Quranic root
فتح
f · t · ḥ
The root centers on opening: removing closure or obstruction and thereby making something accessible, evident, available, or decided.
From physical opening and release, the semantic range extends to disclosure, provision and other granted openings, judgment, victory, and requests for such outcomes.
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- 8
- Quran-attested forms
- 17
- Quran senses
- 38
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
فَتَحَ
fataḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 16 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 open, unlock, or remove a physical closure, making a door, object, or passage accessible.
Includes opening doors, containers, and other closed things; the passive Quranic uses describe something becoming opened.
- Lane · entry 33092
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:65word 2
“they opened”
To open up or grant access to blessings, provision, relief, or other favorable circumstances.
Often construed with عَلَى; the opening may be figurative, as when prosperity or blessings are made available.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:96word 7
“surely We (would have) opened”
To disclose, explain, or make known something hidden, obscure, or previously inaccessible.
The construction فَتَحَ عَلَيْهِ may mean to inform, teach, or acquaint someone with something; it can also refer to explaining a difficulty.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:76word 15
“has”
To judge or decide between parties, settling a disputed matter.
Used with بَيْنَ in the construction “to judge between”; the related active participle and noun occur in this judicial sense.
- Lane · entry 33092
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:89word 35
“Decide”
To grant victory over an enemy, conquer, or overcome.
A figurative extension of laying a country or adversary open; it may describe God granting victory or a people conquering territory.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 48:1word 2
“We have given victory”
فَتَّحَ
fattaḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 open repeatedly, extensively, or in multiple places; in the passive, to be opened wide or fully.
Form II conveys an intensified or multiplicative opening; the Quranic occurrence concerns gates being opened.
- Lane · entry 33093
- Lane · entry 33092
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:40word 8
“be opened”
اِسْتَفْتَحَ
āistaftaḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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.
To seek or ask for victory, aid, or triumph over an enemy.
The Quranic occurrences use the form for seeking or requesting victory; the request may be directed to God or expressed as a challenge.
- Lane · entry 33100
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:89word 13
“(that), pray for victory”
Quran 8:19word 2
“you ask for victory”
Quran 14:15word 1
“And they sought victory”
To seek a decisive judgment or a divinely granted opening or resolution.
The Quran-focused discussion also records judgment and a beginning of good among the possible objects of seeking فتح; this sense is interpretive rather than a separate inflectional meaning.
- Lane · entry 33100
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:89word 13
“(that), pray for victory”
فَاتِحٌ
fātiḥun
- 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.
One who judges or decides between parties.
The Quranic plural occurs in the expression “the best of those who judge,” in a context of asking for a decision between disputing groups.
- Lane · entry 33092
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:89word 42
“(of) those who Decide”
فَتْحٌ
fatḥun
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Victory, aid, or conquest granted over an opponent or territory.
Depending on context, فتح denotes triumph, successful overcoming, or conquest; it is frequently rendered “victory.”
- Lane · entry 33101
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 48:1word 4
“a victory”
Quran 110:1word 5
“and the Victory”
A judgment, decision, or decisive settlement of a dispute.
In judicial contexts فتح means the resolution by which a matter between parties is decided.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 32:28word 4
“decision”
Quran 26:118word 4
“(with decisive) judgment”
A divinely granted opening of benefits, knowledge, guidance, or other good.
In interpretations of the Quranic noun, the opening may refer not only to conquest but also to knowledge, guidance, and access to favorable outcomes.
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- Lane · entry 33101
Selected Quran examples
Quran 48:1word 4
“a victory”
فَتَّاحٌ
fattāḥun
- Part of speech
- Noun · Divine epithet
- 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 Judge or decisive arbiter.
As a divine epithet, it denotes the one who decides between disputants and settles their matter.
- Lane · entry 33111
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 34:26word 10
“(is) the Judge”
The Opener who opens the gates of sustenance, mercy, and other benefits.
This is a divine, figurative extension of opening and making available what was closed or inaccessible.
- Lane · entry 33111
Selected Quran examples
Quran 34:26word 10
“(is) the Judge”
مِفْتَاحٌ / مَفْتَحٌ
miftāḥun / maftaḥun
- 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.
Keys, or means of access and opening.
مَفَاتِح may be the plural of مِفْتَاحٌ, a key or instrument of opening, and in figurative use denotes means by which something inaccessible is reached.
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Selected Quran examples
Repositories, treasuries, or hoards of wealth.
The plural may also derive from مَفْتَحٌ, a repository or place where things are kept; this reading is especially relevant to the Quranic reference to Qarun’s possessions.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:76word 14
“(the) keys of it”
مُفَتَّحٌ
mufattaḥun
- Part of speech
- Passive 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.
Opened wide, opened up, or made accessible.
The Quranic feminine form describes something whose openings or gates have been opened; the Form II pattern can suggest an extensive or repeated opening.
