Quranic root
فرق
f · r · q
The root centers on distinguishing, separating, or removing one thing from another.
From physical separation and division it extends to distinct portions or groups, departure from one another, and discernment between truth and falsehood. Some specialized usages develop from the idea of something becoming separate or distinct.
- Maqāyīs · row 3569
- Mufradāt · row 1107
- 13
- Quran-attested forms
- 19
- Quran senses
- 72
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
فَرَقَ
faraqa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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 separate, distinguish, or decide between things or parties.
Applies to perceptible or intelligible distinctions; in Qur'anic constructions it can express making a matter distinct or deciding between parties.
- Lane · entry 33944
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:25word 9
“so (make a) separation”
To cleave apart or divide into distinct portions; to present something in separated portions.
Attested of the sea being cleft and of the Qur'an being rendered distinct, explained, or sent down in portions. The reported readings and explanations of the Qur'anic expression differ in whether the emphasis is on distinction or distribution into portions.
- Lane · entry 33944
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:50word 2
“We parted”
Quran 17:106word 2
“We have divided”
To fear or become afraid.
This is the fear usage of فَرِقَ, including fear expressed with مِنْ or عَلَى; it is distinct from the separation usage of فَرَقَ.
- Lane · entry 33944
- Lane · entry 33964
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:56word 10
“(who) are afraid”
فَرَّقَ
farraqa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 9 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 cause separation, disunion, dispersal, or division.
Can describe scattering portions or disrupting an existing union, including the union of spouses and the cohesion of a community or religion.
- Lane · entry 33945
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:102word 38
“[they] causes separation”
Quran 6:159word 3
“divide”
To distinguish or differentiate between persons or things.
Especially used in the construction of making or refusing a distinction between members of a set, including the messengers.
- Lane · entry 33945
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:136word 25
“we make distinction”
فَارَقَ
fāraqa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 separate from, part with, leave, or abandon.
The separation is construed as departure from another party; the Qur'anic occurrence is an imperative addressed to a husband concerning separation from his wife.
- Lane · entry 33946
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 65:2word 7
“part with them”
تَفَرَّقَ
tafarraqa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- Quran occurrences
- 8 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 separated, divided, or dispersed; to separate from one another.
Used of groups, pairs, roads, opinions, or affairs becoming disunited or diverging; it may describe a resulting state rather than an externally caused separation.
- Lane · entry 33948
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
فَارِقٌ
fāriqun
- 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.
Those who separate or distinguish between things.
In the Qur'anic expression, the active participle is plural feminine and is interpreted as agents who distinguish between matters according to divine command, including truth and falsehood or the allowable and forbidden.
- Lane · entry 33968
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 77:4word 1
“And those who separate”
فَرِيقٌ
farīqun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 33 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 party, group, or company set apart from others.
It may refer to a portion of a larger community, including one of two contrasting parties; the lexical evidence does not require a fixed size.
- Lane · entry 33963
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
فَرْقٌ
farqun
- 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 separation or distinction between things.
In the Qur'anic expression it denotes the separating or distinguishing act associated with those who distinguish.
- Lane · entry 33952
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 77:4word 2
“(by the) Criterion”
فِرَاقٌ
firāqun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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.
Parting, separation, or departure from another.
The Qur'anic uses include separation between companions and the departure from worldly life through death.
- Lane · entry 33958
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:78word 3
“(is) parting”
Quran 75:28word 3
“(is) the parting”
فِرْقٌ
firqun
- 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 piece or portion separated or cleft from a larger thing.
The Qur'anic occurrence describes a separated portion of the sea; the same noun can also denote other kinds of separated portions in Classical Arabic.
- Lane · entry 33954
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:63word 11
“part”
فِرْقَةٌ
firqahun
- 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 distinct group, party, or portion of people.
It denotes a group distinguished from others; the Qur'anic occurrence concerns a group departing to acquire religious understanding and instruct its people.
- Lane · entry 33959
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:122word 10
“group”
فُرْقَانٌ
furqānun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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 criterion or means of distinguishing truth from falsehood.
It may denote a divinely given capacity for discernment, proof, or decisive evidence.
