Quranic root
بصر
b · ṣ · r
The root centers on clarity that enables perception: seeing with the eyes, understanding with the mind, and the evidence or insight that makes a matter clear.
One semantic branch develops from perceptive clarity into sight, knowledge, insight, proof, and manifestness. A second branch concerns thickness or joined edges, yielding terms for sewn hides, cloth seams, stones, and related material forms.
- Maqāyīs · row 771
- Mufradāt · row 127
- 10
- Quran-attested forms
- 18
- Quran senses
- 148
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
بَصُرَ
baṣura
- 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 see or become seeing; to perceive with the eyes.
Form I can describe the acquisition or exercise of sight. In Quranic use, the physical act of watching can carry an accompanying sense of awareness.
- Lane · entry 36475
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:11word 4
“So she watched”
To perceive mentally; to know or understand.
Commonly construed with بِـ; the Quranic expression بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا بِهِ contrasts the speaker’s understanding with what others did not perceive.
- Lane · entry 36475
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:96word 2
“I perceived”
بَصَّرَ
baṣṣara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- 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.
To cause someone to perceive or recognize; to make aware.
In the Quranic passive construction يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ, persons are made to perceive or recognize one another, including by recognizing their identifying features or consequences.
- Lane · entry 36476
- Mufradāt · row 127
Selected Quran examples
Quran 70:11word 1
“They will be made to see each other”
أَبْصَرَ
ʾabṣara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 29 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 see; to look at or behold.
The ordinary Form IV verb of visual perception; it may take the person or thing seen as its object, or occur with a directional construction meaning to look toward someone.
- Lane · entry 36478
- Mufradāt · row 127
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:43word 11
“see”
To perceive or understand mentally.
The form may extend from visual perception to apprehension and understanding, especially when the object is a matter rather than a visible thing.
- Lane · entry 36478
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:42word 11
“sees”
How clearly one sees; to see clearly, in an emphatic exclamatory construction.
The Quranic أَبْصِرْ بِهِ and أَسْمِعْ بِهِ constructions are idiomatic expressions of the clarity or completeness of seeing and hearing, not ordinary imperatives.
- Lane · entry 36478
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:26word 10
“How clearly He sees”
بَصَر
baṣar
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 48 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.
Sight, eyesight, or the eye as the organ of seeing.
The plural أَبْصَار commonly denotes eyes, sight, or visual faculties; the singular can refer to the eye or to its power of perception.
- Lane · entry 36485
- Mufradāt · row 127
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:46word 17
“the eyes”
Inner perception or mental vision.
The noun can denote the heart’s or mind’s perceptive faculty, especially where bodily sight is contrasted with understanding or insight.
- Lane · entry 36485
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 50:22word 10
“so your sight”
بَصِير
baṣīr
- Part of speech
- Adjective / substantive noun
- Quran occurrences
- 51 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.
Seeing, possessing sight; all-seeing.
As a human description it means seeing or clear-sighted; as a divine epithet it denotes complete sight of apparent and hidden things without a bodily organ.
- Lane · entry 36491
- Mufradāt · row 127
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:1word 21
“the All-Seer”
Quran 20:125word 8
“sight”
بَصِيرَة
baṣīrah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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.
Insight, mental perception, knowledge, or assured understanding.
The Quranic phrase عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ expresses action grounded in knowledge and certainty; بَصَائِر can denote sources or forms of insight.
- Lane · entry 36492
- Mufradāt · row 127
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:108word 8
“insight”
An evidence, proof, or admonitory example that makes a matter clear.
The plural بَصَائِر is used for revealed signs or lessons serving as evidence and warning.
- Lane · entry 36492
- Lane · entry 36493
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:43word 11
“(as) an enlightenment”
A witness or observing faculty that testifies concerning a person.
In بَلِ الْإِنْسَانُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ, the expression is interpreted as the person or bodily members being witnesses for or against him.
- Lane · entry 36492
- Lane · entry 36493
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 75:14word 5
“(will be) a witness”
مُبْصِر
mubṣir
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Seeing; possessing or exercising sight.
The active participle can describe people who see or perceive.
- Lane · entry 36491
- Lane · entry 36501
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:201word 12
“(are) those who see (aright)”
Causing visibility; giving light or making perception possible.
When applied to the day or a natural phenomenon, it can mean that it enables seeing, gives light, or renders things perceptible.
