Quranic root
طول
ṭ · w · l
An underlying sense of excess and extension: something exceeds a limit or extends in physical size, duration, capacity, rank, or benefit.
The root develops from physical extension and height to prolonged time, superiority, abundance of means, bounty, and related derived constructions of extending, competing, or displaying superiority.
- Maqāyīs · row 3087
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 10
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
طَالَ
ṭāla
- 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 become extended or prolonged.
In the Quran, used of a period, age, or time that becomes long or protracted.
- Lane · entry 11994
- Mufradāt · row 921
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:86word 14
“Then, did seem long”
Quran 21:44word 6
“grew long”
Quran 57:16word 21
“(and) was prolonged”
تَطَاوَلَ
taṭāwala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VI
- Form
- VI
- 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 become prolonged or extended.
The Quranic occurrence describes life or the passing of time becoming prolonged for a people.
- Lane · entry 11999
- Mufradāt · row 921
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:45word 4
“and prolonged”
طَوِيلٌ
ṭawīlun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Long-lasting or prolonged.
In the Quran, applied to a span of activity, night, or time whose duration is extended.
- Lane · entry 12019
- Mufradāt · row 921
Selected Quran examples
Quran 73:7word 6
“prolonged”
Quran 76:26word 7
“long”
طَوْلٌ
ṭawlun
- 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.
Means, resources, or financial ability sufficient for an undertaking.
In the Quranic marriage context, it denotes the means to obtain and support a free woman, especially the ability to meet the relevant financial obligations.
- Lane · entry 12001
- Mufradāt · row 921
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:25word 5
“afford”
Bounty, beneficence, abundance, or power.
Used of possession of ample resources, excellence, beneficence, or sustaining power; ذُو الطَّوْل denotes one possessing such abundance or bounty.
- Lane · entry 12001
- Mufradāt · row 921
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:86word 12
“(of) wealth”
Quran 40:3word 8
“Owner (of) the abundance”
طُولٌ
ṭūlun
- 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.
Height or vertical extent.
In the Quranic expression, it denotes height as the dimension in which the mountains cannot be reached or equaled.
- Lane · entry 12002
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:37word 13
“(in) height”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:25طَوْلًاafford
- 9:86ٱلطَّوْلِ(of) wealth
- 17:37طُولًۭا(in) height
- 20:86أَفَطَالَThen, did seem long
- 21:44طَالَgrew long
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 41 Classical meanings
طَالَ
To become elongated, tall, or high; of anxiety, to persist or remain attached.
Intransitive Form I usage; the physical and figurative extensions are broader than the Quranic temporal occurrences listed under طَالَ.
- Lane · entry 11994
طَالَ
To exceed or surpass another in height, stature, beneficence, excellence, or rank.
Transitive usage, including comparison in physical height or in superiority and distinction.
- Lane · entry 11994
طَالَ
To bestow a benefit, favor, or gift upon someone.
Used with the beneficiary introduced by عَلَى or in a comparable benefactive construction.
- Lane · entry 11994
طَوَّلَ
To lengthen, extend, or make something long, tall, or high; also to prolong a period or make speech prolix.
Causative Form II usage, including extension of objects, continuance in life, assemblies, and discourse.
- Lane · entry 11995
طَوَّلَ
To lengthen or slacken an animal's tether so that it can range more widely while grazing.
A conventional construction used of a horse or other grazing beast and its tether or rope.
- Lane · entry 11995
طَوَّلَ
To grant a delay or respite, or to defer an affair, debt, or promise.
Used of prolonging the handling or fulfillment of an affair.
- Lane · entry 11995
طَاوَلَ
To contend or vie with another for superiority in height, beneficence, excellence, or rank.
Form III reciprocal usage, with the point of comparison supplied by context.
- Lane · entry 11996
أَطَالَ
To produce tall offspring.
A specialized usage said of a woman who gives birth to a tall child or tall children.
- Lane · entry 11997
أَطَالَ
To tie a horse with a rope or tether.
A specialized equestrian construction.
- Lane · entry 11997
تَطَاوَلَ
To rise or become high by degrees.
Used of a building or other structure gradually increasing in height.
- Lane · entry 11999
تَطَاوَلَ
To stretch oneself upward or extend one's legs in order to see something.
A bodily, intentional extension used to gain a higher view or reach branches.
- Lane · entry 11999
تَطَاوَلَ
To display or boast of superiority, excellence, height, or possessions; to act arrogantly toward another.
The object of the display may be physical stature, excellence, rank, or something possessed; the construction can include contempt or reviling of others.
- Lane · entry 11999
تَطَاوَلَ
To overbear, overpower, subdue, oppress, or domineer over another.
A resultative or hostile use of the construction عَلَيْهِ; it also describes a stallion driving off rival stallions from his mares.
- Lane · entry 11999
تَطَاوَلَ
To kill more of an opposing group than they have killed of one's own group.
A specialized reciprocal or retaliatory usage with عَلَيْهِمْ.
