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Quranic root

فقر

f · q · r

The root centers on an opening, cleft, hollow, or separation in something, especially in the structure of the back; its semantic field extends from hollows and vertebrae to breaking, affliction, and need.

The vertebrae are understood as separated segments of the back, while poverty is conventionally explained as a condition resembling a broken back or lacking support. This development also underlies terms for calamity, hollows, and making something accessible through an opening.

  • Maqāyīs · row 3625
  • Mufradāt · row 1126
3
Quran-attested forms
4
Quran senses
14
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.

فَاقِرَة

fāqirah

Part of speech
Noun · lexicalized 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.

  1. A calamity or misfortune that breaks the back.

    A figurative noun for a grievous affliction; Quranic usage occurs in the description of an impending severe calamity.

    • Lane · entry 34673
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 75:25word 5

    backbreaking

فَقِير

faqīr

Part of speech
Adjective / noun
Quran occurrences
12 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.

  1. In need of, dependent upon, or lacking self-sufficiency.

    This includes essential dependence, especially dependence upon God; with إِلَى, the object is what or whom one needs or requires.

    • Lane · entry 34670
    • Mufradāt · row 1126
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 35:15word 4

    (are) those in need

    Quran 28:24word 15

    (in) need

  2. Poor or needy in material means, lacking sufficient property, livelihood, or resources.

    Used of individuals or groups who lack adequate means; the Quranic usage includes the poor as recipients or objects of charitable provision. Classical discussions differ over the precise distinction between فَقِير and مِسْكِين.

    • Lane · entry 34670
    • Mufradāt · row 1126
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:273word 1

    For the poor

    Quran 9:60word 3

    (are) for the poor

فَقْر

faqr

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.

  1. Poverty, material want, or lack of sufficient possessions.

    A state of material need, presented in the Quranic context as the opposite of wealth and as a condition from which people may fear being deprived of means.

    • Lane · entry 34659
    • Mufradāt · row 1126
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:268word 3

    [the] poverty

Occurrences in the Quran

Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.

  • 2:268ٱلْفَقْرَ[the] poverty
  • 2:271ٱلْفُقَرَآءَ(to) the poor
  • 2:273لِلْفُقَرَآءِFor the poor
  • 3:181فَقِيرٌۭ(is) poor
  • 4:6فَقِيرًۭاpoor
View all 14 occurrences

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 47 Classical meanings
  • فَقَرَ

    To dig into the ground or dig a well in order to bring out water.

    Form I verb; the action is understood as making a hollow or opening in the ground.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقَرَ

    To bore or perforate beads so that they may be strung.

    Form I verb; used specifically of piercing beads.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقَرَ

    To cleave, slit, or rend something.

    Form I verb; a physical opening or splitting apart.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقَرَ

    To incise the muzzle of a refractory camel down to, or nearly to, the bone, and attach a controlling cord there.

    Form I verb; a specialized camel-training procedure.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقَرَ

    To stigmatize a person by exposing or recounting his faults.

    An attributed figurative use of the Form I verb.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقَرَ

    To break the vertebrae of someone's back; figuratively, for a calamity to befall someone as though breaking the back.

    Form I transitive and figurative uses.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقُرَ / فَقِرَ

    To suffer a complaint of the vertebrae arising from fracture or disease.

    Intransitive Form I usage describing a vertebral ailment.

    • Lane · entry 34652
  • فَقَّرَ

    To dig a hollow for a palm shoot or offset when planting it.

    Form II verb; the hollow is prepared to receive the young palm.

    • Lane · entry 34653
  • فَقَّرَ

    To incise, notch, impress, or mark something.

    Form II passive and related uses describe a surface bearing such cuts or impressions.

    • Lane · entry 34653
  • أَفْقَرَ

    To become strong in the vertebrae and fit to be ridden.

    Form IV, said of a colt or its back.

    • Lane · entry 34654
  • أَفْقَرَ

    To lend someone the back or vertebrae of a camel, colt, or other mount for riding or carrying a burden.

    Form IV construction with the animal or its back as the object; the mount is lent for a journey and returned afterward.

    • Lane · entry 34654
  • أَفْقَرَ

    To lend someone land for sowing.

    A figurative Form IV extension from lending the back of a mount.

    • Lane · entry 34654
  • أَفْقَرَ

    For game to become accessible to a shooter, especially by bringing its side or back within reach.

    The expression أَفْقَرَكَ الصَّيْدُ means that the object of the chase has become available to you to shoot; it can also mean that it has come near.

    • Lane · entry 34654
  • أَفْقَرَ

    To render someone poor or needy.

    Form IV causative use.

    • Lane · entry 34654
  • تَفَقَّرَ

    To elicit what is hidden or obscure in knowledge and bring it to light.

    A reported Form V reading in a transmitted expression; the commonly known reading is a different verb.

    • Lane · entry 34655
  • تَفَاقَرَ

    To feign the lowliness or submissiveness associated with poverty and humble oneself among people.

    Form VI reciprocal or affective use.

    • Lane · entry 34656
  • اِفْتَقَرَ

    To cleave, slit, or rend open; figuratively, to open and make obscure meanings clear.

    Form VIII; the figurative use describes unveiling or clarifying what was concealed.

    • Lane · entry 34657
  • اِفْتَقَرَ

    To become poor or needy, or to need or require someone or something.

    Form VIII; with إِلَى, it means to need or require the object.

    • Lane · entry 34657
  • اِسْتَفْقَرَ

    To borrow or request the loan of a camel's back for riding or carrying a burden.

    Form X specialized construction with a mount as object.

