Quranic root
بين
b · y · n
The root centers on separation or distance, and on the resulting disclosure of what is distinct, evident, or clear.
From the notion of something being apart or at a distance developed the senses of becoming distinct, making something clear, expressing it plainly, and identifying the interval or relation between things.
- Maqāyīs · row 896
- Mufradāt · row 169
- 12
- Quran-attested forms
- 14
- Quran senses
- 523
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
- بَيَّنَVerb · Form II II · 35
- أَبَانَVerb · Form IV IV · 1
- تَبَيَّنَVerb · Form V V · 18
- اِسْتَبَانَVerb · Form X X · 1
- بَيَانNoun · 3
- بَيْنNoun · Adverb · 266
- بَيِّنAdjective · 1
- بَيِّنَةNoun · Adjective · 71
- مُسْتَبِينActive participle · 1
- مُبَيِّنActive participle · 6
- مُبِينActive participle · 119
- تِبْيَانNoun · 1
بَيَّنَ
bayyana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 35 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 make distinct or clear; to explain, clarify, establish, or make something known.
Transitive Form II usage, commonly taking a matter, ruling, sign, or explanation as its object.
- Lane · entry 37585
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:68word 5
“to make clear”
Quran 16:44word 6
“that you may make clear”
أَبَانَ
ʾabāna
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 speak or express oneself clearly and distinctly.
In the Quranic occurrence, the verb concerns intelligible speech or expression rather than causing another matter to become clear.
- Lane · entry 37588
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 43:52word 11
“clear”
تَبَيَّنَ
tabayyana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- Quran occurrences
- 18 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 clear, evident, or distinct.
Intransitive usage describing a matter whose reality or distinction becomes apparent.
- Lane · entry 37589
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:256word 6
“has become distinct”
To investigate or ascertain carefully until the matter becomes clear.
Especially in commands and other contexts requiring deliberate verification rather than haste.
- Lane · entry 37589
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 49:6word 8
“investigate”
اِسْتَبَانَ
āistabāna
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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 manifest or apparent; to become clearly discernible.
In the Quranic occurrence, the verb is intransitive and describes something becoming manifest to perception or understanding.
- Lane · entry 37586
- Lane · entry 37591
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:55word 4
“so that becomes manifest”
بَيَان
bayān
- 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.
Articulate expression or declaration that makes an intended meaning apparent.
Includes speech or other expression by which what is in the mind is disclosed to others.
- Lane · entry 37597
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:4word 2
“[the] speech”
Quran 3:138word 2
“(is) a declaration”
An explanation or clarification that resolves what is general, obscure, or difficult to understand.
Used for the exposition of a text or meaning, including an explanation supplied after something has been stated.
- Lane · entry 37597
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 75:19word 4
“(is) its explanation”
بَيْن
bayn
- Part of speech
- Noun · Adverb
- Quran occurrences
- 266 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 interval, intervening space, or relation between two or more things; between, among, or amidst.
Used with two or more entities, with a coordinated complement, or with a collective expression. In constructions such as بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ it can mean before or in front of someone; it can also denote the state or bond subsisting between parties.
- Lane · entry 37593
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
بَيِّن
bayyin
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Clear, distinct, evident, or manifest.
An adjectival description of something whose identity or truth is readily distinguishable.
- Lane · entry 37599
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:15word 11
“clear”
بَيِّنَة
bayyinah
- Part of speech
- Noun · Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 71 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.
A clear proof, evidence, indication, or demonstration.
In Quranic usage, it denotes manifest evidence or proof, whether intellectual, perceptual, or connected with a prophetic sign.
- Lane · entry 37600
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:17word 4
“a clear proof”
Quran 98:1word 12
“the clear evidence”
مُسْتَبِين
mustabīn
- 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.
Clear, manifest, or plainly discernible.
Active participle of Form X used adjectivally; the Quranic occurrence describes something presented as clear.
