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Quranic root

غلل

gh · l · l

The root centers on something entering into, penetrating, or becoming fixed within something else.

From this orientation develop meanings of inward burning or thirst, water running among trees, a hidden object, rancor lodged in the breast, concealed appropriation, restraints encircling the limbs, and transmission through intervening places.

  • Maqāyīs · row 3444
  • Mufradāt · row 1060
3
Quran-attested forms
8
Quran senses
16
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

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

غَلَّ

ghalla

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.

  1. To act unfaithfully in taking from communal spoil or booty; to embezzle or defraud.

    Used of secretly appropriating something that should remain in the division of spoil; Quranic occurrences are in the construction of acting unfaithfully in relation to booty.

    • Lane · entry 29624
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 3:161word 5

    he defrauds

  2. To shackle, bind, or confine with a neck or hand fetter.

    The passive may describe someone whose hand or limbs have been shackled; the imperative may command that a person be shackled.

    • Lane · entry 29624
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 69:30word 2

    and shackle him

  3. To withhold a hand from expenditure, figuratively treating it as shackled.

    A metaphorical construction describing restricted generosity or refusal to spend; it is distinct from the physical act of fastening a fetter.

    • Lane · entry 29624
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 5:64word 6

    Are chained

غُلّ / غِلّ

ghull / ghill

Part of speech
Noun
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.

  1. A shackle, fetter, or iron collar for the neck or hand.

    The plural أَغْلَال is used for shackles and fetters; the Quranic imagery includes restraints placed around the neck.

    • Lane · entry 29633
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 36:8word 5

    iron collars

  2. A burdensome restraint, difficult obligation, or fatiguing task, figuratively likened to a shackle.

    A figurative Quranic use of أَغْلَال; it should not be reduced to the physical implement alone.

    • Lane · entry 29633
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 7:157word 27

    and the fetters

  3. Rancor, malice, enmity, spite, or concealed ill will.

    غِلّ denotes hostility or resentment lodged in the breast, including resentment that is removed from the hearts of the people of Paradise.

    • Lane · entry 29634
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 15:47word 6

    rancor

    Quran 59:10word 17

    any rancor

مَغْلُول

maghlūl

Part of speech
Passive 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.

  1. Shackled, bound, or constrained as by a fetter.

    The form is a passive participle of the act of fastening a غُلّ and may describe a hand or person as bound.

    • Lane · entry 29651
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 5:64word 5

    (is) chained

  2. Withheld from spending; figuratively tight-fisted or restricted in giving.

    Used metaphorically of a hand whose giving is restrained, especially in the Quranic image of a hand bound to the neck.

    • Lane · entry 29651
    • Mufradāt · row 1060
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 17:29word 4

    chained

Occurrences in the Quran

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

  • 3:161يَغُلَّ ۚhe defrauds
  • 3:161يَغْلُلْdefrauds
  • 3:161غَلَّhe had defrauded
  • 5:64مَغْلُولَةٌ ۚ(is) chained
  • 5:64غُلَّتْAre chained
View all 16 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 57 Classical meanings
  • غَلَّ

    To make something enter into another thing, or to enter into it; to penetrate or become intermingled with it.

    Transitive and intransitive uses are attested, including entry into a thing or into the midst of deserts.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ

    To approach sexually or have sexual intercourse.

    A conventional transitive use, recorded independently from the meanings of entering and concealing.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ

    To cause oil or perfume to penetrate among the roots of the hair.

    Used with hair, the head, or perfume introduced beneath or among the hair.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّهُ لَهُ

    To conceal or make something unapparent to someone without that person's knowledge.

    A causative construction used of hiding an object or matter from another person.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ الماءُ

    For water to run or enter amid trees and their gaps.

    Describes water moving through wooded interspaces rather than an ordinary open current.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ

    To put on or wear a garment beneath other garments.

    The meaning is explained through entering into the garment; it concerns layered clothing.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ

    To become thirsty, severely thirsty, or inwardly burning from thirst, anger, or vexation.

    Said of a person and, in related usage, of an animal that has not fully satisfied its thirst.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ صَدْرُهُ

    For the breast or heart to become affected with rancor, malice, spite, or insincerity.

    This is the vocalized verb construction with the breast as subject, not simply the noun غِلّ.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَلْتُ لِلنَّاقَةِ

    To feed a she-camel a mixture of date stones and fodder.

    A specialized feeding expression.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّ عَلَى الشَّيْءِ

    To remain silent about a matter, or to be intent upon it.