- Lane · entry 11999
تَطَاوَلَ
To vie, compete, or contend with one another for superiority.
Reciprocal usage in physical height, beneficence, excellence, or another understood dimension of superiority.
- Lane · entry 11999
اِسْتَطَالَ
To extend and rise, as a crack in a wall; of the false dawn, to extend upward without spreading laterally.
Intransitive Form X usage; the dawn description distinguishes the elongated false dawn from the laterally spreading dawn.
- Lane · entry 12000
اِسْتَطَالَ
To reckon or regard something as long.
A reported transitive usage characterized as analogical rather than the basic intransitive lexical construction.
- Lane · entry 12000
- Lane · entry 12031
طُولٌ
Length, tallness, height, or extension in a physical or abstract dimension.
Applies to people, animals, inanimate things, and ideal attributes such as time; it contrasts with width or shortness.
- Lane · entry 12002
طُولٌ
The utmost extent or duration of time.
Used in expressions meaning throughout the longest or whole extent of a period.
- Lane · entry 12002
طُولٌ
Longitude of a place.
Technical geographical usage.
- Lane · entry 12002
طَوَلٌ
Length in a camel's upper lip extending beyond the lower lip.
A specialized anatomical description of a camel.
- Lane · entry 12003
طِوَلٌ
A long tether or rope used to restrain a horse or similar beast while it grazes.
The rope may be attached to the animal's leg or to a stake, allowing controlled movement within the grazing area.
- Lane · entry 12005
طِوَلٌ
To leave someone to his own affair.
Figurative use of relaxing or slackening a tether.
- Lane · entry 12005
طِوَلٌ
Length of life, absence, tarrying, or delay and flagging in an affair.
An idiomatic use referring to the duration of a person's journey, absence, or continued hesitation.
- Lane · entry 12005
طِيلٌ
A tedious period or length of time.
Reported especially in the phrases طِيلٌ يَوْمٌ and طِيلٌ لَيْلَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 12006
طَالَةٌ
A she-ass, especially a wild she-ass.
A rare lexical item attested in poetic usage.
- Lane · entry 12008
طِيلَةٌ
Life or the period of life.
Used in expressions wishing that someone's life be prolonged.
- Lane · entry 12009
طُولَى
A high or elevated state or condition.
Substantivized feminine form of the comparative adjective أَطْوَلُ.
- Lane · entry 12012
طَوِيلٌ
Long, elongated, tall, or high in physical extent.
The adjective may describe people, animals, objects, or other extended forms; a horse may be described particularly as long-bodied.
- Lane · entry 12019
الطَّوِيلُ
The name of a classical Arabic poetic metre.
A postclassical technical designation, so called because the metre is regarded as the longest.
- Lane · entry 12019
طُوَّلٌ
A long-legged aquatic bird.
A specialized zoological noun.
- Lane · entry 12021
طَيِّلَةُ الرِّيحِ
A wind's counterwind.
A fixed lexical expression.
- Lane · entry 12022
طُوَّالٌ
Very or exceptionally tall.
Applied especially to a person and stronger in degree than the ordinary adjective طَوِيلٌ.
- Lane · entry 12023
طَائِلٌ
Benefiting, conferring benefit, or providing utility, profit, or excellence.
In the sense of utility or benefit it is commonly used in negative expressions, meaning useless, ineffective, or not good for anything.
- Lane · entry 12024
طَائِلَةٌ
Enmity or a claim to blood-revenge.
Used of seeking blood-revenge from a group or its members.
- Lane · entry 12025
أَطْوَلُ
Exceeding or surpassing in length, height, beneficence, excellence, or giving.
Comparative adjective; it may describe physical extent or the greater scope of generosity and provision.
- Lane · entry 12026
أَطْوَلُ
Having an upper lip longer than the lower, said of a camel.
A specialized physical description.
- Lane · entry 12026
مِطْوَلٌ
The penis.
A specialized anatomical noun.
- Lane · entry 12028
مِطْوَلٌ
A halter or bridle rope for a horse.
A specialized equestrian noun; its plural denotes horse halters.
- Lane · entry 12028
مُتَطَاوِلٌ
Far-extending space or a distant limit.
Used in the expression مَدًى مُتَطَاوِلٌ.
- Lane · entry 12030
مُسْتَطِيلٌ
Elongated; in الفجر المستطيل, the first or false dawn extending upward without lateral spread.
A specialized description of the dawn, contrasted with the laterally spreading dawn.
- Lane · entry 12032
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic forms طَوْل and طُول are distinct vocalized nouns: the former denotes means, bounty, or abundance, while the latter denotes physical height in its Quranic occurrence.
The Quranic temporal senses of طَالَ, تَطَاوَلَ, and طَوِيلٌ should not be generalized to all of their broader Classical Arabic physical, comparative, or idiomatic uses.
The reported transitive use of اِسْتَطَالَ meaning “reckon or regard as long” is explicitly characterized in the evidence as analogical.