Quranic root
جمل
j · m · l
The root has two principal orientations: gathering or magnitude, and beauty or goodness.
The gathering-and-magnitude branch yields aggregation, groups, thick cables, camels, and camel-like size; the beauty branch yields جمال and جميل and extends to goodness in conduct. These root orientations are related developments, not meanings of every derived form.
- Maqāyīs · row 1219
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 11
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
جَمَالٌ
jamālun
- 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.
Beauty, goodliness, or pleasing comeliness.
The Quranic occurrence describes the beauty associated with livestock; the lexical range also includes beauty in appearance, conduct, or goodness communicated to others.
- Lane · entry 47393
- Mufradāt · row 265
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:6word 3
“(is) beauty”
جَمَلٌ
jamalun
- 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.
A camel, properly a male camel and especially a mature one.
The Quranic occurrence denotes the camel. Classical usage can use the word generically for a camel, while its more precise application is to the male or full-grown camel.
- Lane · entry 47387
- Mufradāt · row 265
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:40word 17
“the camel”
A thick cable or rope made by combining many strands.
This is a Quran-attested interpretation of the expression in 7:40, distinct from the animal sense.
- Lane · entry 47402
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:40word 17
“the camel”
جَمِيلٌ
jamīlun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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.
Beautiful, goodly, comely, pleasing, or gracious in appearance, conduct, or treatment.
It may qualify personal appearance, moral character, behavior, or a manner of dealing with others; Quranic uses include gracious conduct and release.
- Lane · entry 47396
- Mufradāt · row 265
Selected Quran examples
Quran 15:85word 14
“gracious”
Patiently restrained and dignified.
In the Quranic construction صَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ or صَبْرًا جَمِيلًا, the adjective characterizes patience that is composed and free of improper complaint.
- Lane · entry 47382
- Lane · entry 47396
- Mufradāt · row 265
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:18word 13
“(is) beautiful”
Quran 70:5word 3
“good”
جِمَالَةٌ
jimālahun
- Part of speech
- Collective 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.
A herd or distinct group of camels.
The Quranic form is a collective or plural expression for camels; reported vocalizations and analyses vary, but the supplied QAC group is presented under جِمَالَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 47398
- Mufradāt · row 265
Selected Quran examples
Quran 77:33word 2
“camels”
جُمْلَةٌ
jumlahun
- 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.
As a single aggregate; all at once rather than in separate portions.
In the Quranic construction نُزِّلَ ... جُمْلَةً وَاحِدَةً, the word describes revelation delivered collectively rather than in successive portions.
- Lane · entry 47390
- Mufradāt · row 265
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:32word 8
“all at once”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 7:40ٱلْجَمَلُthe camel
- 12:18جَمِيلٌۭ ۖ(is) beautiful
- 12:83جَمِيلٌ ۖ(is) beautiful
- 15:85ٱلْجَمِيلَgracious
- 16:6جَمَالٌ(is) beauty
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 43 Classical meanings
جَمَلَ
To collect a thing or things.
- Lane · entry 47378
جَمَلَ
To melt fat, including making melted grease drip onto bread over the fire.
The detailed dripping-and-reheating procedure is a specific conventional application.
- Lane · entry 47378
جَمَلَ
To separate a male camel from a female fit for breeding.
- Lane · entry 47378
جَمُلَ / جَمِلَ
To be or become beautiful, comely, good in conduct, or pleasing.
The verb applies to appearance, action, behavior, or moral character.
- Lane · entry 47378
جَمَّلَ
To embellish, adorn, or make another beautiful.
- Lane · entry 47379
جَمَّلَ
To give a camel to be eaten.
A specialized lexical usage.
- Lane · entry 47379
جَمَّلَ
To detain an army for a long time on an enemy frontier.
A specialized usage compared with جَمَّرَ.
- Lane · entry 47379
جَامَلَ
To coax, wheedle, or treat someone with comely behavior or speech.
The conduct is courteous or pleasing without necessarily expressing sincere brotherly affection.
- Lane · entry 47380
أَجْمَلَ
To collect something into an aggregate, without distinction or from a state of dispersion.
- Lane · entry 47381
أَجْمَلَ
To sum up a calculation or discourse, and then explain it.
- Lane · entry 47381
أَجْمَلَ
To act well and liberally, or with moderation, especially in conferring a benefit or pursuing a request.
The construction أَجْمَلَ فِي الطَّلَبِ denotes moderation in seeking or demanding.
- Lane · entry 47381
أَجْمَلَ
To have many camels, or for one's camels to become numerous.
Used of a people or company.
- Lane · entry 47381
تَجَمَّلَ
To beautify, adorn, or embellish oneself; also to affect beautiful qualities.
