Quranic root
غبر
gh · b · r
The root has two principal semantic orientations: remaining or being left as a residue, and dust or a dust-like colour.
The remaining branch extends to continuance, remnants, what is left of milk, disease, night, or a people, and to people left behind. The dust branch extends to dust, dusty colour, earth, and related figurative uses; striving or hastening is treated as a divergent lexical development.
- Maqāyīs · row 3370
- Mufradāt · row 1035
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 8
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَابِرٌ
ghābirun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Remaining behind; surviving or being left as a remnant after others depart or after an event has passed.
Quranic غَابِرِينَ is a plural active participle used of people who stay behind, including those who remain when others leave or remain after the onset or continuation of punishment. The contexts support the sense of remaining or being left behind, rather than independently establishing the opposite sense, “past.”
- Lane · entry 28759
- Mufradāt · row 1035
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:83word 7
“those who stayed behind”
Quran 26:171word 4
“those who remained behind”
Quran 29:33word 23
“those who remain behind”
غَبَرَةٌ
ghabarahun
- 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.
Dust or a dusty coating clinging to a surface; dustiness.
In the Quranic occurrence the noun describes dust covering faces. The sense concerns dust or the resulting dusty condition, not the separately vocalized noun غُبْرَةٌ for a dust-colour.
- Mufradāt · row 1035
Selected Quran examples
Quran 80:40word 4
“(will be) dust”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 7:83ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَthose who stayed behind
- 15:60ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَthose who remain behind
- 26:171ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَthose who remained behind
- 27:57ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَthose who remained behind
- 29:32ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَthose who remain behind
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 72 Classical meanings
غَبَرَ
To remain, last, or continue; of a person, to tarry, stay, or wait.
- Lane · entry 28738
غَبَرَ
To pass away, go away, or depart.
A contrary lexical use to “remain,” explicitly reported as an occasional usage.
- Lane · entry 28738
غَبَرَ
To be future.
A grammatical or lexicographical use reported for this verb.
- Lane · entry 28738
غَبِرَ
Of a wound, to become corrupt, heal over corruption, and recrudesce, or to remain continually recurrent.
The expression describes a wound whose apparent healing is followed by renewed inflammation or discharge.
- Lane · entry 28738
غَبِرَ
To bear or conceal rancour, malice, or violent hatred.
A figurative use said of a person and his concealed disposition.
- Lane · entry 28738
تَغْبِيرٌ
The drawing up or withdrawal of milk from an udder.
A passive-verb verbal-noun use concerning milk becoming held back in the udder.
- Lane · entry 28739
غَبَّرَ
To soil or sprinkle a person or thing with dust.
A causative Form II construction with a direct object.
- Lane · entry 28739
تَغْبِيرٌ
A devotional recitation in which the voice is trilled, reiterated, or prolonged, including recitation of poetry, praise, or Quranic verses.
The term is used for a chanting or vocally reiterated form of devotional performance; the cited discussion preserves a historical disagreement about its religious status.
- Lane · entry 28739
غَبَّرَ
To give a guest dates of the kind called غُبْرَان.
A specialized hospitality construction with a guest as object.
- Lane · entry 28739
غَبَّرَتْ
In an idiom, to oppose or resist and then acquiesce for the sake of obstinate disputation.
Restricted to the cited expression concerning argumentative opposition.
- Lane · entry 28739
أَغْبَرَ
To raise dust.
The literal intransitive Form IV use.
- Lane · entry 28740
أَغْبَرَ فِي وَجْهِهِ
To outstrip, get before, or go ahead of someone.
A figurative expression derived from raising dust in another’s face.
- Lane · entry 28740
أَغْبَرَ فِي طَلَبِ الحَاجَةِ
To strive, work vigorously, hasten, or apply oneself diligently in seeking something.
A figurative construction presenting eagerness and speed as raising dust.
- Lane · entry 28740
أَغْبَرَ فِي الشَّيْءِ
To set about or commence doing something.
A figurative Form IV construction.
- Lane · entry 28740
أَغْبَرَتِ السَّمَاءُ
Of the sky, to rain vehemently upon people.
An impersonal or intransitive weather construction.
- Lane · entry 28740
تَغَبَّرَ
To milk a camel, drawing out what remains in her udder.
A Form V construction focused on extracting the remainder of milk.
- Lane · entry 28741
تَغَبَّرَ
In an idiom, to marry or seek offspring from the young or old in order to increase progeny.
The meaning is preserved from the cited saying about taking the first seed of the young and the remainder of the old.
- Lane · entry 28741
تَغَبَّرَ مِنَ المَرْأَةِ وَلَدًا
To obtain offspring from a woman.
A conventional construction explicitly illustrated with a woman advanced in age; that illustration does not impose a general restriction on the object.
