Quranic root
بطن
b · ṭ · n
The root centers on the inward or inner-facing part of a thing, especially the belly as opposed to the back or outward side.
From the bodily belly and interior, the vocabulary extends to hidden or inward states, inner linings, intimate associates, interiors of places, and related senses of enclosure or centrality.
- Maqāyīs · row 786
- Mufradāt · row 134
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 25
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
بَطَنَ
baṭana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To be hidden, concealed, or unapparent.
In the Quran, it occurs in contrast with what is apparent or manifest; this is an intransitive Form I usage.
- Lane · entry 36645
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:151word 29
“(is) concealed”
Quran 7:33word 10
“is concealed”
بَاطِنٌ
bāṭinun
- 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.
Inward, inner, hidden, or not outwardly apparent; an interior aspect or part.
The Quran applies this active participle to what is concealed or inward, including an interior part or hidden aspect, in contrast with the apparent or outward.
- Lane · entry 36662
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
The Unapparent: a divine epithet denoting the One who knows hidden realities and is beyond being encompassed by perception.
This specialized epithet occurs in the coordinated divine names in 57:3; it is not merely an ordinary adjective for a concealed object.
- Lane · entry 36662
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:3word 5
“and the Unapparent”
بَطْنٌ
baṭnun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 17 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.
Belly or abdomen; the bodily interior of a person or animal.
This is the ordinary bodily sense in Quranic references to what is inside people or animals, including food, drink, or other contents.
- Lane · entry 36653
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:66word 9
“their bellies”
Womb, as the bodily interior in which offspring develop.
The womb sense is attested in Quranic expressions about embryos, offspring, or human formation within the bellies of mothers.
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:35word 11
“my womb”
The interior or inner part of a place or thing.
In 48:24, بِبَطْنِ مَكَّةَ refers to the interior of Makkah; this is a place-interior construction rather than a reference to a bodily abdomen.
- Lane · entry 36653
Selected Quran examples
Quran 48:24word 8
“within”
بِطَانَةٌ
biṭānahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
The lining or inner covering of a garment or other covering.
In 55:54, the plural refers to the inner linings of the couches or furnishings described there.
- Lane · entry 36661
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:54word 4
“(whose) inner linings”
A trusted intimate or confidant admitted to a person's private affairs.
In 3:118, the word is used metaphorically from a garment's lining for an associate who is brought close and knows one's inward affairs.
- Lane · entry 36661
- Mufradāt · row 134
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:118word 6
“(as) intimates”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:174بُطُونِهِمْtheir bellies
- 3:35بَطْنِىmy womb
- 3:118بِطَانَةًۭ(as) intimates
- 4:10بُطُونِهِمْtheir bellies
- 6:120وَبَاطِنَهُۥٓ ۚand the secret
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 50 Classical meanings
بَطُنَ
To become large or distended in the belly through abundant eating; to become replete.
This is a Classical Form I bodily condition, distinct from the Quranic intransitive sense of being hidden.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطِنَ
To exult and behave insolently or ungratefully, especially from satiety or abundance.
A figurative development associated with repletion and prosperity.
- Lane · entry 36645
بُطِنَ
To suffer a complaint, disease, or pain in the belly.
Passive or patient-oriented bodily usage.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطَنَ
To strike or beat someone's belly.
Transitive Form I usage with the belly as object.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطَنَ
For a disease or fever to enter into or affect a person internally.
Describes an illness taking effect within someone, rather than the person becoming hidden.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطَنَ
To enter or move about within a valley.
The object is a valley or comparable tract of land.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطَنَ
To penetrate mentally into a matter and know its inward or intrinsic state.
A figurative Form I usage concerning the real circumstances of an affair or story.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطَنَ بِفُلَانٍ
To become one of someone's special intimates by entering into his affairs.
An idiomatic association construction expressing close personal involvement.
- Lane · entry 36645
بَطَّنَ
To put a lining or inner covering onto a garment or piece of cloth.
Form II causative or transitive usage.
