Quranic root
جبه
j · b · h
The root centers on the forehead or front, and extends metaphorically to what stands foremost or is directly faced.
From the forehead as the part presented directly, the lexical field develops toward groups or their foremost members, the forehead-like stars of Leo, direct confrontation, and approaching water without an intermediary.
- Maqāyīs · row 1076
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
جَبْهَةٌ
jabhahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Forehead: the front part of the head and the place of prostration.
The Quranic occurrence is the plural جِبَاهُهُمْ, referring to human foreheads.
- Lane · entry 45951
- Mufradāt · row 226
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:35word 9
“their foreheads”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 9:35جِبَاهُهُمْtheir foreheads
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 25 Classical meanings
جَبَهَهُ
To slap, strike, or hit someone on the forehead.
- Lane · entry 45947
جَبَهَهُ
To turn someone back from what he seeks or wants.
- Lane · entry 45947
جَبَهَهُ
To confront someone with something disliked or hateful, harsh speech, or a face-to-face accusation.
- Lane · entry 45947
جَبَهَ الْمَاءَ
To come to water directly when it has no apparatus or means for drawing from it.
The construction describes approaching the water and merely looking at its surface because no pulley or other drawing device is available.
- Lane · entry 45947
جَبَهَ الْقَوْمَ
For winter or another event to come upon people while they are unprepared.
- Lane · entry 45947
تَجْبِيهٌ
A humiliating punishment in which adulterers are publicly mounted on an animal, their faces blackened, and their faces turned in specified opposing directions.
Reported variants involve one or two offenders and an ass or camel; the precise direction in which the faces are turned varies in the reports.
- Lane · entry 45948
تَجْبِيهٌ
Bending, inclining, lowering, or hanging the head toward the ground.
The action may be associated with shame and confusion.
- Lane · entry 45948
اِجْتِبَاهٌ
Deeming someone rude, coarse, unkind, hard, or churlish.
- Lane · entry 45949
اِجْتِبَاهٌ
Fearing a person or thing.
- Lane · entry 45949
اِجْتِبَاهٌ
Disliking or hating a person or place, or rejecting water or another thing as unwholesome.
The usage can concern a country, town, person, water, or another object of aversion.
- Lane · entry 45949
جَبَهٌ
Largeness, width, beauty, or prominence of the forehead.
- Lane · entry 45950
جَبْهَةٌ
In a horse, the part below the ears and above the eyes.
This is the corresponding forehead region in a horse rather than the specifically Quranic human use.
- Lane · entry 45951
جَبْهَةٌ
A lunar mansion of four stars, regarded as the forehead of Leo.
The name is based on the stars' position in the constellation's head or forepart.
- Lane · entry 45951
- Mufradāt · row 226
جَبْهَةٌ
The moon, or more precisely the upper part of the moon's disk, by metaphorical assignment of a forehead.
- Lane · entry 45951
جَبْهَةٌ
The chief or leading figure of a people or company.
This is a figurative use comparable to calling the chief the group's face.
- Lane · entry 45951
جَبْهَةٌ
The generous and manly members of a people, especially those who undertake its blood-compensation, debts, or other obligations, or assist the needy.
The expression can denote people who are seldom or never turned back when they come to seek such assistance or fulfill such obligations.
- Lane · entry 45951
- Mufradāt · row 226
جَبْهَةٌ
A collected body or company of men or horses; among horses, the best horses, or horses collectively.
In the horse usage it may function as a collective term without a singular noun.
- Lane · entry 45951
- Mufradāt · row 226
جَبْهَةٌ
Abjectness, ignominy, or a state of annoyance and molestation.
This is a figurative lexical use reported in traditional expression.
- Lane · entry 45951
الجَبْتَهَةُ
The reported name of an idol worshipped in the pre-Islamic period.
The form occurs in an explanation of a traditional expression and is distinct from the ordinary physical-noun use.
- Lane · entry 45951
جَبِيهَةٌ
Water that does not quench thirst, has deteriorated in taste or color, is covered with algae or leaves, or is deep and difficult to draw from.
The term is used of water that remains drinkable or accessible only with difficulty but does not adequately serve the drinker's need.
- Lane · entry 45952
جُبَّهٌ
A fearful or cowardly man.
- Lane · entry 45953
جَابِهٌ
An animal that meets one face-to-face or forehead-to-forehead, regarded as an evil omen.
Applied to a gazelle, bird, or other wild animal.
- Lane · entry 45954
جَابِهٌ
Coming to water.
This usage is preserved from a reported expression and is distinct from the construction describing water reached without drawing equipment.
- Lane · entry 45954
أَجْبَهُ
Large, broad, beautiful, or protuberant in the forehead.
Applied to a man or horse; in a horse, the forehead may rise beyond the nasal bone.
- Lane · entry 45955
الأَجْبَهُ
A lion, named for the breadth of its forehead.
- Lane · entry 45955
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The sole Quranic occurrence is the inflected plural جِبَاهُهُمْ; the public headword is normalized to the singular جَبْهَةٌ.