- Lane · entry 28741
تَغَبَّرَ
To become sullied or sprinkled with dust.
Also said of dates or dried dates that become dusty.
- Lane · entry 28741
اِغْبَرَّ
To become dust-coloured or assume a colour like dust.
The related intensive Form IX use also applies to a day that becomes very dusty.
- Lane · entry 28742
غُبْرٌ
A remainder, remnant, residue, or relic of something.
Used especially of what remains of milk, menstrual blood, disease, the night, or a people; the core meaning is what is left after a larger quantity or phase has passed.
- Lane · entry 28743
غِبْرٌ
Rancour, malevolence, malice, concealed enmity, or violent hatred.
A noun for hostile feeling.
- Lane · entry 28744
غَبَرٌ
Remaining, lasting, or continuance.
A noun denoting persistence or what continues.
- Lane · entry 28745
غَبَرٌ
The future.
A usage attributed to some grammarians.
- Lane · entry 28745
غَبَرٌ
A disease affecting the interior of a camel’s foot.
A specialized animal-health term.
- Lane · entry 28745
غَبَرٌ
A morbid affection of a vein that is difficult or impossible to cure.
A technical medical or veterinary specialization.
- Lane · entry 28745
دَاهِيَةُ الغَبَرِ
A calamity, misfortune, trial, or affliction from which there is little or no escape.
An idiom for a persistent or exceptionally serious hardship.
- Lane · entry 28745
دَاهِيَةُ الغَبَرِ
A person who opposes another, then returns or gives regard to the other’s words.
A separate idiomatic interpretation of the same expression, associated with disputation.
- Lane · entry 28745
صَمَّاءُ الغَبَرِ
A serpent dwelling near a small, stagnant body of water and not readily approached.
A specialized epithet preserved in a poetic description.
- Lane · entry 28745
الغَبَرُ
Water that is small in quantity.
A rare nominal use.
- Lane · entry 28745
غَبَرٌ
Dust or earth.
A nominal synonym of تراب in the cited lexical entry.
- Lane · entry 28745
جُرْحٌ غَبِرٌ
A wound in a corrupt state, or one that heals over corruption and then becomes recurrent.
An adjectival construction describing recrudescent injury.
- Lane · entry 28746
عِرْقٌ غَبِرٌ
A vein that repeatedly becomes inflamed or discharges.
A specialized anatomical expression for a constantly recurrent condition.
- Lane · entry 28746
نَاقَةٌ غَدِرَةٌ غَبِرَةٌ
A she-camel that remains or lags behind the other camels when driven.
A fixed descriptive collocation.
- Lane · entry 28746
غُبَرٌ
A kind or species of fish.
A zoological noun.
- Lane · entry 28747
غَبْرَةٌ
The act or condition of dirtying or sprinkling something with dust.
This is the vocalized noun غَبْرَةٌ, distinct from the Quranic غَبَرَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 28748
غُبْرَةٌ
A dust-colour or dusty hue, including a dusty complexion produced by grief or anxiety.
A noun for colour or complexion, distinct from the Quranic dust noun غَبَرَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 28749
غُبْرَانٌ
A cluster of two or more dates growing on one base.
The sources differ on whether the dates are ripe, unripe, or small and green.
- Lane · entry 28752
غُبْرُورٌ
A small dust-coloured passerine bird.
A zoological noun; the entry also records a variant or suspected mistranscription in related material.
- Lane · entry 28753
غُبَارٌ
Dust, especially dust raised and spreading, or what remains of such dust.
The entry also records a closely related use for dust in motion.
- Lane · entry 28755
غُبَارٌ
The moving to and fro of dust.
A specialized distinction within the noun غُبَارٌ.
- Lane · entry 28755
شَقَّ غُبَارَهُ
To overtake or catch up with someone, literally to cleave his dust; in the negative, to fail to overtake him.
A figurative idiom of pursuit and speed.
- Lane · entry 28755
لَا غُبَارَ عَلَيْهِ
To be clear, perspicuous, or free from obscurity.
A figurative idiom meaning that no dust or obscurity lies upon a statement or matter.
- Lane · entry 28755
غَبِيرٌ
A kind or variety of dates.
A specialized agricultural noun.
- Lane · entry 28756
غُبَيْرَاءُ
A known plant or tree of the plains, or its fruit.
The sources identify it variously with the service-tree or sorb and related plants; the name is connected with the colour of its leaves or fruit.
- Lane · entry 28757
غُبَيْرَاءُ
An intoxicating beverage made from millet or from the fruit of the plant called غُبَيْرَاءُ.
A technical beverage term, also called غُبَيْرَاءُ السَّكَرِ when distinguished from a date-based preparation.