    The same construction is reported with these two related contextual applications.

    • Lane · entry 29624
  • غَلَّلَ

    To perfume someone or smear perfume abundantly into the beard; also to perfume oneself.

    Form II intensifies the application or causes perfume to be introduced into the beard or moustache.

    • Lane · entry 29625
  • أَغَلَّ

    To give camels or other livestock insufficient water, leaving them thirsty.

    The Form IV construction describes incomplete satisfaction of thirst and may be used of livestock that remain thirsty.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • أَغَلَّ

    For land or an estate to yield revenue, or for someone to bring its proceeds to a household.

    Used of the onset, production, delivery, or collection of غَلّة.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • أَغَلَّ الوادي

    For a valley to produce or support the growth of plants.

    The object is the vegetation known as غُلّان or related growth in a valley.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • أَغَلَّ في الإهاب

    To leave some flesh or fat adhering to the hide during skinning; likewise, to leave milk remaining in an udder during milking.

    A specialized sense of incomplete extraction, attested in butchering and milking contexts.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • أَغَلَّ الخطيب

    For an orator or preacher to say what is incorrect or improper.

    Applied specifically to faulty speech or delivery.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • أَغَلَّ بَصَرَهُ

    To look intensely or intently.

    Used with the eye or sight in a construction of concentrated looking.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • إِغْلَال

    An overt hostile or predatory incursion.

    A specialized nominal use of the Form IV verbal noun.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • إِغْلَال

    The act of clothing oneself with or wearing a coat of mail.

    A specialized military-clothing use.

    • Lane · entry 29626
  • اِغْتَلَّ

    To drink a beverage.

    A transitive Form VIII usage.

    • Lane · entry 29629
  • اِغْتَلَّ

    For a camel, sheep, or goat to become affected by the disease called غَلَل.

    The animal-specific disease use is distinct from ordinary thirst.

    • Lane · entry 29629
  • اِسْتَغَلَّ

    To obtain, receive, or collect revenue; or to require someone to bring revenue.

    Used of taking the yield of land or estates and, figuratively, of reaping profit or advantage from someone.

    • Lane · entry 29630
  • غَلْغَلَ

    To convey a message or letter from one place to another.

    The message is described as passing through intervening towns or countries.

    • Lane · entry 29631
  • غَلْغَلَة

    A breaking or cracking of the bone of the nose or the head of a flask or bottle.

    A specialized physical sense, compared with غَرْغَرَة.

    • Lane · entry 29631
  • تَغَلْغَلَ

    To penetrate deeply or reach into something, including reaching deeply in looking or description.

    The attested expression concerns penetrating observation or reaching a point beyond ordinary looking.

    • Lane · entry 29632
  • تَغَلْغَلَ

    To go quickly or hasten onward.

    A separate Form V usage from the sense of penetrating or reaching deeply.

    • Lane · entry 29632
  • غُلّ

    A wife, by metonymic extension from a shackle.

    A figurative and colloquial application of the noun; it is not a Quranic sense of the noun group.

    • Lane · entry 29633
  • غُلّ قَمِل

    A woman of bad disposition, figuratively called a foul or lice-infested shackle.

    An idiomatic expression based on the traditional form of a shackle.

    • Lane · entry 29633
  • غُلّ

    Thirst, intense thirst, or burning in the interior from thirst, anger, or vexation.

    This noun is distinct in vocalization and lexical identity from غِلّ meaning rancor and غُلّ meaning a shackle.

    • Lane · entry 29633
  • غَلَّة

    Proceeds, revenue, or income from land, rent, crops, milk, livestock, labor, or similar productive sources.

    The term may include agricultural yield, rent, a master's payment from a slave, and other recurring returns.

    • Lane · entry 29635
  • غَلَّة

    Clipped or rejected coins circulating in private trade.

    A technical monetary use, distinct from proceeds or income.

    • Lane · entry 29635
  • غُلَّة

    A thing or place in which a person hides himself.

    A specialized nominal sense related to concealment.

    • Lane · entry 29636
  • غَلَل

    Water running or appearing weakly among trees or in the gaps of a valley.

    It may describe a feeble, intermittent flow that disappears and reappears at the surface.

    • Lane · entry 29637
  • غَلَل

    A strainer or clarifying cloth fitted over the mouth of a ewer or flask.

    A specialized household object; the plural may refer to such filters.