- Lane · entry 36501
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:67word 9
“giving visibility”
مُبْصِرَة
mubṣirah
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Illuminating or causing sight; making something perceptible.
The feminine active participle can describe a sign or phenomenon that enables people to see or perceive.
- Lane · entry 36501
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:59word 14
“(as) a visible sign”
Visible, manifest, or evident.
The form may describe a sign whose conspicuousness makes its reality clear; this is a resultative sense rather than a new physical act of seeing.
- Lane · entry 36501
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:12word 11
“visible”
Quran 17:59word 14
“(as) a visible sign”
مُسْتَبْصِر
mustabṣir
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Seeking or possessing clear mental perception; discerning.
The Form X participle can emphasize seeking insight or being endowed with it. In the Quranic passage it is explained both as having perceptive knowledge and as recognizing the likely consequence of one’s actions.
- Lane · entry 36481
- Lane · entry 36503
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 29:38word 16
“endowed with insight”
تَبْصِرَة
tabṣirah
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
The giving of insight; clarification or instruction that makes something understood.
As the verbal noun of بَصَّرَ, it denotes making perceptible or intelligible, including instruction that brings understanding.
- Lane · entry 36476
- Mufradāt · row 127
Selected Quran examples
Quran 50:8word 1
“Giving insight”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:7أَبْصَـٰرِهِمْtheir vision
- 2:17يُبْصِرُونَ(do) they see
- 2:20أَبْصَـٰرَهُمْ ۖtheir sight
- 2:20وَأَبْصَـٰرِهِمْ ۚand their sight
- 2:96بَصِيرٌۢ(is) All-Seer
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 37 Classical meanings
بَصَرَ
To join two hides or their edges by placing one over the other and sewing them together.
A material and technical use concerning the particular method of joining hides or cloth edges.
- Lane · entry 36475
بَصَّرَ
To open the eyes of a young animal.
A causative physical use, especially said of a whelp whose eyes have opened.
- Lane · entry 36476
بَصَّرَ
To cause someone to see, perceive, know, or understand; to acquaint someone with something or make it apparent.
This broader causative range includes physical sight, knowledge, understanding, and the rendering of a matter manifest; the Quran-specific interpersonal passive use is listed under the Quranic Form II entry.
- Lane · entry 36476
بَصَّرَ
To smear arrow feathers with blood or strengthen and fasten them with glue.
A specialized use concerning the preparation of arrows.
- Lane · entry 36476
بَصَّرَ
To go or come to the city of al-Baṣrah.
A place-name use of the Form II verb.
- Lane · entry 36476
بَاصَرَ
To look at something while competing with another to see it first; to look at one another in such competition.
A reciprocal or competitive looking construction.
- Lane · entry 36477
بَاصَرَ
To rise above surrounding objects in order to look toward someone or something from afar.
A specialized posture-and-distance use of the Form III verb.
- Lane · entry 36477
أَبْصَرَ
To abandon unbelief and adopt true belief.
A reported figurative use in which seeing signifies entering into sound belief.
- Lane · entry 36478
أَبْصَرَ
To hang a بصيرة, an oblong piece of cloth, on the door of a dwelling.
A conventional household use associated with the noun بَصِيرَة.
- Lane · entry 36478
تَبَصَّرَ
To look closely, examine, or study something repeatedly in order to gain clear knowledge of it.
The Form V verb can also mean to consider what may happen, seeking to discover its consequences.
- Lane · entry 36479
تَبَاصَرَ
To see one another.
A reciprocal Form VI use.
- Lane · entry 36480
تَبَاصَرَ
To pretend to see, either physically or mentally.
This is the opposite of feigning blindness.
- Lane · entry 36480
اِسْتَبْصَرَ
For a road to become plain, clear, manifest, or conspicuous.
An intransitive Form X use applied to a road or route.
- Lane · entry 36481
بُصْر
The thickness of a thing, such as a heaven, earth, skin, garment, or piece of cloth.
A material noun distinct from the perception branch of the root.
- Lane · entry 36483
بُصْر
The side or edge of a thing.
Reported as a related transposed form of the material sense of thickness.
- Lane · entry 36483
بُصْر
Cotton.
A material noun linked in the lexical discussion to the cloth sense of بَصِيرَة.
- Lane · entry 36483
بَصَر
A name for the sunset prayer, and according to another usage for the dawn prayer.
