Quranic root
غرب
gh · r · b
The root prominently conveys movement away, remoteness, or disappearance; this orientation extends to the sun’s setting, the west, foreignness, and the crow named for going far. Other established branches concern edges, height, whiteness, blackness, and several specialized nouns.
The lexical evidence presents these branches as historically related but not wholly predictable from one rule: distance develops into sunset and western direction, while figurative extensions yield meanings such as edge, sharpness, height, foreignness, and the crow’s name.
- Maqāyīs · row 3393
- Mufradāt · row 1042
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 19
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَرَبَ
gharaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To set or pass from view, especially of the sun.
Used of the sun in descriptions of its setting or disappearance below the horizon.
- Lane · entry 29027
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:17word 11
“it set”
Quran 18:86word 7
“setting”
غِرْبِيب
ghirbīb
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Intensely black; black in an emphatic degree.
In غَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ, the plural adjective describes strongly black or dark formations, including the black rocks or streaks of mountains.
- Lane · entry 29040
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 35:27word 21
“and intensely black”
غَرْبِيّ
gharbiyy
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Western; of or relating to the west or the place of sunset.
The feminine form غَرْبِيَّة is used of a thing situated toward or exposed to the west; in the Quranic lamp parable it describes a tree associated with the setting sun.
- Lane · entry 29039
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:35word 25
“(of the) west”
Quran 28:44word 4
“western”
غُرَاب
ghurāb
- Part of speech
- 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.
A crow, a familiar black bird.
The Quranic occurrence is the bird sent to demonstrate how to cover the dead.
- Lane · entry 29041
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:31word 3
“a crow”
Quran 5:31word 19
“[the] crow”
غُرُوب
ghurūb
- 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.
The setting or disappearance of the sun.
A verbal noun of غَرَبَ, used in temporal expressions referring to sunset.
- Lane · entry 29027
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:130word 12
“its setting”
Quran 50:39word 12
“the setting”
مَغْرِب
maghrib
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 10 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.
The west; the direction or region opposite the east.
The plural and dual forms refer to multiple western points or the two extreme seasonal points of sunset; the singular may denote the western direction generally.
- Lane · entry 29033
- Lane · entry 29048
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:115word 3
“and the west”
Quran 55:17word 4
“(of) the two Wests”
Quran 7:137word 8
“and the western (parts) of it”
The place or time of sunset; the setting point of the sun.
Used in expressions locating something at the sun’s setting or referring to sunset as a temporal or spatial limit.
- Lane · entry 29027
- Lane · entry 29048
- Mufradāt · row 1042
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:86word 4
“(the) setting place”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:115وَٱلْمَغْرِبُ ۚand the west
- 2:142وَٱلْمَغْرِبُ ۚand the west
- 2:177وَٱلْمَغْرِبِand the west
- 2:258ٱلْمَغْرِبِthe west
- 5:31غُرَابًۭاa crow
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 85 Classical meanings
غَرَبَ
To go away, withdraw, or become distant; consequently to be absent or hidden from view.
Used of a person, animal, or thing that retires from people or disappears from sight.
- Lane · entry 29027
غَرْب
Briskness, liveliness, or sprightliness; also perseverance in an affair.
A figurative extension of the verbal noun, with the latter application emphasizing persistence.
- Lane · entry 29027
غَرَبَتِ العَيْن
The eye was affected by a tumour at its inner angle.
A specialized medical use of the verb.
- Lane · entry 29027
غَرُبَ
To be strange, obscure, or difficult to understand.
Especially said of language, a word, or an expression that is unusual or unintelligible.
- Lane · entry 29027
غَرِبَ
To become black.
A separate Form I verbal branch from the setting and remoteness senses.
- Lane · entry 29027
غَرِبَتْ
To be affected by the disease called غَرَب, said of a ewe or she-goat.
The disease causes loss of hair around the nose and eyes.
- Lane · entry 29027
غَرَّبَ
To go or direct oneself toward the west; to go far and wide.
Form II usage expressing movement toward the western direction.
- Lane · entry 29028
غَرَّبَ
To make distant, remove, put away, or banish.
Includes expelling a person from a country or town and causing someone or something to remain remote.
- Lane · entry 29028
غَرَّبَ
To divorce a wife.