- Lane · entry 37591
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:117word 3
“the clear”
مُبَيِّن
mubayyin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Clarifying, making distinct, or rendered clear and manifest.
As a Form II active participle, it may focus on the act or agency that makes something clear; in the Quranic adjectival forms, the resulting clarity or explicitness is foregrounded.
- Lane · entry 37585
- Mufradāt · row 169
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:19word 21
“open”
Quran 65:1word 23
“clear”
مُبِين
mubīn
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 119 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.
Clear, evident, manifest, obvious, or openly apparent.
A broad adjectival use applied to things, speech, signs, states, and persons when their character or meaning is plainly disclosed.
- Mufradāt · row 169
- Lane · entry 37599
Selected Quran examples
تِبْيَان
tibyān
- 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.
Clarification, exposition, or making something fully manifest.
A verbal-noun-like substantive referring to the act or result of explaining and making matters clear.
- Lane · entry 37585
- Lane · entry 37604
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:89word 18
“(as) a clarification”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:66بَيْنَ(in) front
- 2:68يُبَيِّنto make clear
- 2:68بَيْنَbetween
- 2:69يُبَيِّنto make clear
- 2:70يُبَيِّنto make clear
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 35 Classical meanings
بَانَ
To become separated, severed, disunited, or distant; to depart or withdraw.
Intransitive usage, including separation from a person, place, or group.
- Lane · entry 37584
بَانَ
To become apparent, manifest, evident, or known.
A classical Form I branch in which something becomes distinct from what conceals or confounds it.
- Lane · entry 37584
بَانَ
To become joined or connected.
A reported contrary usage of بَانَ; the evidence notes that this sense is attested for بَيْنٌ more securely than for the verb itself.
- Lane · entry 37584
بَيَّنَ
To appear or come forth, as growing trees, leaves, or a horn.
A specialized intransitive usage describing emergence into view.
- Lane · entry 37585
بَيَّنَ
To examine, scrutinize, or study something deliberately until its state is known.
A reported investigative usage distinct from the ordinary causative sense of making something clear.
- Lane · entry 37585
بَايَنَ
To separate from, abandon, or cut off relations with another.
May describe forsaking someone or ending friendly, loving, or spoken intercourse.
- Lane · entry 37587
أَبَانَ
To separate, sever, cut off, or draw something away.
Includes causative separation of a person or object, separation by divorce, separation of a daughter through marriage, separation of a son through property, and drawing a bucket away from a well casing.
- Lane · entry 37588
أَبَانَ
To speak or write perspicuously, clearly, plainly, or eloquently; to give clear testimony or decisive information.
The verb may be used of making speech, writing, testimony, or information intelligible and explicit.
- Lane · entry 37588
تَبَايَنَ
To separate from one another or cut one another off from friendly association.
Reciprocal or mutual separation of people or partners.
- Lane · entry 37590
تَبَايَنَ
To be dissimilar, disparate, or incommensurable.
Used of words, things, or numbers that differ or do not correspond in kind or measure.
- Lane · entry 37590
بَيْن
Separation, disunion, or the disrupted state between companions, friends, or parties.
In expressions such as ذَاتُ البَيْنِ, it can denote enmity, rancour, or the damaged state of relations.
- Lane · entry 37593
بَيْن
A distance, interval, or span between two things; by extension, a difference in rank or estimation.
May denote literal spatial distance or an interval of time, and may be used of disparity between people.
- Lane · entry 37593
بَيْن
Union, concord, friendship, or the connected state subsisting between people.
A contrary sense to disunion, especially in expressions concerning the repair or marring of relations.
- Lane · entry 37593
ذَاتُ بَيْنِهِمْ
The open space between the houses or tents of people.
A specialized spatial use of the relational expression.
- Lane · entry 37593
بَيْن
Partly, distributively, or with different portions assigned among alternatives.
The construction can divide a group or activity between two or more stated alternatives.