- Lane · entry 47382
تَجَمَّلَ
To be patient or restrain oneself from impatience.
A conventional use derived from the patience sense of جَمَالٌ.
- Lane · entry 47382
تَجَمَّلَ
To eat melted fat.
- Lane · entry 47382
اِجْتَمَلَ
To anoint oneself with fat.
- Lane · entry 47383
اِجْتَمَلَ
To eat from a camel.
A specialized usage.
- Lane · entry 47383
اِسْتَجْمَلَ
For a camel to become a mature male camel.
The cited maturity stages include the camel's later, full-grown stages.
- Lane · entry 47384
جَمَلٌ
In the idiom اِتَّخَذَ اللَّيْلَ جَمَلًا, to travel or journey throughout the night.
An explicitly figurative idiom, not a literal meaning of the animal noun.
- Lane · entry 47387
جَمَلٌ
A very large sea fish, identified in some accounts with a whale or swordfish.
A specialized zoological designation.
- Lane · entry 47387
عَيْنُ الجَمَلِ
The chestnut, in an Egyptian dialectal expression.
The lexical item is the fixed expression عين الجمل.
- Lane · entry 47387
جَمَلٌ
A woman's husband.
A figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 47387
جَمَلٌ
Palm trees.
A figurative plural usage based on their height, size, and produce.
- Lane · entry 47387
جُمُلٌ
A company or congregated body of men.
- Lane · entry 47389
جُمْلَةٌ
A strand of a thick rope, or several strands put together to form a cable.
This is the rope-related noun, distinct from the Quranic aggregate construction.
- Lane · entry 47390
جُمْلَةٌ
An aggregate, total, whole, or large sum.
The noun can denote an undivided accumulation or a sum not broken down into parts.
- Lane · entry 47390
جُمْلَةٌ
A grammatical phrase, clause, or sentence composed of its constituent parts.
A technical grammatical usage, whether or not the expression gives a complete sense.
- Lane · entry 47390
جَمَلُونَ
A building or structure shaped like a camel's hump, such as a ridged roof.
- Lane · entry 47392
جَمَالٌ
Patience, self-restraint, or composure under distress.
A conventional exhortation such as جَمَالَكَ calls for restraint from improper impatience.
- Lane · entry 47393
جَمُولٌ
A piece of melted fat.
- Lane · entry 47395
جَمُولٌ
A fat woman.
An attested lexical use of this headword, not a general restriction on related beauty terms.
- Lane · entry 47395
جَمُولٌ
A person who melts fat.
The cited usage can refer particularly to a woman, but the lexical definition is not restricted to women.
- Lane · entry 47395
جَمِيلٌ
Melted fat or melted grease.
This is a Classical Arabic noun usage distinct from the Quranic adjective.
- Lane · entry 47396
أَبُو جَمِيلٍ
A plant used to season food or to remove grease from meat-based food.
A named plant expression with an explanation based on its culinary effect.
- Lane · entry 47396
جَمِيلَةٌ
A group of gazelles or pigeons.
A collective noun usage.
- Lane · entry 47400
جُمَالِيٌّ
Large-built, tall, firm, or strongly made like a camel.
Applied to a man or, with the feminine form, to a she-camel resembling a male camel in size and strength.
- Lane · entry 47401
حِسَابُ الجُمَّلِ
A system of calculation using the numerical values of letters.
A technical expression whose Arabic status is reported with some qualification.
- Lane · entry 47402
جَمَّالٌ
An owner or attendant of a camel or camels.
The plural feminine-associated form can denote owners or attendants collectively.
- Lane · entry 47403
جَامِلٌ
A man possessing a camel.
A noun use distinct from the agent noun for an attendant or owner.
- Lane · entry 47405
جَامِلٌ
A herd or distinct number of camels, males and females, with their owners or herders.
A collective noun derived from the camel noun.
- Lane · entry 47405
جَامِلٌ
A great tribe.
A specialized collective usage.
- Lane · entry 47405
مُجْمَلٌ
Including or implying many things without explaining or distinguishing them; hence requiring explanation.
A technical usage applied to a phrase or statement.
- Lane · entry 47407
مُجَامِلٌ
One who avoids answering a question and consequently bears resentment toward the questioner for a time.
A specialized lexical usage distinct from the ordinary active-participle sense.
- Lane · entry 47408
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The word in 7:40 has a Quran-attested camel sense and a Lane-documented cable interpretation; the latter is not inferred from the contextual English gloss.
The 77:33 form has reported vocalization and plural analyses; it is presented under the normalized citation form جِمَالَةٌ while retaining the camel-group meaning.