A conventional transitive usage distinct from ordinary removal or banishment.
- Lane · entry 29028
تَغْرِيب
The bringing forth of both white and black children.
A specialized usage reported with correction of the interpretation that it means only one of the two kinds.
- Lane · entry 29028
تَغْرِيب
The collecting and eating of hail, snow, or hoarfrost.
A specialized Form II verbal-noun usage.
- Lane · entry 29028
أَغْرَبَ
To go far into a land or country.
Also used of dogs going far in pursuit of quarry.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To make the place to which something is cast or shot distant or remote.
A causative use concerning the destination of a thrown or shot object.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To run a horse much or at the utmost rate.
Said of a horse, or of a rider driving it, when the running exceeds the usual bounds.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To laugh immoderately, violently, or at length.
The usage can imply laughter so extreme that the teeth or tears become conspicuous.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To do or say something strange, extraordinary, or unfamiliar.
Said of unusual speech, words, or conduct.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To come to the west.
A directional Form IV usage.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To have a white child born to one.
A specialized usage concerning the child’s complexion.
- Lane · entry 29029
إِغْرَاب
Whiteness of the groins next to the flank.
A bodily coloration term, also used adjectivally of a man who has this feature.
- Lane · entry 29029
أَغْرَبَ
To fill a skin, vessel, watering-trough, or tank.
A transitive use involving the filling of a container.
- Lane · entry 29029
أُغْرِبَ
To be endowed with abundance of wealth and good condition.
The passive form presents wealth and well-being as filling the person’s hands and soul.
- Lane · entry 29029
أُغْرِبَ
For pain to become intense or violent.
Said of pain from disease or another cause.
- Lane · entry 29029
أُغْرِبَ عَلَيْهِ
For a foul or evil deed to be done to someone.
The construction and voice vary in the reported authorities; the lexical sense concerns an evil act inflicted on a person.
- Lane · entry 29029
أُغْرِبَ
For a horse’s blaze to spread beyond the eyes, leaving the eyelid edges white.
A specialized description of extensive white facial or ocular markings in a horse.
- Lane · entry 29029
تَغَرَّبَ
To become a stranger or foreigner, or to become far from one’s home or native country.
Includes going abroad and entering the state of estrangement called غُرْبَة.
- Lane · entry 29030
تَغَرَّبَ
To come from the direction of the west.
A directional usage distinct from becoming an expatriate.
- Lane · entry 29030
اِغْتَرَبَ
To marry someone who is not of one’s kindred.
A conventional social usage derived from taking a spouse from outside one’s kin.
- Lane · entry 29031
اِسْتَغْرَبَ
To regard something as strange, extraordinary, unfamiliar, obscure, or improbable.
A Form X evaluative construction meaning to hold something to be غَرِيب.
- Lane · entry 29032
غَرْب
Distance or remoteness; by extension, far-seeing when applied to an eye.
The adjectival application to an eye describes vision reaching far.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
The first part of a thing, especially the beginning of a horse’s run.
A specialized nominal use.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
The edge of a thing, especially a sword or tool; hence sharpness, vehemence, or force.
Applied figuratively to the tongue, temperament, youth, a horse, or the prowess of men.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
A large leather bucket; also the water-carrying beast associated with it and a day of drawing water.
The bucket is typically made from bull hide and used for irrigation; the associated extensions are conventional water-drawing usages.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
Tears, especially their copious or vehement flow.
By figurative extension, a copious uninterrupted flow of knowledge or eloquence may be compared with tears.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
A tear duct or vein in the eye that flows continuously; the plural can mean the channels of tears.
A specialized anatomical use connected with uninterrupted tearing.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
The inner or outer angle of the eye.
The term can refer to either angle according to context.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
A tumour or persistent bleeding pustule at the inner angle of the eye.
A medical specialization of the ocular sense.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
Saliva or moisture in the mouth, and by extension the lustre, whiteness, sharpness, or edges of the teeth.
The plural غُرُوب may denote the places where saliva collects or the sharp, shining edges of the front teeth.
- Lane · entry 29033
سَهْمٌ غَرْب
An arrow whose shooter or direction is unknown.
A conventional expression for an arrow arriving from an unidentified person or quarter.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرْب
A large green thorny tree of the Hijaz, used in preparing tar for treating mange in camels.