- Lane · entry 33093
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 38:50word 3
“(will be) opened”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:76فَتَحَhas
- 2:89يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ(that), pray for victory
- 4:141فَتْحٌۭa victory
- 5:52بِٱلْفَتْحِthe victory
- 6:44فَتَحْنَاWe opened
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 52 Classical meanings
فَتَحَ
To seek or demand that something be opened.
A constructional extension of the basic transitive verb, especially with a door or other closure as its object.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ
To be so exceptional that no comparable person or thing is encountered.
In the idiom لَا يُفْتَحُ العَيْنُ عَلَى مِثْلِهِ, literally “the eye is not opened upon his like.”
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ
To open a conduit so that water runs through it for irrigation.
Used of opening a channel to conduct water to cultivated land.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ
To make an opening between the legs or to part the legs.
A bodily construction reported as equivalent to making a cleft or separation between them.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ
To part the toes or incline their ends toward the upper rear part of the foot.
The report is tentative and is explicitly noted as possibly confused with a different root.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ / فَتُوحٌ
To have wide openings at the teats, said of a she-camel, ewe, or she-goat.
An animal-descriptive usage concerning the breadth of the teat openings.
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فَتَحَ لَهُ
To grant, permit, allow, or make something unrestricted for someone.
A figurative construction with the beneficiary marked by لِـ.
- Lane · entry 33092
فُتِحَ عَلَيْهِ
To become fortunate or favored by circumstances.
A passive figurative construction describing the acquisition of good fortune.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِمْ
For God to bestow abundant first rains upon people or land.
A figurative expression in which opening is associated with the arrival of beneficial rain.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَحَ عَلَى
To prompt a reciter or prayer leader by supplying words he has forgotten.
The construction refers to reciting the missing words to someone who is unable to utter them.
- Lane · entry 33092
فَتَّحَ / مُفَتِّحٌ
To act as an aperient or remove bodily obstructions.
A medical usage of Form II and its active participle, especially of medicines that open the bowels or clear obstructions.
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- Lane · entry 33116
فَاتَحَ
To address someone first.
The usage is especially noted of addressing a king or other person of high status before he initiates speech.
- Lane · entry 33094
فَاتَحَ
To begin a dispute, debate, or controversy with someone, or summon him before a judge.
Form III expresses reciprocal engagement in argument or litigation.
- Lane · entry 33094
فَاتَحَ
To bargain with someone without giving him anything.
A reported commercial usage distinguished from the verb used when something is actually given.
- Lane · entry 33094
فَاتَحَ
To have sexual intercourse with one’s wife.
A reported figurative or euphemistic construction; no narrower object-class restriction is inferred.
- Lane · entry 33094
فَاتَحَ
To make a thing easy.
A reported figurative usage of the Form III verb.
- Lane · entry 33094
فَاتَحَ
To be liberal or generous.
A rare poetic usage reported from classical verse.
- Lane · entry 33094
تَفَتَّحَ
To open or burst open, said of a blossom or calyx.
The intransitive Form V describes natural opening and disclosure of a flower.
- Lane · entry 33096
تَفَتَّحَ
To boast of one’s wealth, learning, or accomplishments, making a vain display of them.
A figurative usage in speech or conduct; it may be construed with بِـ.
- Lane · entry 33096
تَفَاتَحَا كَلَامًا
To converse together in a suppressed or confidential voice.
A reciprocal construction describing speech kept from others’ hearing.
- Lane · entry 33097
اِنْفَتَحَ
To open or become open, said especially of a door.
The Form VII verb is the intransitive or quasi-passive counterpart of opening a closure.
- Lane · entry 33098
اِنْفَتَحَ عَنْهُ
To be removed from before or over something so that it is disclosed or exposed to view.
The construction describes one thing becoming uncovered when another is removed.
- Lane · entry 33098
اِفْتَتَحَ
To open or commence something, including commencing prayer or beginning a period with an event.
The Form VIII verb is used of beginning prayer, beginning with a particular utterance or matter, and commencing a year or season auspiciously.
- Lane · entry 33099
اِسْتَفْتَحَ
To seek, demand, or ask for the opening of a gate or other closure.
The cited expression concerns seeking the opening of the gate of Paradise.
- Lane · entry 33100
اِسْتَفْتَحَ
To ask someone to explain the Quran.
A construction in which the Quran is the object of the request for explanation; it is distinct from the Quranic Form X requests for victory.
- Lane · entry 33100
اِسْتَفْتَحَ
To ask someone to prompt a reciter by supplying forgotten words.
The construction refers to the imam’s request for prompting and is linked to فَتَحَ عَلَى.
- Lane · entry 33100
اِسْتَفْتَحَ
To seek or request judgment.
A figurative Form X usage distinct from seeking military victory.
- Lane · entry 33100
فَتْحٌ
A conquest, especially the conquest of Mecca; by another usage, the Day of Resurrection.