    • Lane · entry 29637
  • غَلَل

    Flesh left on the thumb or remaining during the skinning of an animal.

    A technical butchering sense.

    • Lane · entry 29637
  • غَلَل

    A disease affecting sheep or goats in the teat, associated with milk left unexpressed in the udder.

    A specialized animal-disease term.

    • Lane · entry 29637
  • غَلُولُ الشَّيْخ

    Food or drink that an old man takes into his stomach.

    A fixed expression praising such food or drink.

    • Lane · entry 29638
  • غَلِيل

    The burning of love, grief, or inward emotion.

    A figurative extension of inward burning; it is distinct from the physical mixture also called غَلِيل.

    • Lane · entry 29639
  • غَلِيل

    Date stones mixed with fodder or dough for feeding a she-camel.

    A specialized animal-feed noun.

    • Lane · entry 29639
  • غِلَالَة

    A garment worn next to the body beneath other clothing, or beneath a coat of mail.

    The term may also denote an inner lining or covering associated with armor.

    • Lane · entry 29641
  • غِلَالَة

    A piece of cloth used beneath a woman's waist-wrapper to make the buttocks appear larger.

    An item of dress and adornment, distinct from the ordinary undergarment.

    • Lane · entry 29641
  • غِلَالَة

    A pin joining the two ends of a coat-of-mail ring, or an inner covering associated with mail.

    A specialized armor-making sense and related plural usage.

    • Lane · entry 29641
  • غَلَّان

    Thirsty or burning-thirsty, especially of a camel that has not fully satisfied its thirst.

    An animal adjective with plural forms used of thirsty camels.

    • Lane · entry 29643
  • غَالّ

    Low or depressed ground, a valley, or a torrent-bed containing trees.

    The plural غُلّان may denote such wooded depressions.

    • Lane · entry 29644
  • غَالّ

    A certain plant, also associated in plural with غُلّان.

    A botanical use reported separately from the geographical sense.

    • Lane · entry 29644
  • غَالَّة

    A portion broken from the seashore and collected in one place.

    A regional or dialectal noun.

    • Lane · entry 29645
  • غَلْغَل

    A tree root extending deeply into the earth.

    Used of a root whose penetration into the soil is emphasized.

    • Lane · entry 29646
  • غَلْغَلَة

    A quick rate or pace of going.

    A nominal expression for speed of travel, related but not identical in form to the verb تَغَلْغَلَ.

    • Lane · entry 29647
  • غُلْغُلَة

    Clamour and confusion of voices.

    A sound-related noun, distinct from the quick pace homonym.

    • Lane · entry 29648
  • مُغِلّ

    A person who clings to rancor, malice, or spite.

    An active participial description of persistent inward hostility.

    • Lane · entry 29650
  • مُغِلّ

    An unfaithful or dishonest person, especially one unfaithful regarding a loan, deposit, or entrusted property.

    This sense is distinct from the person who bears rancor and from a person involved with revenue.

    • Lane · entry 29650
  • مُغِلَّة

    A garden or estate that has or yields revenue and produce.

    An adjective or substantivized description of productive land.

    • Lane · entry 29650
  • مَغْلُول

    Thirsty or affected by burning thirst, including an inward burning caused by anger or vexation.

    A non-Quranic lexical use of the passive-participle form.

    • Lane · entry 29651
  • مُغْتَلّ

    Yearning or longing for someone or something.

    An assumed tropical use of the Form VIII participle.

    • Lane · entry 29652
  • رِسَالَة مُغَلْغَلَة

    A message or letter conveyed from town to town or from country to country.

    The adjective describes transmission through successive places or communities.

    • Lane · entry 29653
  • مُغَلْغِلَة

    Hastening or moving quickly.

    A feminine active-participial adjective used in the sense of speed.

    • Lane · entry 29654
  • مُسْتَغَلّ

    A place, tract of land, or estate from which revenue is obtained.

    A substantivized Form X passive participle referring to a productive source of income.

    • Lane · entry 29655

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • The nominal QAC group combines the homographs غُلّ ‘shackle’ and غِلّ ‘rancor’; they are presented together only because QAC supplies them as one form group, with distinct senses and vocalized headword components.

  • Lane’s Quran citation for مَغْلُولٌ is reported with historical citation notation; the modern verse association is used here only where independently secured by QAC and is not reconstructed from the Lane notation.

  • The broader Classical meanings include several rare, technical, idiomatic, or dialectal uses and should not be inferred as Quranic meanings merely from root relationship.