The term may be a collective noun, with a singular marked by ة.
- Lane · entry 29033
أَهْلُ الغَرْب
In a traditional expression, the people associated with al-gharb, understood as the west or, in alternative interpretations, Syria, warriors, Arabs, or users of the large water bucket.
This is a disputed interpretation of a traditional phrase rather than a single settled lexical definition.
- Lane · entry 29033
غَرَب
Silver; in some usages, a precious substance such as gold.
The evidence separately records gold as a usage and also gives explanations connecting the term with silver vessels.
- Lane · entry 29035
غَرَب
A silver drinking cup, bowl, or similar vessel; also a cup made from the associated tree.
A specialized noun for a vessel of the قَدَح type.
- Lane · entry 29035
غَرَب
A species of tree used to make white drinking cups or bowls, generally identified with a willow.
The lexical evidence distinguishes this tree from the Hijazi tree also called غَرْب.
- Lane · entry 29035
غَرَب
Wine.
A specialized nominal usage, also appearing in descriptions of what is poured into a cup.
- Lane · entry 29035
غَرَب
Water falling from buckets between a well and a watering-trough, together with the surrounding mud or its altered smell.
The term concerns water that soon changes in odour and may make mud around the watering place.
- Lane · entry 29035
غَرَب
A disease of sheep or goats causing hair to fall from the nose and eyes.
A veterinary term distinct from the eye disease and coloration terms.
- Lane · entry 29035
غَرَب
A blue or grey coloration of a horse’s eye accompanied by whiteness.
A specialized description of equine eye colour.
- Lane · entry 29035
غُرْبَة
The state of being a stranger or foreigner; separation from one’s home or native country.
Equivalent in usage to تَغَرُّب and اِغْتِرَاب.
- Lane · entry 29038
غُرْبَة
Pure or unmixed whiteness.
A separate nominal branch from the sense of foreignness.
- Lane · entry 29038
غَرْبِيّ
A sort or variety of dates.
This specialized noun is distinct from the directional adjective.
- Lane · entry 29039
غَرْبِيّ
A date beverage made from crushed unripe or fresh ripe dates.
The reported preparation and effects vary in the lexical accounts.
- Lane · entry 29039
غَرْبِيّ
A certain red dye or colouring fluid.
A specialized nominal usage.
- Lane · entry 29039
غَرْبِيب
A superior kind of intensely black grapes associated with al-Taif.
A specialized noun, distinct from the emphatic colour adjective used in the Quranic form.
- Lane · entry 29040
غَرْبِيب
Applied to an old man whose hair is intensely black, does not whiten, or has been blackened with dye.
An epithet with several reported applications concerning the hair.
- Lane · entry 29040
غُرَاب
The southern constellation Corvus, the Crow.
A technical astronomical usage.
- Lane · entry 29041
أَغْرِبَةُ العَرَب
The black Arabs, especially people whose black complexion was inherited through their mothers.
A collective epithet likening these people to crows.
- Lane · entry 29041
رِجْلُ الغُرَاب
A particular herb or medicinal plant.
A plant name with detailed botanical and medicinal identifications in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 29041
رِجْلُ الغُرَاب
A method of tightly binding a camel’s udder so that the young cannot suck; figuratively, a matter made difficult or constricted.
The figurative idiom derives from the binding method.
- Lane · entry 29041
غُرَاب
An extremity or prominence of the haunch, hip, or croup of a horse or camel; the plural can denote the haunches themselves.
An anatomical term with several closely related descriptions of the rear body.
- Lane · entry 29041
غُرَاب
The whole of the back of the head.
Used in expressions describing the hair of that part becoming white.
- Lane · entry 29041
غِرْبَانُ البَرِير
A bunch of the fruit of the arak tree, especially its ripe black fruit.
A specialized botanical expression.
- Lane · entry 29041
غُرَاب
Hail, snow, or hoarfrost.
Explained through the whiteness associated with the dawn.
- Lane · entry 29041
غَرِيب
A stranger, foreigner, or person not of one’s own people or kindred.
The feminine and plural forms extend the same sense to women and groups.
- Lane · entry 29043
غَرِيب
Strange, unusual, obscure, or difficult-to-understand language or expression.
A word or expression so described is opposed to فَصِيح and may be treated as a technical category of rare language.
