Quranic root
غني
gh · n · y
The root centers on sufficiency: freedom from want, having enough, wealth, and the ability of something to suffice or avail. A separate lexical branch concerns voice, singing, and song.
The sufficiency branch extends from being free of need to contentment, material wealth, causing someone to be sufficiently provided for, and dwelling contentedly in a place. The root also has an independent voice-and-song branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 3472
- Mufradāt · row 1072
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 73
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَنِيَ
ghaniya
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 15 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 be or become free from want; to be sufficiently provided for or prosperous.
An intransitive use describing a state of sufficiency or prosperity.
- Lane · entry 30039
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:68word 3
“they (had) prospered”
To dwell or abide in a place, living there as though content and sufficiently provided for by it.
Used with a place or dwelling; the Quranic expression means that the people had dwelt there.
- Lane · entry 30039
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:92word 6
“they (had) lived”
Quran 10:24word 37
“it had flourished”
To avail, enrich, or render sufficient.
This transitive Quranic usage is represented in the supplied QAC group alongside the intransitive Form I occurrences; it overlaps lexically with the causative use of أَغْنَى.
- Lane · entry 30042
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 93:8word 3
“so He made self-sufficient”
Quran 111:2word 2
“(will) avail”
أَغْنَى
ʾaghnā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 28 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 enrich, make free from want, or provide with sufficient means.
A causative use: the subject makes another sufficiently provided for or free from need.
- Lane · entry 30042
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:130word 3
“will be enriched”
To suffice, avail, stand in the stead of, or spare someone from a thing; with عَنْ, to protect or ward off from it.
Frequently used in the construction أَغْنَى عَنْهُ; the Quranic contexts include possessions, children, intercession, and other things that fail to avail or avert harm.
- Lane · entry 30042
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:67word 13
“I can avail”
Quran 80:37word 6
“occupying him”
اِسْتَغْنَى
āistaghnā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 free from need, do without, or regard oneself as free from need.
The use may describe actual independence from need or a person's assumption that he has no need of others.
- Lane · entry 30046
- Lane · entry 30039
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 64:6word 12
“And can do without them”
Quran 80:5word 3
“considers himself free from need”
Quran 92:8word 4
“and considers himself free from need”
Quran 96:7word 3
“self-sufficient”
غَنِيّ
ghaniyy
- Part of speech
- Adjective / Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 24 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.
Absolutely free from need; self-sufficient.
In the Quran, this absolute freedom from every need is properly attributed to God.
- Lane · entry 30054
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:64word 11
“(is) Free of need”
Quran 35:15word 9
“(is) Free of need”
Sufficient in oneself, having few wants, or contentedly independent of others.
A human or other created being may be described as غَنِيّ in the relative sense of having little need or being inwardly self-sufficient.
- Lane · entry 30054
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:40word 37
“(is) Self-sufficient”
Quran 2:273word 14
“(that they are) self-sufficient”
Rich or possessing substantial property and resources.
Used of people in relation to their material means; the plural أَغْنِيَاءُ means the rich or wealthy.
- Lane · entry 30054
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:6word 22
“rich”
Quran 3:181word 11
“(are) rich”
مُغْنٍ
mughnin
- 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.
One who suffices, avails, or wards off harm.
The Quranic plural مُغْنُونَ refers to those who cannot avail or avert the consequence in question.
- Lane · entry 30061
- Lane · entry 30042
- Mufradāt · row 1072
Selected Quran examples
Quran 14:21word 14
“the one who avails”
Quran 40:47word 15
“avert”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:263غَنِىٌّ(is) All-Sufficient
- 2:267غَنِىٌّ(is) Self-Sufficient
- 2:273أَغْنِيَآءَ(that they are) self-sufficient
- 3:10تُغْنِىَwill avail
- 3:97غَنِىٌّ(is) free from need
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 23 Classical meanings
غَنِيَ
To marry or take a wife.
A specialized Classical Arabic use of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 30039
غَنِيَ
To remain or continue constant, including remaining constant in affection.
A figurative extension distinct from dwelling in a place.
- Lane · entry 30039
غَنِيَ
To be, exist, or have been in existence; in certain expressions, to perish or pass away as though one had not existed.
A reported Classical usage equivalent in context to كَانَ; it may describe something that has come to nothing.
- Lane · entry 30039
غَنِيَ
To meet or encounter; in a negative expression, not to have met or found someone.
A rare and lexically disputed usage reported in the supplied evidence.
- Lane · entry 30039
غَنَّى
To sing, chant, trill, or prolong and sweetly modulate the voice.