    • Lane · entry 34658
  • فَقْر

    Anxiety, mental disquietude, or one's circumstances and pressing wants.

    A broader nominal use distinct from simple material poverty; the plural may refer to a person's anxieties or troubles.

    • Lane · entry 34659
  • فُقْر

    The side of the body.

    A rare nominal use, with an irregular plural noted in the lexical evidence.

    • Lane · entry 34660
  • فَقْرَة

    A certain plant.

    A rare nominal usage; the lexical evidence also discusses its collective or plural form.

    • Lane · entry 34664
  • فُقْرَة

    A hollow dug in the ground.

    A physical depression or excavation; plural فُقَر.

    • Lane · entry 34665
  • فُقْرَة

    An incision made in a camel's muzzle; figuratively, a grievous or formidable event.

    The figurative sense develops from the series of incisions used to control a refractory camel.

    • Lane · entry 34665
  • فُقْرَة

    The part of a shirt through which the head is inserted.

    A nominal term for the garment opening.

    • Lane · entry 34665
  • فُقْرَة

    Nearness or proximity.

    Used in the expression هُوَ مِنِّي فُقْرَةً, meaning that someone is near to the speaker.

    • Lane · entry 34665
  • فِقْرَة

    An ornament fashioned in the form of a vertebra.

    A plural term for such ornaments; the sense is based on resemblance to the vertebrae of the back.

    • Lane · entry 34666
  • فِقْرَة

    A choice or salient unit of poetic or rhymed discourse, including the best verse of an ode, a choice phrase, or a clause ending in rhyme.

    A figurative literary use extended from the idea of a vertebral segment or prominent part.

    • Lane · entry 34666
  • فِقْرَة

    A piece of land suitable for sowing.

    A nominal agricultural use.

    • Lane · entry 34666
  • فِقْرَة

    A mark or landmark used by people competing in shooting or casting.

    May refer to a mountain, hill, hollow, or other target-like landmark used to specify a shooting position.

    • Lane · entry 34666
  • فُقْرَى

    The lending of a camel or other mount to be ridden or used for carrying a burden.

    A substantive derived from the Form IV construction أَفْقَرَهُ نَاقَتَهُ or أَفْقَرَهُ بَعِيرَهُ.

    • Lane · entry 34668
  • فَقَار

    The vertebrae of the back or the bones of the spine.

    The collective or singular lexical term for the regularly arranged spinal bones.

    • Lane · entry 34669
  • فَقَار الجَوْزَاء

    The three bright stars arranged obliquely in the middle of Orion.

    A figurative astronomical designation based on the appearance of vertebrae in a row.

    • Lane · entry 34669
  • ذُو الفَقَار

    The name of a celebrated sword associated first with the Prophet and later with ʿAlī.

    A proper name explained as referring to hollows or indentations in the sword.

    • Lane · entry 34669
  • ذُو الفَقَار

    A spear, by metaphorical extension from the name of the sword.

    A figurative weapon term.

    • Lane · entry 34669
  • فَقِير

    A hollow or well, especially one made around a palm shoot, and by extension a series of wells or a place where wells are dug.

    A nominal use distinct from the adjective meaning poor; the well may be old, shallow, or one of several communicating wells.

    • Lane · entry 34670
  • فَقِير

    The mouth or outlet from which water issues from a subterranean channel or conduit.

    A specialized geographical or hydraulic noun.

    • Lane · entry 34670
  • فَقِير

    A hollowed palm trunk used to ascend to an upper chamber.

    A reported lexical use; the evidence notes that نَقِير is the more commonly known word in this sense.

    • Lane · entry 34670
  • فَقِير

    Having an incision made in the muzzle, said of a camel.

    An epithet describing the camel-training procedure associated with فَقَرَ أَنْفَ البَعِيرِ.

    • Lane · entry 34670
  • فَقِير

    Afflicted with broken or diseased vertebrae, or struck by a calamity as though the back had been broken.

    An adjectival use applied to a person; this is a physical or figurative affliction, not the ordinary poverty sense.

    • Lane · entry 34670
  • فَقِير

    A person disabled or weakened by illness, especially prolonged disease that prevents earning adequately.

    A specialized classical description of a materially vulnerable person, distinguished in some accounts from other kinds of need.

    • Lane · entry 34670
  • فَاقِرَة

    The resurrection.

    A rare figurative nominal use reported as an extension of the calamity sense.

    • Lane · entry 34673
  • مُفْقِر

    Strong in the vertebrae or back and fit to be ridden.

    Applied to a man, camel, or colt; of a colt, it can mean having reached riding age.

    • Lane · entry 34676
  • مُفْقِر

    Firm-minded, strong, or capable enough for an undertaking or opponent.

    A figurative use based on strength of the back.

    • Lane · entry 34676
  • مُفَقَّر

    A sword whose blade has notches or indentations forming depressions.

    A passive participial adjective describing the blade's shaped surface.

    • Lane · entry 34677
  • مُتَفَقِّرَة

    Containing many hollows or depressions.

    Applied to land containing numerous فُقَر.

    • Lane · entry 34680
  • مُتَفَاقِر

    A person who claims to be in poverty or need.

    An active participial description of professed or asserted poverty.

    • Lane · entry 34681

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • The classical distinction between فَقِير and مِسْكِين is disputed; the Quranic فقير forms are therefore defined by attested need and insufficient means without imposing one disputed ranking.

  • The Form V sense تَفَقَّرَ is preserved as a reported reading because the same evidence states that the commonly known reading is تَقَفَّرَ.

  • The palm-trunk sense of فَقِير is reported with an explicit qualification that نَقِير is the more commonly known term in that usage.