- Lane · entry 36646
بَطَّنَ
To remove or cut the hair from the underside of the beard beneath the chin.
A specialized grooming construction concerning the lower side of the beard.
- Lane · entry 36646
بَاطَنَ
To consult with a companion in order to learn what is in his mind.
A rare Form III usage concerning confidential consultation; the transmitted wording of this entry is textually uncertain.
- Lane · entry 36647
أَبْطَنَ
To fasten a camel's belly-girth.
Form IV usage with the belly-girth of a camel as the object or instrument.
- Lane · entry 36648
أَبْطَنَ
To place a sword beneath the waist or against the body's inner side.
A literal placement construction, with a possible figurative extension to keeping the sword as a secret companion.
- Lane · entry 36648
أَبْطَنَ
To take someone as a special intimate or confidential associate.
Form IV causative usage equivalent to taking someone as a بِطَانَة.
- Lane · entry 36648
تَبَطَّنَ
To fill one's belly.
Form V bodily usage concerning eating or repletion.
- Lane · entry 36649
تَبَطَّنَ
To approach sexually or have sexual intercourse.
A conventional Form V construction; the evidence supports the sexual relation, not a restriction to any particular object class.
- Lane · entry 36649
تَبَطَّنَ
To move in the middle or midst of herbage, or to go about within it.
The object is vegetation or a grassy tract.
- Lane · entry 36649
تَبَاطَنَ
For a place to extend far, with one part remote from another.
Form VI usage describing the spatial extent of a place.
- Lane · entry 36650
اِبْتَطَنَ
To assist a she-camel in delivering her young.
The cited construction specifies repeated assistance in parturition.
- Lane · entry 36651
اِسْتَبْطَنَ
To seek to discover what young is in a mare's belly.
Form X usage concerning determining whether an animal is pregnant and what is within its belly.
- Lane · entry 36652
اِسْتَبْطَنَ
For a stallion to cover she-camels so that they conceive, depositing seed in their wombs.
A reproductive construction involving animals and internal conception.
- Lane · entry 36652
اِسْتَبْطَنَ
To enter or penetrate into an interior, or to have and hold something concealed within.
The Form X usage may be physical or mental; the concealment sense describes containment within.
- Lane · entry 36652
بَطْنٌ
In idiomatic constructions, what is in the belly, including excrement; of a woman, to bring forth a child; of a hen, to lay an egg; and, in a childbirth expression, to die in labor.
These are fixed or elliptical constructions based on the noun's bodily sense, not separate general meanings of every occurrence of بَطْنٌ.
- Lane · entry 36653
بَطْنٌ
An inner, underside, middle, or lower part, including the palm of the hand, sole of the foot, underside of a hoof, inner half of a feather, or foundation of a thing.
These specialized applications contrast with the outward or upper side; they remain Classical extensions distinct from the Quranic place-interior usage.
- Lane · entry 36653
بَطْنٌ
A low, depressed, soft, or water-retaining tract of land.
A landscape term, often contrasted with ظَهْرٌ for higher or outward ground.
- Lane · entry 36653
بَطْنٌ
A tribal subdivision below a قَبِيلَة, or a comparable intermediate tribal group.
A social-structural usage with plural forms أَبْطُنٌ and بُطُونٌ.
- Lane · entry 36653
بَطَنٌ
A disease of the belly involving enlargement caused by repletion or related abdominal illness.
This noun denotes the condition itself, including the expression for dying from it.
- Lane · entry 36654
بَطَنٌ
A person preoccupied with the belly or possessing an inordinate appetite; a voracious eater.
A descriptive noun for a belly-centered or excessively food-seeking person.
- Lane · entry 36655
بَطَنٌ
A person who exults excessively and behaves insolently or ungratefully, especially through abundance.
A figurative personal designation related to satiety or wealth.
- Lane · entry 36655
بِطْنَةٌ
Repletion or the state of being filled with food and drink.
A noun of condition; the proverb associates excessive repletion with diminished intelligence.
