Quranic root
جنب
j · n · b
The root centers on two closely related orientations: the side or adjoining region, and distance or separation.
From the bodily side came meanings of being beside, leading alongside, or belonging to a neighboring region; from the idea of moving aside came remoteness, avoidance, and the ritual state of being set apart from ordinary worship. The south wind is recorded as a divergent lexical branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 1226
- 7
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 33
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
جَنَبَ
janaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To put away, keep at a distance, or ward off from oneself.
Quranically used in the imperative construction asking that the speaker and his sons be kept away from worshipping idols.
- Lane · entry 47461
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 14:35word 9
“and keep me away”
جَنَّبَ
jannaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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.
To cause someone or something to be kept away from, or spared from, an object or place.
The Quran uses the passive form for being kept away from the Fire; the causative relation is more specific than simple personal avoidance.
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 92:17word 1
“But will be removed from it”
تَجَنَّبَ
tajannaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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.
To keep oneself away from; to avoid.
Reflexive Form V usage, expressing a person's own withdrawal or avoidance of the object.
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 87:11word 1
“And will avoid it”
اِجْتَنَبَ
āijtanaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- Quran occurrences
- 9 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 avoid, shun, or deliberately keep away from.
The Quran applies it to avoiding prohibited acts, false speech, idols, major sins, and other reprehensible matters; the construction can convey a deliberate and emphatic avoidance rather than merely leaving something.
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
جَانِب
jānib
- Part of speech
- Noun · active-participial form
- Quran occurrences
- 9 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.
A side, lateral part, adjoining region, or direction; beside or at the side of.
Used literally for a side or adjoining part and in prepositional expressions meaning by, on, at, or toward the side; the locative Quran occurrence has the same lexical basis.
- Lane · entry 47469
- Lane · entry 47486
Selected Quran examples
A person at one's side; a companion or neighboring person.
In الصَّاحِبِ بِالْجَنْبِ, the phrase is explained as a companion by one's side, including a traveling companion and other near companions.
- Lane · entry 47469
- Mufradāt · row 267
جَنْب
janb
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
The side or flank of a person or other body; one's side.
Includes bodily sides and the Quranic expressions by, on, or upon one's side.
- Lane · entry 47469
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:191word 7
“their sides”
Quran 10:12word 6
“(lying) on his side”
In respect of, or concerning, a matter; especially in respect of one's duty or due toward God.
The Quranic idiom فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ is explained as negligence concerning God's command, due, obedience, or the way leading to nearness to Him.
- Lane · entry 47469
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 39:56word 9
“regard (to)”
جُنُب
junub
- Part of speech
- Adjective / Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
Distant, remote, or foreign; a stranger or non-relative.
Used of a neighbor or person who is remote in lineage, and adverbially in a phrase meaning from a distance or aside.
- Lane · entry 47472
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:36word 17
“(who is) farther away”
Quran 28:11word 7
“a distance”
In a state of ritual impurity requiring a total ablution after sexual intercourse or emission of semen.
The form functions as an adjective or substantivized noun and is used for a person subject to this ritual condition, without change for gender in the cited classical usage.
- Lane · entry 47472
- Lane · entry 47464
- Mufradāt · row 267
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:6word 20
“(in) a state of ceremonial impurity”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:191جُنُوبِهِمْtheir sides
- 4:31تَجْتَنِبُوا۟you avoid
- 4:36ٱلْجُنُبِ(who is) farther away
- 4:36بِٱلْجَنۢبِby your side
- 4:43جُنُبًا(when you are) impure
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 55 Classical meanings
جَنَبَ
To break, strike, or injure someone's side.
A literal bodily-injury use of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 47461
جَنَبَ
To lead a horse, animal, or captive by one's side.
Used when the person leads the object alongside himself rather than riding or otherwise allowing it to proceed independently.
- Lane · entry 47461
جَنَبَ
To yearn toward, long for, or desire someone or something.
A figurative directional use, explicitly treated as an extended usage.
- Lane · entry 47461
جَنَبَ
To alight and settle among a people as a stranger.
Also extended to remoteness in relationship and to the condition of being a stranger among a group.
- Lane · entry 47461
جَنُوب
The south or southerly wind; to be affected by, enter, or be brought by that wind.
The wind is described in several regional ways, but its basic lexical identity is the wind from the southern quarter. It can be predicated of people, animals, or a cloud brought by it.
- Lane · entry 47461
- Lane · entry 47464
- Lane · entry 47479
- Lane · entry 47483
- Lane · entry 47496
جَنِبَ
Of a camel: to limp, halt, or become bent from pain in the side, especially through severe thirst.
