Quranic root
جبن
j · b · n
The root's lexicon preserves three distinct branches: edible cheese, cowardice or weak-heartedness, and the side areas of the forehead.
These branches are treated as separate lexical formations rather than as developments from one single measurable principle; derived forms extend them into cheese-making, cowardice judgments, descriptive epithets, and place terms.
- Maqāyīs · row 1075
- Mufradāt · row 225
- 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.
جَبِينٌ
jabīnun
- 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.
The side of the forehead.
In the Quranic expression لِلْجَبِينِ in 37:103, it denotes a lateral part of the forehead; the dual جبينان refers to the two sides.
- Lane · entry 45941
- Mufradāt · row 225
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:103word 4
“upon his forehead”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 37:103لِلْجَبِينِupon his forehead
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 21 Classical meanings
جَبُنَ
To be or become cowardly or weak-hearted; to hold back from someone or something through cowardice.
The second construction takes عَنْ with the person or thing from which one refrains.
- Lane · entry 45931
جَبِينٌ
Cowardly or weak-hearted, as an adjectival epithet.
A reported adjectival use distinct from the anatomical noun meaning “side of the forehead.”
- Lane · entry 45931
جَبَّنَ
To attribute cowardice to someone or accuse someone of being a coward.
The related passive construction describes someone as being accused of cowardice.
- Lane · entry 45932
أَجْبَنَ
To find or deem someone cowardly.
The verb takes the person judged to be a coward as its object.
- Lane · entry 45933
تَجَبَّنَ
For milk to become like cheese or coagulate into cheese.
Used of milk undergoing the change into cheese.
- Lane · entry 45934
تَجَبَّنَ
To become thick, gross, coarse, or big.
A reported figurative or extended usage.
- Lane · entry 45934
اِجْتَبَنَ
To make cheese from milk.
The object is the milk from which cheese is made.
- Lane · entry 45935
جُبْنٌ
Cheese, an edible food.
The word may take a singulative form for a piece, round, or loaf of cheese.
- Lane · entry 45936
جُبْنٌ
Cowardice or weak-heartedness.
A verbal noun used substantivally for the quality of being cowardly.
- Lane · entry 45936
جُبْنِيٌّ
A seller of cheese.
An occupational relational form derived from جُبْنٌ meaning cheese.
- Lane · entry 45939
جَبَانٌ
A coward or a cowardly, weak-hearted person.
An epithet for a person who habitually dreads things and does not venture boldly.
- Lane · entry 45940
جَبَانُ الْكَلْبِ
Extremely generous.
A figurative idiom, explained by the idea that continual visits from guests keep the person's dog from growling.
- Lane · entry 45940
جَبَانُ الْوَجْهِ
Mild or gentle in outward manner.
Reported in the figurative contrast شُجَاعُ الْقَلْبِ جَبَانُ الْوَجْهِ, “courageous in heart, mild in face”; this interpretation is presented tentatively in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 45940
جَبِينٌ
The forehead generally.
A broader classical anatomical use in addition to the more specific sense of a side of the forehead.
- Lane · entry 45941
جَبَّانٌ
One who keeps or guards the produce of land in the desert.
A specialized occupational or situational use.
- Lane · entry 45942
جَبَّانَةٌ
An open-air or common place of prayer, especially in a desert tract.
A prayer ground outside the built-up area.
- Lane · entry 45943
جَبَّانَةٌ
A burial ground or cemetery.
This use is associated with the customary location of an open-air prayer place; its derivation from this root is disputed in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 45943
جَبَّانَةٌ
A desert tract or open country.
A landscape term, not restricted to the prayer-place sense.
- Lane · entry 45943
جَبَّانَةٌ
A herb-rich, level, elevated tract of land.
Descriptions vary as to whether the tract is smooth, wooded, or contains hills; the common feature is level elevated land associated with abundant herbage.
- Lane · entry 45943
جَبَّانِيٌّ
A dweller in the desert or open country.
A relational form based on جَبَّانٌ in the sense of desert tract.
- Lane · entry 45944
مَجْبَنَةٌ
A cause of cowardice or weak-heartedness.
It can describe something that makes a person more concerned for continued life or property and therefore less daring.
- Lane · entry 45946
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
جَبِينٌ has distinct reported anatomical and adjectival uses: the Quranic form is anatomical, while a separate classical report uses the form for cowardly or weak-hearted.
The burial-ground sense of جَبَّانَةٌ has a disputed etymology in the lexical evidence.
The figurative interpretation of جَبَانُ الْوَجْهِ is explicitly tentative.