The name is explained by the time when darkness is mixed with light and visible forms or stars can be seen.
- Lane · entry 36485
بَصَر
The time or circumstance in which objects can still be distinguished at the onset of darkness.
Appears in the adverbial expression لَقِيَهُ بَصَرًا, describing meeting when there remained enough light for recognition.
- Lane · entry 36485
بَصَر
A vacant tract of land in the idiom describing a place where nothing but the earth hears or sees.
A figurative expression rather than a general meaning of ordinary sight.
- Lane · entry 36485
بَصْرَة
Soft, whitish, glistening, rugged, or gypsum-bearing stones; by extension, rugged gypsum-like ground or tough clay containing pebbles.
The exact shade and hardness vary across the reported lexical explanations, but the use denotes a stony or gypsum-bearing material or terrain.
- Lane · entry 36486
بُصْرَة
Good red land.
A dialectal or specialized land description.
- Lane · entry 36487
بَصِرَة
Land containing stones sharp enough to cut the hooves of animals.
A specialized adjective for difficult stony ground.
- Lane · entry 36490
بَصِير
A dog.
A transferred naming based on the dog’s sharp sight; this is not the ordinary adjective meaning “seeing.”
- Lane · entry 36491
بَصِير
Endowed with mental perception, knowledge, understanding, intelligence, or skill.
Typically construed with بِـ, as in being knowledgeable or skilled in a matter.
- Lane · entry 36491
بَصِير
An epithet for a blind or weak-sighted person, or a believer, by reversal or auspicious usage.
This is an established ironic or benevolent application and does not mean that the person has ordinary physical sight.
- Lane · entry 36491
بَصِيرَة
Belief or firm belief of the heart; certainty and assurance.
Also occurs in expressions meaning according to knowledge and assurance, or intentionally; these extensions are broader than the specific Quranic insight sense.
- Lane · entry 36492
بَصِيرَة
Constancy or firmness in religion.
A specialized religious extension of assured inner perception.
- Lane · entry 36492
بَصِيرَة
A glistening portion or patch of blood, especially blood on the ground by which a wounded animal is tracked; also blood-revenge or a homicide fine.
The word covers several reported specifications of the amount, shape, flow, or location of the blood.
- Lane · entry 36492
بَصِيرَة
A shield, coat of mail, or defensive armor; plural بَصَائِر can denote worn arms.
A concrete material meaning distinct from the Quranic plural meaning “insights” or “proofs.”
- Lane · entry 36493
بَصِيرَة
An oblong piece or strip of cotton or other cloth, including a cloth hung at a dwelling’s door.
The noun can also denote a cloth panel or piece used in a joined garment or tent.
- Lane · entry 36493
بَصِيرَة
The joined and sewn portion between two oblong cloth pieces, such as in a tent or waterskin.
A technical textile sense related to the verb بَصَرَ “to sew joined edges.”
- Lane · entry 36493
بَاصِر
An intent or forceful glance; by extension, something manifest, severe, or terrifying.
Occurs in the conventional expression لَمْحٌ بَاصِرٌ and related figurative descriptions.
- Lane · entry 36494
بَاصِر
Visible food in the proverb contrasting early morning meals with evening meals seen before nightfall.
A proverb-specific plural usage derived from the notion of visibility.
- Lane · entry 36494
أَبْصَر
Sharper-sighted or clearer-sighted; more perceptive.
A comparative or elative adjective, not the Form IV verb.
- Lane · entry 36498
مُبْصِر
A watcher or guard set in a garden.
A figurative agent-noun use of the active participle.
- Lane · entry 36501
مُبْصِر
A lion that sees prey from afar and pursues it.
A figurative animal epithet based on keen sight.
- Lane · entry 36501
مُبْصِر
A person who hangs a بصيرة cloth at the door of a dwelling.
A conventional agent-noun use associated with the cloth sense of بَصِيرَة.
- Lane · entry 36501
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
بَصَر and بَصِيرَة can denote either bodily sight or inner perception; the relevant construction and context determine the branch.
The classical epithet بَصِير for a blind person is an ironic or auspicious usage and should not be confused with the ordinary meaning “seeing.”
Lane’s Quran references use historical citation conventions; the modern verse locations in the examples are taken only from the supplied QAC occurrence data.
The Quranic Form II occurrence is passive and has an interpersonal construction; it should not be reduced to the ordinary active causative gloss without that constructional nuance.