- Lane · entry 33960
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:29word 9
“a criterion”
A revealed scripture that distinguishes truth from falsehood.
The Qur'anic usage includes the Qur'an and the revelation given to Moses; the term concerns the scripture's function as a criterion, not merely its physical form.
- Lane · entry 33960
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:1word 4
“the Criterion”
Quran 2:53word 5
“and the Criterion”
The decisive occasion on which truth and falsehood are separated; the Day of Criterion or associated victory.
In the expression “the Day of the Criterion,” it refers to the decisive day identified with the battle of Badr or with the victory and distinction achieved on that day.
- Lane · entry 33960
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:41word 25
“(of) the criterion”
A cleaving or separation of the sea.
This is a reported interpretation of the Qur'anic expression at 2:50; the supplied QAC occurrence for this nominal group is elsewhere, while the corresponding Form I occurrence at that verse is independently attested.
- Lane · entry 33960
مُتَفَرِّقٌ
mutafarriqun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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.
Separated, distinct, or dispersed from one another.
The feminine and masculine Qur'anic forms are inflected variants of the same active participle and describe things or persons not united in one place or group.
- Lane · entry 33948
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:39word 4
“separate”
Quran 12:67word 11
“different”
تَفْرِيقٌ
tafrīqun
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
The act of causing division, separation, or disunion.
It is the verbal noun of Form II and emphasizes the resulting division or the act of disrupting a union.
- Lane · entry 33945
- Mufradāt · row 1107
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:107word 6
“and (for) division”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:50فَرَقْنَاWe parted
- 2:53وَٱلْفُرْقَانَand the Criterion
- 2:75فَرِيقٌۭa party
- 2:85فَرِيقًۭاa party
- 2:87فَفَرِيقًۭاSo a party
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 69 Classical meanings
فَرَقَ
To separate the hair with a comb.
A physical grooming construction with the hair as object.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
To become apparent or manifest to someone; of a road, to present itself as divided into alternatives.
Used with an affair, idea, opinion, or road that becomes clear or presents alternatives.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
Of a she-camel or she-ass, to wander away at random while in labor.
A specialized animal-behavior usage associated with the pains of parturition.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
To void dung.
A bodily-function usage, especially of a bird or similar creature.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
To possess a flock or portion of sheep or goats.
Attested in the construction of possessing a فِرْق of livestock.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
To feed a woman with فَرِيقَة.
A specialized food-related construction.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
To exceed another in fear after vying with him in fear.
A rare transitive usage describing comparative fearfulness.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرِقَ
To enter a wave and dive into it.
A specialized intransitive usage associated with a wave or surge.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَقَ
To drink the amount contained in a measure called فَرَق.
The measure is the vessel or capacity described under فَرَقٌ.
- Lane · entry 33944
فَرَّقَ
To frighten or put someone in fear.
This is a Form II causative fear usage, distinct from causing separation.
- Lane · entry 33945
فَارَقَ
To release someone from an accounting or claim on agreed terms.
A specialized settlement construction in which a person is released from further reckoning after agreement.
- Lane · entry 33946
أَفْرَقَ
To leave camels in pasture without assisting their breeding or bringing forth.
A specialized livestock-management usage.
- Lane · entry 33947
أَفْرَقَ
To cause sheep or goats to stray, become lost, or lose a portion of the flock.
Includes causing livestock to become separated from the main flock.
- Lane · entry 33947
أَفْرَقَ
To recover, or recover incompletely, from a disease or fever.
Traditionally applied especially to recovery from a disease regarded as occurring only once, such as smallpox or measles.
- Lane · entry 33947
أَفْرَقَ
Of a she-camel, to have a return of some of her milk.
A specialized animal-husbandry usage.
- Lane · entry 33947
أَفْرَقَ
To void dung, or to cause another creature to void dung.
Applied to humans, birds, and beasts in the intransitive use, and causatively in the transitive use.
- Lane · entry 33947
تَفَارَقَ
To separate oneself from others, or to leave and abandon one another.
A reciprocal Form VI separation.
- Lane · entry 33949
اِنْفَرَقَ
To become separated or divided.
An intransitive separation; the derived noun may also denote the event or place of separation.
- Lane · entry 33950
اِنْفَرَقَ
Of the dawn, to break.