The accounts distinguish this side complaint from ordinary lameness while associating it with thirst and the lungs adhering to the side.
- Lane · entry 47461
جَنِبَتِ الدَّلْوُ
Of a bucket: to incline to one side because a supporting thong has broken.
A specialized object-specific use.
- Lane · entry 47461
ذَاتُ الجَنْبِ / مَجْنُوب
Pleurisy or a severe disease, inflammation, ulcer, or purulent swelling affecting the side.
The terminology includes ذَاتُ الجَنْبِ and related passive participial descriptions of a person afflicted with the disease.
- Lane · entry 47461
- Lane · entry 47469
- Lane · entry 47477
- Lane · entry 47480
- Lane · entry 47496
جَنَّبَ
To keep a stallion-camel, ram, or he-goat from being sent among the corresponding females.
A specialized livestock-management use of Form II, distinct from the Quranic causative sense of keeping something away.
- Lane · entry 47462
جَنَّبَ
Of livestock: to have few or no young and consequently little or no milk.
Used of camels, sheep, or goats and of a year characterized by scant or absent milk.
- Lane · entry 47462
- Lane · entry 47493
تَجْنِيبٌ / مُجَنَّب
A favorable equine conformation involving the bending, curving, tension, or breadth of the legs.
The descriptions concern the hind legs, forelegs, or the space between the hind legs; the sources report variant technical descriptions of the approved quality.
- Lane · entry 47462
- Lane · entry 47492
جَانَبَ
To be or walk at someone's side.
A Form III use describing physical presence or movement alongside another.
- Lane · entry 47463
جَانَبَ
To become distant, aloof, or separate from someone or something; to shun or avoid it.
The entry records both separation and avoidance, including withdrawal to a different quarter or tract.
- Lane · entry 47463
جَنْب / جَانِب
A side, quarter, region, tract, or neighboring area considered in relation to a whole.
This broader regional sense includes being on either side, the vicinity of a valley or settlement, and a part or area adjoining another.
- Lane · entry 47469
- Lane · entry 47486
جَنْب
A considerable or principal part or portion of something.
The usage is attested in comparison expressions and is distinct from the literal bodily side.
- Lane · entry 47469
جَنَب
Short in stature.
Applied to a man in the cited usage.
- Lane · entry 47470
جَنِب
An epithet for a wolf that pretends to halt as a stratagem.
A specialized animal epithet associated with guile or cunning.
- Lane · entry 47471
جَنِب
A man who goes aside from the traveled way to avoid visitors seeking hospitality.
A specialized description of deliberate withdrawal from the ordinary route.
- Lane · entry 47471
جُنُب
Intractable or not amenable to being led.
A separate adjectival use from both remoteness and ritual impurity.
- Lane · entry 47472
جَنْبَة
Retirement or secession from others; sitting or settling apart.
The expression can specifically refer to avoiding women's company or the places they occupy, but the broader meaning is withdrawal from others.
- Lane · entry 47473
جَنْبَة / جَنَابَة
The state of being a stranger or remote in relationship.
A nominal expression for social or genealogical distance, distinct from the ritual state of جَنَابَة.
- Lane · entry 47473
جَنْبَة
A piece of camel-side skin used to make a type of milking vessel.
A material and implement sense, with the vessel intermediate in size between two other named vessels.
- Lane · entry 47473
جَنْبَة
A class of plants or trees that produces fresh growth in the hot season, especially deep-rooted herbage between grasses and larger trees.
The botanical classification includes several reported subtypes and is not a general synonym for every plant.
- Lane · entry 47473
جُنَبَة
A thing from which one withdraws, keeps away, or stands aloof.
A noun of result or object, referring to the thing avoided rather than to the act of avoidance.
- Lane · entry 47475
جَنَاب
Remoteness or withdrawal from others or from their way.
Includes being remote, retired, or out of the way.
- Lane · entry 47476
جَنَاب
The court, yard, open space, abode, settlement, or neighborhood adjoining a dwelling or people.
The word can refer to a house's open area, a place of lodging or refuge, or the surrounding tract of a settlement.
- Lane · entry 47476
جَنَاب / جَانِب
Gentleness, ease of dealing, compliance, or an accommodating disposition.
Usually expressed in idioms describing a person's soft or yielding manner.
- Lane · entry 47476
- Lane · entry 47486
جَنَاب
An object of recourse, refuge, asylum, or protection.
A respectful title in correspondence and formal address, sometimes applied to a great person or to God.
- Lane · entry 47476
جِنَاب
A cord tied to an animal's head and neck by which it is led or drawn.