May be used of singing or chanting poetry and, in a reported expression, of reciting the Quran with a plaintive or gentle voice; a pigeon may also be said to utter its cry in this way.
- Lane · entry 30040
غَنَّى
To treat a person or subject in sung or poetic performance, including amorous mention, praise, or satire.
The construction with بِ may refer to amatory poetry, eulogy, or satire, often with singing or chanting implied.
- Lane · entry 30040
غَانَى
To be in no need of another person or thing.
A Form III usage related to غَنِيَ عَنْهُ and اِسْتَغْنَى عَنْهُ.
- Lane · entry 30041
غَانَى
To speak or talk to a child in a pleasing manner.
A rare, tentatively reported Form III usage.
- Lane · entry 30041
أَغْنَى
How free from want, or how rich, someone is!
An anomalous or non-regular exclamatory construction reported for this verb.
- Lane · entry 30042
تَغَانَى
To be or become free from want of one another.
A reciprocal Form VI construction expressing mutual independence or lack of need.
- Lane · entry 30044
اِسْتَغْنَى
To ask or beg God to make one free from want or rich.
A transitive devotional construction addressed to God, distinct from the ordinary intransitive Form X use.
- Lane · entry 30046
غَنًى
A suitable, fitting, or appropriate place or circumstance.
Used in the expression of a place being suitable for someone, literally suggesting freedom from want there.
- Lane · entry 30047
غِنًى
Freedom from need, competence, or sufficiency.
A verbal noun or simple substantive; it can denote having enough to sustain oneself or being free from dependence.
- Lane · entry 30048
غِنًى
Profit, utility, or avail; something sufficient or useful in place of another.
Used of a person or thing that is profitable, useful, or able to stand in another's stead.
- Lane · entry 30048
غَنَاء
Sufficiency, competence, or freedom from want.
A nominal form related to غِنًى but lexically distinct in the supplied entries.
- Lane · entry 30052
غَنَاء
Ability, strength, or capacity to set something up, bear it, carry it, or raise it.
Used in the expression that a person lacks the capacity to undertake or support something.
- Lane · entry 30052
غِنَاء
Singing, chanting, vocal music, a song, or poetry performed with modulation of the voice.
The noun may denote the act or manner of singing, a musical performance, a tune, or a sung composition; the exact forms and plurals vary by usage.
- Lane · entry 30053
غَنَّاء
A singer; by extension, a female singer or songstress in the related feminine form.
The explanation connects the term with producing a nasal or resonant quality in the voice.
- Lane · entry 30055
غَانِيَة
A woman who is satisfied with or sufficed by her husband, beauty, or circumstances and therefore has no need of adornment or another man.
The supplied evidence records several Classical explanations, including being content with one's husband, being beautiful without ornament, or being youthful and chaste; these are lexical explanations rather than a single obligatory restriction.
- Lane · entry 30056
أَغْنَاء
The goods, ornaments, or paraphernalia of brides.
A rare plural noun for bridal possessions; the singular is not supplied.
- Lane · entry 30057
مَغْنًى
A place of habitation or abode, especially a place in which people lived or by which they were once provided and satisfied.
The term may refer specifically to an inhabited or formerly inhabited dwelling, or more generally to a place of abode.
- Lane · entry 30059
مُغْنٍ
One who satisfies or contents whom He wills of His servants; a divine name or epithet.
This is a Classical theological specialization of the active participle and is not assigned as a separate Quranic sense of مُغْنُونَ.
- Lane · entry 30061
مُغْنِيَة
A woman who satisfies or contents her husband so that he has no need to look at another.
A feminine active-participial specialization.
- Lane · entry 30061
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied QAC Form I group contains both أَغْنَىٰ-like surfaces and يَغْنَ surfaces while being labeled Form I; the public citation form follows the supplied Form I morphology, and the transitive usage is explicitly flagged as overlapping the Form IV causative.
The Form I and Form IV QAC groupings should not be read as eliminating the lexical overlap between the supplied أَغْنَىٰ occurrences and the causative meaning attested in the lexical evidence.
The rare Classical uses for meeting, speaking pleasingly to a child, bride goods, and exclamatory أَغْنَى are retained because they are explicitly reported, but they are not ordinary Quranic senses.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The supplied QAC Form I morphology groups homographic or formally mixed occurrences, so the division between its intransitive prosperity/dwelling uses and its transitive avail/enrich uses is retained with an explicit overlap caution rather than silently reassigning occurrences.