Quranic root
فكه
f · k · h
The root centers on pleasantness, savoring, and what is experienced as agreeable or enjoyable.
From this orientation it extends to fruit as something relished, cheerfulness and pleasant conversation, and certain specialized descriptions of especially good milk. The Quranic expression تَفَكَّهُونَ in 56:65 is disputed in the lexical tradition: it is variously connected with fruit-taking, banter, wonder, or regret, while one analysis treats it as related to تَفَكَّنُونَ through substitution.
- Maqāyīs · row 3636
- Mufradāt · row 1131
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 19
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
فَاكِهَة
fākihah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 14 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.
Fruit; something whose eating is enjoyed.
The Quranic noun is used for fruit generally, including fruit described alongside dates and pomegranates; the lexical evidence records discussion over the scope of that category.
- Lane · entry 34775
- Mufradāt · row 1131
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:68word 2
“(are) fruits”
Quran 37:42word 1
“Fruits”
فَاكِهٌ
fākihun
- 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.
Enjoying pleasure, ease, and plenty.
Used of people enjoying what has been granted to them and living in agreeable abundance.
- Lane · entry 34770
- Mufradāt · row 1131
Selected Quran examples
To be amused or to wonder at what has happened.
This is an alternative interpretation associated with the Quranic plural in 36:55; the supplied evidence preserves the interpretation without treating a variant vocalization as a separate Quran location.
- Lane · entry 34770
Selected Quran examples
Quran 36:55word 7
“(in) amusement”
فَكِهٌ
fakihun
- 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.
Jocose, cheerful, or given to jesting.
The Quranic plural at 83:31 is understood in the sense of jesting or light-hearted amusement.
- Lane · entry 34770
Selected Quran examples
Quran 83:31word 6
“jesting”
Exulting greatly, sometimes with insolence or ingratitude.
This meaning is reported for a short-vowel Quranic plural reading in the lexical evidence; no additional modern verse location is claimed for that reading.
- Lane · entry 34770
تَفَكَّهَ
tafakkaha
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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 eat or take fruit.
In the Quranic expression of 56:65, this fruit-related sense is also explained ironically as making fruit the subject of one's speech; the same discussion records explanations involving taking up fruit.
- Lane · entry 34768
- Mufradāt · row 1131
To discard or abstain from fruit.
A contrary fruit-related interpretation reported in the discussion of 56:65; it is preserved as a lexical alternative rather than generalized as the ordinary meaning of the verb.
- Lane · entry 34768
To engage in pleasant talk or banter.
In the Quranic interpretation of 56:65, this is understood as engaging in فُكَاهَة, while the same construction can more generally describe amusement through conversation.
- Lane · entry 34768
- Mufradāt · row 1131
To wonder at or be astonished by what has happened.
One explicit interpretation of the Quranic expression in 56:65.
- Lane · entry 34768
- Mufradāt · row 1131
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:65word 6
“wondering”
To repent, grieve, lament, or regret.
Another explicit interpretation of the Quranic expression in 56:65; one root-level analysis connects this interpretation with a substituted form related to تَفَكَّنُونَ.
- Lane · entry 34768
- Mufradāt · row 1131
- Maqāyīs · row 3636
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 23:19فَوَٰكِهُ(are) fruits
- 36:55فَـٰكِهُونَ(in) amusement
- 36:57فَـٰكِهَةٌۭ(are) fruits
- 37:42فَوَٰكِهُ ۖFruits
- 38:51بِفَـٰكِهَةٍۢfor fruit
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 18 Classical meanings
فَكِهَ
To become cheerful, happy, or free from constraint; to be jocose and given to laughter, including making one's companions laugh.
A Form I verbal use describing a cheerful or joking disposition.
- Lane · entry 34764
فَكَّهَ
To bring fruit to people.
Form II causative usage.
- Lane · entry 34765
فَكَّهَ
To entertain people with novel or facetious sayings.
A figurative Form II causative use involving amusing conversation.
- Lane · entry 34765
فَاكَهَ
To jest or joke with someone and indulge in pleasantry with them.
Form III reciprocal or interpersonal construction.
- Lane · entry 34766
أَفْكَهَتْ
Of a she-camel: to yield milk plentifully in connection with eating spring herbage before parturition.
A specialized Form IV use; related descriptions mention laxity near parturition and enlargement of the udder.
- Lane · entry 34767
فَكِهٌ
One who eats fruit, or is characterized by eating fruit.
A possessive epithet applied to a person, distinct from the adjective meaning cheerful or jocose.
- Lane · entry 34770
تَفَكَّهَ
To amuse oneself with conversation or affect joking.
A figurative Form V use modeled on the enjoyment of fruit.
- Lane · entry 34768
تَفَكَّهَ
To speak evil of someone in their absence and defame them while jesting with others.
Occurs with the construction تَفَكَّهَ بِفُلَانٍ.
- Lane · entry 34768
تَفَاكُهٌ
Mutual jesting or joking among several people.
Form VI verbal noun and its corresponding reciprocal use.
- Lane · entry 34769
فُكَاهَةٌ
Jesting, joking, or light-hearted conversation.
A substantive noun for pleasantry, distinguished from the Form I infinitive in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 34772
فَاكِهٌ
Possessing fruit, or having fruit in abundance.
An epithet comparable to other possessive formations; it can describe one whose fruit has become plentiful.
- Lane · entry 34774
فَاكِهَةٌ
A palm tree that inspires admiration, pleasure, or joy.
A figurative or specialized use, apparently associated with the tree's abundant fruit.
- Lane · entry 34774
فَاكِهَةٌ
Sweetmeat or confection.
A comparative figurative extension of the fruit term.
- Lane · entry 34775
فَاكِهَةُ الشِّتَاءِ
Fire, literally “the fruit of winter.”
A fixed metonymic expression.
- Lane · entry 34775
فَاكِهَانِيٌّ
A seller of fruit.
A relational noun formed from فَاكِهَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 34778
أُفْكُوهَةٌ
A wonderful or astonishing thing, including a remarkable saying or story.
Used of something that provokes wonder or admiration.
- Lane · entry 34780
مُفْكِهٌ
A she-camel whose milk is thick like colostrum or flows plentifully around parturition.
A specialized active-participial noun; descriptions also connect it with abundant milk before giving birth.
- Lane · entry 34781
فَكِهٌ
One who delights in speaking evil of people, especially in their absence.
A specialized interpersonal use describing pleasure in malicious talk; distinct from ordinary cheerfulness or joking.
- Lane · entry 34770
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The interpretations of تَفَكَّهُونَ in 56:65 are genuinely divided among fruit-taking, fruit-abstention, banter, wonder, and regret; the entry preserves these as distinct Quran-attested alternatives rather than treating the contextual English gloss as decisive.
The evidence reports Quranic readings and interpretations with differing vocalizations for فَاكِهِينَ and فَكِهِينَ. The cited historical reference for the short-vowel exultation reading is not converted into an additional modern verse location.
Some Classical meanings are specialized or figurative extensions of the fruit and pleasantness vocabulary and should not be assumed for every Quran occurrence.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The Lane report connecting the short-vowel plural فَكِهِينَ with a Quranic reading cannot be securely matched to a separate supplied QAC occurrence and modern location; its lexical content is retained under فَكِهٌ as a variant Quran-attested sense without assigning an invented verse key.