The implement sense underlies expressions for an animal that is easy to lead.
- Lane · entry 47478
جَنِيب
Obedient, tractable, manageable, or submissive.
Applied to an animal or person who readily complies or is easily led.
- Lane · entry 47478
- Lane · entry 47480
جَنُوب
A figurative expression for sincere friendship or harmonious relations.
In the idiom that two people's wind is south, the south wind symbolizes closeness and good relations; the usage is figurative.
- Lane · entry 47479
جَنِيب
An excellent and well-known variety of dates.
A specialized agricultural noun.
- Lane · entry 47480
جَنَابَة
The seminal fluid itself.
Reported as a meaning by one lexical account but explicitly challenged in a marginal note; it is distinct from the better-attested ritual state.
- Lane · entry 47481
جَنِيبَة
A horse, mule, or ass led alongside rather than ridden.
The plural is also used for animals led at the side.
- Lane · entry 47482
جَنِيبَة
The two equal loads carried on the two sides of a camel.
A specialized expression for balanced side-loads.
- Lane · entry 47482
جَنِيبَة
An equal or counterpart, by extension from something accompanying another at its side.
Attested in a figurative expression denying that God has an equal.
- Lane · entry 47482
جَنِيبَة
A she-camel lent to people in return for money so that they may obtain grain or other provisions.
A specialized economic and transport usage; also called عَلِيقَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 47482
جَنِيبَة
The better, cleaner wool of a sheep in its third year.
A technical livestock and wool term, contrasted with wool from a younger sheep.
- Lane · entry 47482
جَانِب
One of the two sides or surrounding lines of the nose.
The sources distinguish the sides of the nose from the lines around the nose of a gazelle.
- Lane · entry 47486
جَانِب
The bank of a river or any bank, steep side, or acclivity.
A topographical extension of the side sense.
- Lane · entry 47486
جَانِب
A limit, bound, or boundary.
A derived spatial use, attested through the plural in a related expression.
- Lane · entry 47486
جَانِب
A portion, especially a large portion, of property or money.
Marked in the source as a post-classical usage.
- Lane · entry 47486
جَانِب
A person's honor or reputation, regarded as something to be kept inviolate.
A post-classical figurative usage related to protecting one's personal standing.
- Lane · entry 47486
جَانِب
Sexual availability or compliance toward one who seeks intercourse.
Attested in a figurative expression about a woman's softness of manner; the example does not establish a broader restriction on the word's ordinary use.
- Lane · entry 47486
جَانِب
Avoided or despised.
An adjectival or participial use, distinct from the ordinary noun meaning of side.
- Lane · entry 47486
أَجْنَبِيّ
Having no concern, acquaintance, or involvement with a matter.
Used with a following matter or topic to express lack of connection to it.
- Lane · entry 47488
مَجْنَب
A large quantity or abundance of good or evil; much food or grain.
Used for a substantial amount, especially of provisions or of good and evil.
- Lane · entry 47489
مِجْنَب
A shield that wards off what is displeasing from its bearer.
The implement noun is motivated by its protective function.
- Lane · entry 47491
مِجْنَب
A veil, curtain, covering, or screen by which a person or place is concealed.
Applied to a covering for a house, chamber, or tent.
- Lane · entry 47491
مِجْنَب
A door-like platform on which a honey gatherer stands while being lowered by ropes.
A specialized implement used at a cliff or mountain face.
- Lane · entry 47491
مِجْنَب
A thin-edged implement used to raise earth against irrigation borders or channels.
A specialized agricultural tool.
- Lane · entry 47491
مِجْنَب
The extreme frontier of foreign territory toward Arab territory, or the nearest Arab territory toward the foreigners.
A borderland or frontier-zone sense.
- Lane · entry 47491
مُجَنَّبَة
The van or forepart of an army.
A military formation term.
- Lane · entry 47494
المُجَنِّبَتَانِ
The right and left wings of an army.
The sources also record a less preferred interpretation as a troop occupying one side of a road.
- Lane · entry 47495
جَنِيب
A horse or captive led by one's side; one walking alongside another.
A lexical adjective or noun for something or someone led or moving at another's side, distinct from the related noun for a led animal.
- Lane · entry 47480
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The noun جُنُب has two Quran-attested branches: remoteness or foreignness, and the ritual state requiring total ablution; they should not be conflated.
The expression فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ is an idiomatic Quranic use meaning in respect of God's due or command, not a literal bodily side.
Several rare technical meanings, including pleurisy, equine conformation, livestock terminology, and specialized implements, are retained because they are independently attested lexical uses.