- Lane · entry 37593
بَيْنَ بَيْنَ
Intermediate, middling, or between two states or alternatives.
The idiom can describe something neither wholly one thing nor wholly another; it is also used in technical descriptions of an intermediate realization.
- Lane · entry 37593
بَيْنَا
While or whilst; during the time that something is happening.
بَيْنَا and بَيْنَمَا introduce a temporal circumstance or intervening situation.
- Lane · entry 37593
- Lane · entry 37594
- Lane · entry 37595
بِين
A tract, region, or stretch of land extending as far as the eye reaches; also a separation or elevation between areas.
A geographical noun with plural بُيُونٌ.
- Lane · entry 37596
بَيَان
Being distinct or apparent, or the making of something distinct or apparent.
The substantive can preserve either the result of becoming clear or the act of making clear.
- Lane · entry 37597
بَيَان
A means of making a matter apparent, including circumstantial evidence, verbal indication, writing, or explanation.
The term may refer broadly to whatever discloses a state or intended meaning, not only to spoken language.
- Lane · entry 37597
بَيَان
Perspicuity, eloquence, or the faculty or discipline of expressing one meaning in varied forms.
A rhetorical and linguistic technical sense concerning clear, chaste, or effective expression.
- Lane · entry 37597
بَيَان
Excessive or affected verbosity and elaborate display of eloquence.
A pejorative use for ostentatious or hypocritical elaboration in speech.
- Lane · entry 37597
بَيُون
A well that is deep, wide, or shaped so that its rope remains apart from its sides.
A specialized description of a well's interior or breadth.
- Lane · entry 37598
بَيِّن
Showing or bearing evidence of a quality that it possesses.
A classical adjectival extension from being clear to visibly displaying a characteristic.
- Lane · entry 37599
بَيِّن
A person who is fluent, perspicuous, chaste, or eloquent in speech.
Applied especially to a speaker whose expression is clear and readily understood.
- Lane · entry 37599
- Lane · entry 37603
بَيِّنَة
The testimony of a witness.
A legal and evidentiary specialization of the broader sense of manifest proof.
- Lane · entry 37600
بَائِن
Separated, severed, disunited, or cut off.
Describes a state of separation, including a person separated from a spouse.
- Lane · entry 37601
طَلَاقٌ بَائِن
An irrevocable divorce that cuts off the former marital bond.
The woman cannot be taken back without a new contract, and the relevant construction also requires her consent.
- Lane · entry 37601
بَائِن
Widely separated from its string, of a bow.
A technical description of a bow whose curve is far from the string.
- Lane · entry 37601
بَائِن
Having racemes emerge from the spathes and fruit-stalks grow long, of a palm tree.
A botanical usage describing a stage of the palm's growth.
- Lane · entry 37601
البَائِن
The person who comes to or stands beside a milch camel to hold the milking vessel.
A specialized role in the two-person arrangement for milking a camel.
- Lane · entry 37601
بَائِن
Excessively tall or far above the stature of tall people.
A figurative adjectival use describing exceptional height.
- Lane · entry 37601
البَائِنَة
The separation of a child from parents through property given to the child as his own.
A conventional expression for a parent's granting property that establishes the child's independent possession.
- Lane · entry 37602
مُبِين
Separating, severing, disuniting, or cutting off.
A classical lexical branch of مُبِين distinct from its Quran-attested adjectival sense of clear or manifest.
- Lane · entry 37606
مَبَايِن
Things or means that make the truth apparent, manifest, evident, or plain.
A plural usage for clarifying indications or means of disclosure.
- Lane · entry 37607
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The two QAC groups for بَيْن are presented under one public headword because their nominal and locative functions are syntactic variants of the same lexical item.
The feminine and plural Quranic forms of مُبَيِّن are grouped under the normalized active-participle citation form مُبَيِّن.
Lane's historical Quran citation notation is not used as a modern verse location; modern locations in the examples come from QAC.