- Lane · entry 29043
غَرِيب
Improbable or unfamiliar.
A derived evaluative use of the notion of strangeness.
- Lane · entry 29043
غَرِيب
A hadith traced continuously to the Prophet but transmitted at a relevant generation by only one person.
A technical hadith classification.
- Lane · entry 29043
غَرِيبَة
Black, in a poetic usage.
The evidence treats this as possibly a poetic substitute for غِرْبِيبَة and therefore a specialized or uncertain application.
- Lane · entry 29043
الغَرِيبَة
A hand-mill.
A figurative feminine-noun use, so called because neighbours borrow it and it does not remain with its owners.
- Lane · entry 29044
غُرَابِيّ
A variety of dates.
A specialized agricultural noun.
- Lane · entry 29045
غَارِب
The western side of a mountain or similar feature.
A directional noun opposed to شَارِق or the eastern side.
- Lane · entry 29047
غَارِب
The withers or forepart of the hump of a camel, between the neck and hump.
The plural refers to the corresponding paired prominences; the term may cover the upper forepart of the hump.
- Lane · entry 29047
حَبْلُكِ عَلَى غَارِبِكِ
To leave someone’s way free or open to go wherever they wish.
A conventional expression originating in placing a camel’s leading rope on its withers.
- Lane · entry 29047
غَارِب
The upper part of a wave or the highest part of anything.
A figurative extension from the elevated forepart of a camel’s hump.
- Lane · entry 29047
مَغْرِب
A place or thing that conceals, veils, or covers another; a hiding-place.
The plural مَغَارِب is applied especially to the lurking-places of wild animals.
- Lane · entry 29048
مُغْرَب
White, especially white in every part or at the edges of the eyelids.
Applied to animals, horses, and eyes with extensive white markings.
- Lane · entry 29049
مُغْرَب
The dawn of day.
Named for its whiteness.
- Lane · entry 29049
عَنْقَاءُ مُغْرِب
A legendary or unidentified great bird, said to go far in its flight.
The phrase can also be treated as a name whose body is unknown.
- Lane · entry 29050
عَنْقَاءُ مُغْرِب
Calamity or misfortune that carries someone away.
A figurative use of the legendary expression.
- Lane · entry 29050
عَنْقَاءُ مُغْرِب
The summit of a high eminence or the highest part of a tall mountain.
An interpretation that rejects the bird meaning and treats the phrase as a topographical expression.
- Lane · entry 29050
عَنْقَاءُ مُغْرِب
A person or woman who has gone far into a country and is no longer perceived or seen.
A conventional interpretation with the feminine ending suppressed in the phrase.
- Lane · entry 29050
مَغْرِبِيّ
Western or of the west; in later usage, specifically Maghribi or from North-West Africa.
This is the nisbah adjective formed from مَغْرِب and is distinct from the Quranic headword غَرْبِيّ.
- Lane · entry 29052
مُغَرِّب
Distant or remote.
Applied to a term, limit, or distance; the passive counterpart is also reported.
- Lane · entry 29053
مُغَرِّبَةُ خَبَر
New or recent information from a foreign or distant land.
A conventional expression for news arriving from far away.
- Lane · entry 29053
المُغَرِّبُون
People believed to have a share or partnership of the jinn in them.
A traditional interpretation explains the foreign element as causing or encouraging unlawful sexual conduct.
- Lane · entry 29053
مُغَرِّب
One going to or toward the west.
A participial directional use.
- Lane · entry 29053
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form غَرَابِيب is presented under the singular citation form غِرْبِيب; its Quranic occurrence is plural.
غَرْبِيَّة is an inflected feminine form and is accounted for under the adjective citation form غَرْبِيّ.
The traditional expression أَهْلُ الغَرْب has several reported interpretations, including west, Syria, warriors, Arabs, and users of the large bucket; these should not be treated as one settled definition.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The interpretation of أَهْلُ الغَرْب in lane-unit:grb:29033:g7:main remains lexically and contextually disputed; the artifact preserves the principal alternatives in a qualified conventional-expression meaning.
The poetic use of غَرِيبَة meaning black in lane-unit:grb:29043:g2:main is reported as possibly a poetic form of غِرْبِيبَة and is therefore marked as specialized and uncertain.