Quranic root
بكم
b · k · m
A rare root centered on muteness: the loss, absence, or failure of articulate speech.
The basic sense is inability to speak, especially from birth. The usage extends to withholding speech, inability to answer or express oneself through weak understanding, and speech that has become impeded.
- Maqāyīs · row 822
- Mufradāt · row 151
- Lane · entry 36969
- Lane · entry 36970
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَبْكَم
ʾabkam
- Part of speech
- Adjective / noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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.
Mute; a person born without the faculty of speech.
The Quranic nominal use includes the singular أَبْكَمُ and plural بُكْمٌ. This sense describes literal muteness, especially congenital muteness.
- Lane · entry 36972
- Mufradāt · row 151
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:18word 2
“dumb”
Quran 16:76word 6
“(is) dumb”
Figuratively mute through lack of understanding: unable to answer, express oneself effectively, or benefit from the faculty of speech.
A Quran-attested interpretive use applies بُكْمٌ to people who are deprived of understanding or are ignorant and ineffective in their use of speech, as though physically mute.
- Lane · entry 36972
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:171word 14
“dumb”
Quran 17:97word 20
“and dumb”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 6 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 4 Classical meanings
بَكِمَ
To be dumb: to lack the ability to speak or to frame words and answer well, whether from a natural condition or from impaired understanding; some descriptions extend the condition to congenital deafness and blindness.
Classical Form I verb. The usage covers both absence of the speech faculty and ineffective speech despite possessing it.
- Lane · entry 36969
- Mufradāt · row 151
بَكُمَ
To refrain, break off, or cease from speaking.
Used with عن الكلام; the cessation may be deliberate or may arise from ignorance.
- Lane · entry 36969
بَكُمَ
To cut oneself off from marriage or to desist from sexual intercourse.
A figurative or tropical extension; the withdrawal may be intentional or due to ignorance.
- Lane · entry 36969
تَبَكَّمَ
For speech to become impeded, or for a speaker to be unable to speak freely.
The construction تَبَكَّمَ عَلَيْهِ الكَلَامُ describes speech as impeded upon the speaker.
- Lane · entry 36970
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The English gloss “dumb” can represent either literal muteness or figurative inability to understand or benefit from speech; these are separated here because the lexical evidence supports both.
Lane's printed Quran citation “Kur ii. 166” is retained only as reported evidence and has not been converted into a modern surah-and-ayah location.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The historical Lane citation “Kur ii. 166” cannot be securely identified with a supplied modern Quran location; its associated lexical interpretations are represented without assigning that citation to a verse example.