A specialized extension from separation, parallel to the breaking or cleaving of dawn.
- Lane · entry 33950
فَرْقٌ
The line or parting of the hair, or a mode of dividing and arranging it.
Includes the hair parting and related divisions of the head or beard.
- Lane · entry 33952
فَرْقٌ
A blaze or distinct mark on a horse's forehead.
A specialized equine usage.
- Lane · entry 33952
فَرْقٌ
A certain bird or flying creature.
A lexicalized noun unrelated to the ordinary abstract sense of distinction.
- Lane · entry 33952
فَرْقٌ
Flax.
A specialized noun.
- Lane · entry 33952
فُرْقٌ
A vessel used for measuring.
A concrete vessel sense, related to the capacity measure also called فَرَقٌ.
- Lane · entry 33953
فُرْقَانٌ
Two separate bowls or milking vessels.
A reported plural-like usage in a context concerning separated vessels.
- Lane · entry 33953
فِرْقٌ
A large flock or herd, especially of sheep or goats.
The exact size and animal class vary among the reported descriptions.
- Lane · entry 33954
فِرْقٌ
A set or group of boys.
A collective-group usage illustrated by a set regarded as a unit.
- Lane · entry 33954
فِرْقٌ
A distinct quantity of date-stones or other feed given to an animal.
A measure or portion of feed for a camel or other beast.
- Lane · entry 33954
فِرْقٌ
A mountain, hill, or elevated mass.
A specialized concrete noun.
- Lane · entry 33954
فِرْقٌ
A wave, billow, or surge.
A specialized concrete noun and the basis of the related diving usage.
- Lane · entry 33954
فِرْقٌ
The star on the right shoulder of Cepheus.
A proper astronomical designation in Arabic usage.
- Lane · entry 33954
فَرَقٌ
A widening or open space between paired body parts.
Applied to spaces between incisors, camel toes, or divisions in a crest, forelock, or beard.
- Lane · entry 33955
فَرَقٌ
An asymmetry in a horse's hips or thighs.
A physical defect in which one hip is more prominent or one thigh is deficient relative to the other.
- Lane · entry 33955
فَرَقٌ
The dawn or the bright gleam that has separated from the darkness of night.
A variant or parallel designation of the breaking of dawn.
- Lane · entry 33955
فَرَقٌ
A large vessel or measure of capacity.
Traditional descriptions differ on its exact capacity; it is associated with three ṣāʿs or other reported equivalents.
- Lane · entry 33955
فَرَقٌ
Sparseness or a scattered state of the plants or herbage of a land.
Describes vegetation that is sparse or scattered rather than contiguous.
- Lane · entry 33955
فِرْقَةٌ
A portion of a thing in a dispersed state.
This is distinct from the group sense when the separated portions are material rather than a social party.
- Lane · entry 33959
فِرْقَةٌ
A skin full of milk that cannot be churned until some of its contents are released.
A specialized vessel or hide usage.
- Lane · entry 33959
فُرْقَانٌ
The time shortly before daybreak or the dawn.
A concrete temporal sense developed from the separation of night and day.
- Lane · entry 33960
فُرْقَانٌ
Boys used as witnesses in legal proceedings.
A specialized historical usage.
- Lane · entry 33960
فَرِيقٌ
A person or thing that separates itself or goes out from others.
An active or agentive extension of the separation idea, distinct from the collective noun “group.”
- Lane · entry 33963
فَرِيقٌ
A destination that separates widely from another destination.
Used of a journey's intended destination in relation to another route or destination.
- Lane · entry 33963
فَرِيقٌ
A palm tree from which another palm grows.
A specialized botanical usage.
- Lane · entry 33963
فَارُوقَةٌ
Honor, reputation, or that which one is obliged to respect and defend.
A specialized noun distinct from the fear adjective with the same general pattern.
- Lane · entry 33964
فَارُوقَةٌ
The fat surrounding the kidneys.
A specialized anatomical noun, reported with some disagreement.
- Lane · entry 33964
فَرِيقَةٌ
One, two, or three animals that separate from and stray away from a flock or herd.
Especially a small offshoot shut out from the main aggregate by an obstacle or distance.
