Quranic root
جحد
j · ḥ · d
The root expresses two related lexical orientations: paucity or deficiency of good, and denial or disavowal opposed to acknowledgment.
The evidence presents concrete deficiency in poor persons, scant rain, dry land, and limited growth; alongside this branch, جحود denotes refusing to acknowledge what is affirmed, including rejection despite inward certainty.
- Maqāyīs · row 1083
- Mufradāt · row 231
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 12
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
جَحَدَ
jaḥada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 12 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 deny, disavow, or reject something rather than acknowledge it.
In Quranic usage, the verb is used for rejecting divine signs or verses, including constructions with ب. It can also occur without an expressed object. One attested use presents denial of what is inwardly recognized as true.
- Lane · entry 46030
- Mufradāt · row 231
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:33word 14
“they reject”
Quran 27:14word 1
“And they rejected”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 6:33يَجْحَدُونَthey reject
- 7:51يَجْحَدُونَthey reject
- 11:59جَحَدُوا۟they rejected
- 16:71يَجْحَدُونَthey reject
- 27:14وَجَحَدُوا۟And they rejected
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 9 Classical meanings
جَحَدَ
To deny or disavow another person’s right or due.
The right or due may be expressed as a direct object or in a construction with بِ; the cited usage allows denial whether or not the denier knows the right to be valid.
- Lane · entry 46030
جَحَدَ
To find someone niggardly, avaricious, poor, or possessed of little good.
This is a transitive use applied to a person’s character or circumstances.
- Lane · entry 46030
جَحِدَ
To be or become niggardly, poor, scanty, or deficient; of property, to become dissipated or dispersed; of life, to become strait and difficult; of a plant, to be scanty and fail to grow tall; of land, to become dry and unproductive; and of a year, to have little rain.
The verb is applied across the cited human, material, environmental, and temporal contexts of scarcity or diminished provision.
- Lane · entry 46030
أَجْحَدَ
To become possessed of little good or to become poor.
This Form IV development is associated with acquiring the condition denoted by جَحْد or scarcity.
- Lane · entry 46030
- Mufradāt · row 231
جَحْدٌ
Paucity or scantiness of good; niggardliness, poverty, or straitened means of subsistence.
The noun may describe deficient resources generally and is also used in imprecations wishing someone poverty or hardship.
- Lane · entry 46033
جَحِدٌ
Niggardly or avaricious, possessing little good; of land, dry and unproductive; of a year, having little rain.
The feminine form جَحْدَة is used of land with little vegetation.
- Lane · entry 46036
- Mufradāt · row 231
جَحِدٌ
A thick, short horse.
This is a specialized equine description; its feminine form and plural are separately reported in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 46036
جَحَّادٌ
A man slow in emitting seminal fluid.
A specialized physiological description.
- Lane · entry 46038
تَجَحَّدَ
To specialize in or make a practice of denial.
This derived form denotes deliberately taking up the act of denying as a characteristic practice.
- Mufradāt · row 231
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The evidence differs on whether denial requires knowledge of the truth: one account allows denial with or without such knowledge, while another defines جحود as opposing what is inwardly affirmed. The Quranic passage 27:14 explicitly exemplifies the latter circumstance.