These are conventional applications of يوم الفتح rather than the ordinary verbal-noun sense alone.
- Lane · entry 33101
فَتْحٌ
Means of subsistence or provision by which God gives aid.
A figurative nominal extension of opening and provision.
- Lane · entry 33101
فُتُوحٌ
The first or early rain, especially the first rain of a season.
Used of rain falling upon the land; the plural form is also connected with the corresponding rain-related noun.
- Lane · entry 33101
فَتْحٌ
Running water from a spring or other source, including water conducted through an opened channel.
A noun for flowing or channelled water, including irrigation water for which a conduit has been opened.
- Lane · entry 33101
فَتْحٌ
The place where the tang of an iron arrowhead enters the shaft.
A technical anatomical or weapon-making term.
- Lane · entry 33101
فَتْحٌ
The red, sweet, round fruit of the nabʿ tree.
A specific botanical and food term.
- Lane · entry 33101
فُتُحٌ
Wide, open, or large and wide, said of a door or a bottle with a wide or unstoppered mouth.
An adjective of the measure فُعُلٌ functioning with the sense of something opened or open.
- Lane · entry 33102
فُتْحَةٌ
An opening, gap, or intervening space.
A noun synonymous with a gap or interval between things.
- Lane · entry 33104
فَتْحَى
Gain, profit, or increase obtained in trade.
A rare commercial noun synonymous with رِبْحٌ.
- Lane · entry 33105
الفُتَاحَةُ / الفَتَّاحُ
A particular bird, including a reddish or black bird distinguished by its tail.
This zoological term is distinct from the verbal and divine-epithet uses of the same root.
- Lane · entry 33108
- Lane · entry 33111
فِتَاحَةٌ
The office or function of a judge.
Used of appointment to judicial office.
- Lane · entry 33109
فِتَاحَةٌ
Litigation, altercation, or disputed proceedings between two parties.
A plural construction describes disputes or altercations between two people.
- Lane · entry 33109
فَتَّاحٌ
A conqueror.
A figurative nominal use derived from opening a territory by force.
- Lane · entry 33111
فَتَّاحٌ
Wide or ample, said of a house or tent.
An adjectival use describing spaciousness.
- Lane · entry 33111
فَاتِحَةٌ
The commencement or first part of something; specifically, the opening chapter or opening portion of a Quranic chapter.
الفاتحة is conventionally the opening chapter of the Quran because recitation begins with it; فواتح القرآن denotes the opening portions of its chapters.
- Lane · entry 33113
مِفْتَحٌ
A conduit or channel for water.
A nominal instrument or place term related to opening a passage for water.
- Lane · entry 33115
مِفْتَاحٌ
A means that removes an impediment or enables an activity, such as ritual purification as the key to prayer.
A conventional metaphor based on a key’s enabling access to what follows.
- Lane · entry 33117
مِفْتَاحٌ
A faculty or means of access to eloquence, difficult meanings, and forms of knowledge.
مفاتيح الكلام is a figurative expression for gifted command of speech and understanding.
- Lane · entry 33117
مِفْتَاحٌ
A particular brand or mark placed on a camel’s thigh and neck.
A specialized livestock-marking term.
- Lane · entry 33117
مَفْتُوحٌ
Opened, unclosed, or unlocked, especially a door.
A passive participle used adjectivally of something whose closure has been removed.
- Lane · entry 33118
مَفْتُوحٌ
A light or bright color.
The source marks this sense as probably post-classical.
- Lane · entry 33118
مَفَاتِيحُ
A term applied to a fat she-camel.
A specialized animal term unrelated to the plural meaning “keys.”
- Lane · entry 33119
مُفْتَتَحٌ
The act, place, or time of opening or commencing; an opening portion or beginning.
The noun may denote a beginning generally and, in Quranic usage, an opening portion of the Quran.
- Lane · entry 33120
مُنْفَتِحٌ
Bursting or opening vehemently with rain, said of a day of clouds.
A figurative description of clouds or a day releasing heavy rain.
- Lane · entry 33121
فُتْحَةٌ
Boasting or making a vain display of one’s possessions, learning, or accomplishments.
A rare figurative noun; its Arabic status is explicitly disputed in the source.
- Lane · entry 33104
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
مَفَاتِحُ is explicitly ambiguous between a plural of مِفْتَاحٌ, “keys,” and a plural of مَفْتَحٌ, “repositories or treasuries”; the public form preserves both analyses.
فَتْحٌ in 48:1 is discussed with several Quran-focused interpretations, including victory and an opening of knowledge or guidance; the artifact records these without treating them as identical.
The reported toe-related usage of فَتَحَ is retained but marked tentative because the lexical source suggests possible confusion with another root.
The reported noun فُتْحَةٌ meaning boasting is retained as a rare, source-disputed usage.