- Feminine elative adjective / substantive
- Quran occurrences
- 18 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 best, most excellent, or most beautiful thing or state.
The feminine elative form, frequently substantivized; it includes constructions such as the Most Beautiful Names and the best course or outcome.
- Lane · entry 14497
- Lane · entry 14488
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:180word 3
“the most beautiful”
The good final state, ultimate reward, or blessed outcome appointed for the faithful.
In eschatological contexts it may denote Paradise or the good final condition; an associated increase is interpreted by some as the vision of God.
- Lane · entry 14497
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:26word 3
“(is) the best”
Quran 41:50word 23
“(will be) the best”
One of the two best outcomes: victory or martyrdom.
In the dual expression إِحْدَى الحُسْنَيَيْنِ, the two outcomes are conventionally identified as victory and martyrdom.
- Lane · entry 14497
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:52word 7
“(of) the two best (things)”
The profession that there is no deity but God.
A Quran-attested interpretive use of al-ḥusnā in the oath-like construction of the final verses of Sūrat al-Layl.
- Lane · entry 14497
Selected Quran examples
Quran 92:6word 2
“in the best”
مُحْسِن
muḥsin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who does good, acts excellently, or treats others well; a good-doer or benefactor.
The active participle of أَحْسَنَ; it may describe persistent good conduct, beneficence toward others, or excellence in action.
- Lane · entry 14502
- Mufradāt · row 325
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:112word 7
“(is) a good-doer”
Quran 12:22word 9
“the good-doers”
Quran 12:36word 27
“the good-doers”
Quran 16:128word 8
“(are) good-doers”
One regarded as skilled or knowledgeable in a valued activity, especially interpreting dreams.
A contextual Quranic interpretation of المُحْسِنِينَ in the account of Joseph; other interpretations at the same passage understand the word in its ordinary sense of benefactors or doers of good.
- Lane · entry 14502
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:36word 27
“the good-doers”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:58ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَthe good-doers (in reward)
- 2:83إِحْسَانًۭا(be) good
- 2:83حُسْنًۭاgood
- 2:112مُحْسِنٌۭ(is) a good-doer
- 2:138أَحْسَنُ(is) better
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 22 Classical meanings
حَسَّنَ
To make or render something good, beautiful, comely, or pleasing; to beautify, embellish, or adorn it.
Form II. The lexical entry also explains a Quranic expression as making the creation of each thing good, but no Form II QAC group is supplied here.
- Lane · entry 14476
حَاسَنَ
To vie with someone or contend for superiority in goodness or beauty.
A reciprocal or comparative construction involving competition in ḥusn.
- Lane · entry 14477
تَحَسَّنَ
To beautify or adorn oneself, and to affect what is good, comely, or pleasing in appearance, conduct, or character.
Form V; the usage includes grooming or being shaved as part of improving one's appearance.
- Lane · entry 14479
تَحَاسَنَ
To affect goodness or beauty without genuinely possessing it.
Form VI, with an expressly pretended or merely displayed quality.
- Lane · entry 14480
اِسْتَحْسَنَ
To judge, esteem, approve, or like something as good, beautiful, pleasing, or acceptable.
Form X; the object is evaluated favorably by the speaker or observer.
- Lane · entry 14481
أَحْسَنَ
To know something well or be proficient in it.
A figurative Form IV use, including being proficient in a language or another field of knowledge.
- Lane · entry 14478
أَحْسَنَ
To sit upon a high hill or heap of sand called حَسَن.
A rare lexical use recorded for the Form IV headword.
- Lane · entry 14478
حُسْن
A flowering plant, identified as a convolvulus, known for its beautiful flower.
Occurs in the plant name سِتُّ الحُسْنِ.
- Lane · entry 14482
حَسَن
A hadith of good authority.
A technical hadith classification, generally applied to a report transmitted initially by two or more relaters.
- Lane · entry 14483
حَسَن
Good, comely, good-humoured, pleasing, or pleasant discourse.
An adjectival use specifically applied to speech or conversation.
- Lane · entry 14483
الحَسَن
A portion of the arm bone near the elbow or shoulder joint.
An anatomical term whose exact segment is described differently by authorities; it denotes the fleshy upper or elbow-adjacent portion distinguished from the قبيح portion.
- Lane · entry 14483
حَسَن
A tree of beautiful appearance, also called الألاء, growing in rows on a sandy hill.
A botanical noun named for the tree's beauty.
- Lane · entry 14483
حَسَن
A high sand hill or heap of sand.
A geographic or topographic noun; it is also used as a personal name.
- Lane · entry 14483
حِسْنَة
A ledge or projecting shelf of rock on a mountain.
A distinct nominal form with the plural حِسَن.
- Lane · entry 14486
حُسَيْن
A high mountain.
A lexical use distinct from the diminutive use of حُسَيْن as a personal name.
- Lane · entry 14492
حُسَيْنَاء
A kind of tree with small leaves.
A botanical noun distinct from the related diminutive and intensifying forms.
- Lane · entry 14494
حُسَيْنَى
One's utmost or best effort, ability, deed, or condition.
Used in the construction حُسَيْنَاهُ أَنْ يَفْعَلَ كَذَا, expressing the best or utmost that someone can do.
- Lane · entry 14493
حَاسِن
The moon.
A lexicalized noun derived from the notion of beauty.
- Lane · entry 14496
تَحْسِين
Deliberate, orderly, regular, close, and compact writing; calligraphic improvement.
A technical substantive, contrasted with مَشْق, writing with elongated or widely spaced letters.
- Lane · entry 14499
مَحْسَنَة
A cause of good; something beneficial to the body or circumstances.
A noun for an object or circumstance that produces benefit rather than the benefit itself.
- Lane · entry 14503
مَحَاسِن
The beautiful places or parts of the body, especially bodily features or facial beauties.
A plural noun commonly used without a singular in ordinary lexical usage; contrasted with bodily defects.
- Lane · entry 14506
مَحَاسِن
Good qualities, virtues, or good actions of any kind.
A broader figurative extension of the plural, contrasted with مَسَاوِئ or other defects.
- Lane · entry 14506
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic nominal group أَحْسَن is kept distinct from the Form IV verb أَحْسَنَ even though the uninflected spellings can coincide.
The Lane citation for the Form II make-good usage is retained as a Classical meaning because no Form II QAC group is supplied; its historical Quran notation is not converted into a modern verse location.
The interpretations of حُسْنَى in eschatological and theological contexts, and of مُحْسِنِينَ in 12:36, include explicitly reported interpretive alternatives rather than uniformly separate everyday senses.