Quranic root
بغل
b · gh · l
The root centers on bodily strength, with the mule as its clearest lexical image and with related movement language shaped by the mule's gait.
Classical discussion connects the mule either to the strength of its build or to its characteristic mode of travel. Derived forms extend this association to broad or easy-stepped movement and to figurative roughness or mulishness.
- Maqāyīs · row 809
- Mufradāt · row 144
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
بَغْلٌ
baghlun
- 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.
A mule: the hybrid offspring of a donkey and a horse.
The Quranic occurrence is the plural بِغَالَ, referring to mules.
- Lane · entry 36808
- Mufradāt · row 144
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:8word 2
“and mules”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 16:8وَٱلْبِغَالَand mules
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 12 Classical meanings
بَغُلَ
Of a man, to affect dullness or stupidity, or to become mentally sluggish.
A Form I verbal use, with the glossed states presented as alternative developments.
- Lane · entry 36805
بَغُلَ
Of a man, to become submissive and humble.
A Form I verbal use distinct from the sense of affected dullness.
- Lane · entry 36805
تَبْغِيلٌ
Bodily bigness or thickness, with a hard, strong, sturdy, or rough constitution.
A Form II verbal-noun use describing the body or its build.
- Lane · entry 36806
تَبْغِيلٌ
To be weak, languid, impotent, or fatigued in movement or pace.
A Form II verbal use concerning a person's condition while going or walking.
- Lane · entry 36806
تَبْغِيلٌ
To move at a gentle or easy, sometimes wide-stepped, pace.
Used especially of camels, and also of a fatigued person who proceeds easily but quickly.
- Lane · entry 36806
- Mufradāt · row 144
بَغَّلَ
To make someone's children base-born or ignoble through intermarriage.
A Form II causative construction attributed to marriage among the relevant families.
- Lane · entry 36806
تَبَغَّلَ
Of a camel, to become mule-like in the breadth of its step.
A Form V verbal use describing assimilation to the mule's characteristic gait.
- Lane · entry 36807
- Mufradāt · row 144
بَغْلٌ
In an idiomatic expression referring to mule urine, a difficult road.
This is a conventional figurative expression, not the literal animal sense.
- Lane · entry 36808
بَغْلٌ
Figuratively, a bastard or base-born person, or a low or ignoble person characterized by perverseness or roughness.
The mule is also used in a comparison for a woman's barrenness; these are conventional figurative and idiomatic associations, not restrictions on the literal animal sense.
- Lane · entry 36808
- Mufradāt · row 144
بَغْلَةٌ / بِغَالٌ
In Egyptian usage, a female slave; بِغَالٌ may denote slaves or female slaves.
A regional figurative extension explicitly attributed to the speech of Egypt.
- Lane · entry 36808
بَغَّالٌ
An owner, attendant, or keeper of mules.
A noun designating a person associated with mules.
- Lane · entry 36809
أَبْغَلُ
More mulish than a bull, and heavier or more sluggish than an ass.
A comparative figurative expression describing a person's mulishness, heaviness, or sluggishness.
- Lane · entry 36811