- Lane · entry 28757
غَابِرٌ
Passing, going away, or past.
A contrary use to “remaining,” reported as occasional or lexicographical usage.
- Lane · entry 28759
غَابِرٌ
Future time.
A grammatical use attributed to some lexicographers; it is not the Quranic sense of the plural form.
- Lane · entry 28759
الغَابِرَةُ
The lasting or everlasting state of existence; the afterlife.
A feminine nominal expression for the latter or enduring state.
- Lane · entry 28761
أَغْبَرُ
Dust-coloured or of a colour like dust.
The masculine adjective has غَبْرَاءُ as its feminine and غُبْرٌ as its plural.
- Lane · entry 28762
الأَغْبَرُ
The wolf.
A conventional epithet attributed to the animal’s dusty colour.
- Lane · entry 28762
الغَبْرَاءُ
The female of the partridge.
A conventional zoological use of the feminine form.
- Lane · entry 28762
الغَبْرَاءُ
The earth or ground.
A figurative designation based on its dusty colour or the dust upon it, contrasted with the sky or heaven.
- Lane · entry 28762
عَلَى غَبْرَاءِ الظَّهْرِ
To come on foot, literally upon the bare earth or ground.
A fixed expression involving غَبْرَاءُ الظَّهْرِ.
- Lane · entry 28762
جَاءَ عَلَى غَبْرَاءِ الظَّهْرِ
To return disappointed or without attaining what one sought.
A variant interpretation of the expression, emphasizing failure to accomplish the desired object.
- Lane · entry 28762
تَرَكَهُ عَلَى الظَّهْرِ
To leave someone possessing nothing.
An idiom for prevailing over someone in an altercation and stripping him of what was in his hands.
- Lane · entry 28762
بَنُو الغَبْرَاءِ
The poor, needy, or indigent.
The expression is explained as referring to people cleaving to the dust.
- Lane · entry 28762
غَبْرَاءُ النَّاسِ
Strangers, or people whose family or tribal affiliation is unknown.
One of several explanations of the expression in the cited poetic context.
- Lane · entry 28762
غَبْرَاءُ النَّاسِ
People who gather to drink without being mutually acquainted.
A context-specific social use reported as an alternative interpretation.
- Lane · entry 28762
غَبْرَاءُ النَّاسِ
People who contribute equally to expenses incurred on a journey.
A context-specific interpretation of the same expression.
- Lane · entry 28762
ابْنُ غَبْرَاءَ
A thief or robber.
A fixed expression with the feminine form غَبْرَاءَ.
- Lane · entry 28762
غَبْرَاءُ
Land abounding in coverts or trees.
A geographical description of wooded or sheltered terrain.
- Lane · entry 28762
غَبْرَاءُ
Herbage growing in plain or soft land.
A rare botanical or landscape use.
- Lane · entry 28762
غَبْرَاءُ
A species of plant.
The entry suggests that the plant may be the one otherwise called غُبَيْرَاءُ.
- Lane · entry 28762
وَطْأَةٌ غَبْرَاءُ
A footprint that is becoming obliterated or effaced; alternatively, one that is recent.
A fixed descriptive expression preserving two reported interpretations.
- Lane · entry 28762
عِزٌّ أَغْبَرُ
Might or power that is departing and becoming effaced.
A figurative adjectival construction.
- Lane · entry 28762
سَنَةٌ غَبْرَاءُ
A year of drought in which there is no rain.
The name is explained by the dustiness of the horizons and ground resulting from lack of rain and herbage.
- Lane · entry 28762
جُوعٌ أَغْبَرُ
Severe hunger or famine.
A fixed descriptive expression.
- Lane · entry 28762
مُغْبَرٌّ
A camel whose foot interior is in a withering condition.
A specialized animal-health adjective.
- Lane · entry 28764
مُغَبِّرَةٌ
A group devoted to praising or glorifying God through reiterated vocal recitation, including Quranic recitation.
A conventional collective noun; the source gives a historical explanation connecting the name with the lasting state of existence and records a disputed religious evaluation.
- Lane · entry 28765
مِغْبَارٌ
A palm tree that becomes overspread with dust.
A specialized botanical noun.
- Lane · entry 28766
مِغْبَارٌ
A she-camel that produces abundant milk after other camels that have recently given birth.
A specialized animal and milk-production term.
- Lane · entry 28766
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The root has a documented opposition between meanings of remaining and passing away; the Quranic form غَابِرِينَ is supported here specifically in the remaining or being-left-behind sense.
Lane's discussion of تَغْبِيرٌ and مُغَبِّرَةٌ refers to Quranic recitation as part of a devotional practice but does not supply a securely usable modern Quran verse location.