- Lane · entry 33965
فَرِيقَةٌ
Dates cooked with fenugreek, or a medicinal soup prepared with fenugreek and grains.
A postpartum food or a restorative preparation for someone weakened by chronic illness.
- Lane · entry 33965
فَارِقٌ
A she-camel or she-ass that separates from its mate or wanders away while in labor.
Includes related descriptions of casting the young because of labor pains.
- Lane · entry 33968
فَارِقٌ
An isolated cloud separated from the main mass of clouds.
Often a cloud expected to give rain, sometimes preceded by thunder or lightning.
- Lane · entry 33968
فَارُوقٌ
A person or thing that distinguishes between truth and falsehood or between cases.
The term may be applied as an epithet to a person recognized for such discernment.
- Lane · entry 33969
فَارُوقٌ
A highly valued theriac or compound medicine.
Named for its supposed ability to distinguish disease from health.
- Lane · entry 33969
أَفْرَقُ
Having a naturally wide separation or gap between paired parts.
Applied to people and animals, including spaces between incisors, toes, horns, or other paired parts.
- Lane · entry 33971
أَفْرَقُ
A camel having two humps.
A specialized animal description.
- Lane · entry 33971
أَفْرَقُ
Having a divided forelock, beard, or cock's crest.
The same descriptive branch may also be applied to a cock reported as white or as having two crests.
- Lane · entry 33971
أَفْرَقُ
Having asymmetrical hips, thighs, elbows, or testicles.
A specialized physical description of unequal prominence or deficiency in paired body parts.
- Lane · entry 33971
أَفْرَقُ
Distinct or manifest; of a road, clearly apparent, or of a torrent, resembling a separated wave.
Adjectival usage with both figurative clarity and specialized physical comparison.
- Lane · entry 33971
تَفَارِيقُ
Sundry, separate, or scattered portions; at sundry times.
Used of things taken or occurring in separate portions or on separate occasions.
- Lane · entry 33972
مَفْرَقٌ
The middle of the head where the hair is parted.
The plural مَفَارِقُ may also refer to the several places of hair separation.
- Lane · entry 33973
مَفْرَقٌ
The place on a road where another road branches off.
A physical point of divergence between routes.
- Lane · entry 33973
مَفْرَقٌ
A manifest or evident mode or aspect of a narrative or discourse.
A figurative extension from a point at which paths or lines separate.
- Lane · entry 33973
مُفْرِقٌ
A she-camel whose young has become separated from her, sometimes by death.
A specialized animal description.
- Lane · entry 33974
مُفْرِقٌ
A she-camel that remains two or three years without conceiving.
A specialized animal-husbandry usage.
- Lane · entry 33974
مُفْرِقٌ
A she-camel having a return of some of her milk.
A specialized animal-husbandry usage.
- Lane · entry 33974
مُفْرِقٌ
One who is recovering from disease.
A participial designation of a person emerging from illness.
- Lane · entry 33974
مُفْرِقٌ
Deviating from the right way or from what is correct.
A figurative adjectival usage.
- Lane · entry 33974
مُفْرِقٌ
A person described as having little flesh, or alternatively as fat or plump.
The reported sources preserve opposite physical descriptions for this expression.
- Lane · entry 33974
مُفَرِّقٌ
The small, stinking animal that disperses cattle by its odor.
A lexicalized animal name based on its dispersing effect.
- Lane · entry 33976
مُنْفَرَقٌ
A place where a road divides or branches.
Also used as a verbal noun of becoming separated.
- Lane · entry 33978
فَرِقٌ
Sparse or scattered vegetation, not covering the ground continuously.
Applied to plants or herbage, and to land characterized by such non-contiguous vegetation.
- Lane · entry 33957
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form I group combines the separation verb فَرَقَ with the fear usage فَرِقَ; the distinction is lexical and vocalic, not a single English gloss.
The Qur'anic discussion of وَقُرْآنًا فَرَقْنَاهُ preserves both the sense of making the revelation distinct or explained and the reported interpretation of sending it down in separate portions.
The Furqan sense associated with the sea is retained as a reported Qur'anic interpretation of 2:50, not as a modern occurrence location for the فُرْقَانٌ form group.