- Lane · entry 36656
بِطْنَةٌ
Exultation that produces insolent and ungrateful behavior; figuratively, prosperity or richness expressed in that manner.
This includes idiomatic expressions about dying with one's wealth intact or departing in unimpaired religious integrity.
- Lane · entry 36656
البَطِنَةُ
The buttocks or posterior part.
A specialized noun distinct from the ordinary belly meaning.
- Lane · entry 36657
بَطِنَاتُ الوَادِي
The roads or beaten tracks running through a valley.
A pluralized valley expression.
- Lane · entry 36657
بِطَانٌ
The belly-girth of a camel or of a saddle, fastened beneath the animal's belly.
The word also occurs in idioms: the meeting of its two rings denotes a severe or straitened affair, while broadness of the girth denotes ease or prosperity.
- Lane · entry 36658
بَطِينٌ
Big or full in the belly; having a large or well-filled abdomen.
Applied especially to a person, and also used as a laudatory epithet in one cited description.
- Lane · entry 36659
بَطِينٌ
Full, especially of a purse or provision bags.
The cited idiom describes concealed travel provisions consumed by their possessor rather than a general restriction on all uses.
- Lane · entry 36659
بَطِينٌ
Far-extending.
Applied to a long run, distance, or expanse.
- Lane · entry 36659
بَطِينٌ
Wide and low or depressed, as a tract of land.
A landscape adjective combining breadth with low elevation.
- Lane · entry 36659
البُطَيْنُ
The second mansion of the Moon, a small triangular group of stars associated with the belly of the Ram.
A proper astronomical name and diminutive form.
- Lane · entry 36660
بِطَانَةٌ
A secret or knowledge of the inward state of an affair.
This is a Classical figurative noun sense related to concealment and inner knowledge, distinct from the Quranic intimate-associate construction.
- Lane · entry 36661
بِطَانَةٌ
Something placed beneath the main load of a camel, such as a waterskin.
A technical load-bearing construction, especially when paired with عَلَاوَة.
- Lane · entry 36661
بَاطِنٌ
The inward or intrinsic state of an affair, or the secret thoughts and inner disposition of a person; covertly or secretly.
This Classical usage concerns knowledge of hidden circumstances or mental recesses, rather than merely the physical interior of an object.
- Lane · entry 36662
بِطَانَةٌ
A watercourse or place where water flows through rugged ground.
A landscape noun with plural forms referring to such channels.
- Lane · entry 36662
بَاطِنَةٌ
The middle or retired part of a province, district, or city.
A geographical noun describing an interior administrative or settled area.
- Lane · entry 36663
الأَبْطَنُ
A vein in the interior of a horse's forearm.
A specialized anatomical term, also used in the dual for the pair of such veins.
- Lane · entry 36664
مُبَطَّنٌ
Lank or thin in the belly.
Applied to a person; feminine formation takes the corresponding feminine ending.
- Lane · entry 36665
مُبَطَّنٌ
White in the back and belly, as applied to a horse.
A specialized equine description.
- Lane · entry 36665
مُبَطَّنٌ
Lined or provided with an inner covering.
A passive-participial adjective derived from the lining sense.
- Lane · entry 36665
مَبْطُونٌ
One afflicted with a disease or pain of the belly, or one who dies from such an illness.
The lexical tradition also treats a person dying from abdominal disease as a martyr.
- Lane · entry 36667
بَطْنُ السَّمَاءِ
The apparent, visible part of the sky.
A conventional expression in which بَطْنُ السَّمَاءِ denotes the visible portion of the sky.
- Lane · entry 36653
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form I Quranic verb بَطَنَ is represented in the concealed or hidden sense; its separate Classical bodily, transitive, and inward-knowledge uses are not merged into that Quranic sense.
The rare Form III consultation entry has a textually uncertain transmitted gloss, so its interpretation is retained with that limitation.
The feminine Quranic form بَاطِنَةً is accounted for under the normalized active-participle headword بَاطِنٌ.