Quranic root
هبط
h · b · ṭ
A root centered on downward movement or descent from a higher to a lower position.
The spatial idea extends to being lowered in status, suffering diminution or bodily depletion, and to nouns for places or things associated with descent.
- Maqāyīs · row 4819
- Mufradāt · row 1509
- Lane · entry 10133
- 1
- 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.
هَبَطَ
habaṭa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 8 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 descend or go down from a higher place, including to enter a lower region or locality.
Used for physical descent, whether movement from above, descent into a place, or falling downward. The Quranic usage includes both commands to go down and the descent of a created thing.
- Lane · entry 10133
- Mufradāt · row 1509
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:74word 29
“fall down”
Quran 2:61word 31
“Go down”
To be brought down from a higher standing or condition, with an implication of lowering, abasement, or humiliation.
When used of human beings, the descent may be depreciative rather than merely spatial; the Quran-focused lexical discussion contrasts this lowering nuance with the more honorific uses associated with إِنزال.
- Lane · entry 10133
- Mufradāt · row 1509
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:36word 9
“Go down (all of you)”
Quran 7:13word 2
“Then go down”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:36ٱهْبِطُوا۟Go down (all of you)
- 2:38ٱهْبِطُوا۟Go down
- 2:61ٱهْبِطُوا۟Go down
- 2:74يَهْبِطُfall down
- 7:13فَٱهْبِطْThen go down
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 10 Classical meanings
هَبَطَ
To cause someone or something to descend; to cause someone to enter a locality or to alight at a place.
A transitive construction corresponding to the intransitive verb of descent; it may be used of a person, an object, or a movement into a town or country.
- Lane · entry 10133
هَبَطَ
To fall into evil or become low, abject, mean, or vile; to become lowly or submissive from fear.
A figurative use applied to a person or group, distinct from ordinary physical descent and from mere quantitative decrease.
- Lane · entry 10133
هَبَطَ
To suffer or cause a decrease, loss, or reduction.
Used of wealth, goodness or beneficence, livestock, flesh or fatness, and the price of a commodity; disease may reduce a person's flesh, and a price may fall below its former rate.
- Lane · entry 10133
هَبَطَ
To adjust or arrange the counterpoising portion of a load so that it is even or easy upon a camel.
A specialized construction concerning the balancing of a camel's load.
- Lane · entry 10133
هَبَطَ
To beat or strike someone.
A distinct lexical use recorded without a spatial or figurative lowering sense.
- Lane · entry 10133
هَبْطَةٌ
A low or depressed piece of land or ground.
A geographical noun denoting ground opposite in elevation to a raised or ascending tract.
- Lane · entry 10137
هَبُوطٌ
A declivity or place of descent, by which one descends from a higher to a lower place.
A noun for a descending place or slope, rather than the act of descending itself.
- Lane · entry 10138
هَبيطٌ
Lean or emaciated from disease, poor nourishment, or insufficient care.
Applied especially to camels and other animals, including a she-camel whose body has become lank or diminished in fatness.
- Lane · entry 10139
- Mufradāt · row 1509
مَهْبِطُ الوَحْىِ
The place where revelation descends; an established designation for Mecca.
A conventional place-expression rather than a general description of every site of descent.
- Lane · entry 10141
مَهْبُوطٌ
A man whose state or condition has become unsound.
A figurative passive-participial use describing deterioration of a person's condition.
- Lane · entry 10142
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The public headword is the normalized Form I perfect هَبَطَ, while the QAC group contains imperfect and imperative forms.
Lane's historical Quran citation notation is not converted here into modern verse locations unless the corresponding QAC location is independently supplied.