Quranic root
كشف
k · sh · f
The root denotes removing something from over or before something else, thereby exposing what was concealed.
Its semantic development extends from physically uncovering or stripping away a covering to making hidden things apparent, relieving distress, and related forms of disclosure, withdrawal, and exposure.
- Maqāyīs · row 3993
- Mufradāt · row 1251
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 20
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَشَفَ
kashafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 14 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 remove harm, affliction, grief, or adversity; to lift distress.
Used with an affliction or other distress as the object of removal; Quranic contexts commonly present the lifting of harm as an act of divine relief.
- Lane · entry 32867
- Mufradāt · row 1251
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:84word 3
“and We removed”
To remove a covering; to uncover, expose, or make what was concealed apparent.
May refer literally to taking something off or away from over another thing, or figuratively to bringing a concealed matter into view.
- Lane · entry 32867
- Mufradāt · row 1251
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:44word 9
“and she uncovered”
Quran 50:22word 7
“So We have removed”
In يُكْشَفُ عَنْ سَاقٍ, to have the shin uncovered; idiomatically, for extreme severity or crisis to become manifest.
This is a Quranic idiomatic construction. Its explanation is associated with the disclosure of a severe situation, while the reported etymological interpretations differ.
- Mufradāt · row 1251
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:42word 2
“will be uncovered”
كَشْف
kashf
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Removal or taking away, especially the lifting of harm or adversity.
A verbal noun naming the act or result of removing what causes distress or prevents relief.
- Lane · entry 32867
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:56word 9
“(to) remove”
كَاشِف
kāshif
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
One who removes or takes away harm or affliction; a remover.
The active participle may be used substantivally and in plural or feminine inflection, and may function predicatively with the sense “one who will remove.”
- Mufradāt · row 1251
- Lane · entry 32867
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 6:17كَاشِفَremover
- 6:41فَيَكْشِفُand He would remove
- 7:134كَشَفْتَyou remove
- 7:135كَشَفْنَاWe removed
- 10:12كَشَفْنَاWe remove
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 16 Classical meanings
كَشَفَ
To discover, detect, reveal, or disclose something hidden.
A Classical Form I use concerned with bringing concealed information or a hidden matter to light, distinct from the physical removal of a covering.
- Lane · entry 32867
كَشَفَ عَنْهُ
To investigate, explore, scrutinize, search, examine, or inquire into something.
Constructed with عَنْهُ; it denotes directed inquiry into a matter rather than simply removing a covering.
- Lane · entry 32867
كَاشَفَ
To act openly or frankly toward someone; by extension, to show open enmity or wage war openly.
A Form III construction; مُكَاشَفَةٌ may denote frank openness, while constructions with enmity or war specify overt hostility.
- Lane · entry 32868
كَاشَفَ
To appear or become manifest to someone.
Used in the construction كَاشَفَ عَلَيْهِ, with the sense of appearing to or becoming apparent to him.
- Lane · entry 32868
كُوشِفَ
To become acquainted with, know, or gain knowledge of what was concealed.
A passive or recipient-oriented construction referring to becoming informed about a hidden matter.
- Lane · entry 32868
مُكَاشَفَةٌ
Discovery or revelation of hidden matters.
A verbal noun or technical nominal use for disclosure or revealed knowledge; its plural is مُكَاشَفَاتٌ.
- Lane · entry 32868
تَكَشَّفَ
To uncover or expose oneself while sitting.
A Form V reflexive bodily-exposure usage.
- Lane · entry 32869
تَكَاشَفَ
To reveal faults or secrets to one another.
A reciprocal Form VI construction involving mutual disclosure.
- Lane · entry 32870
اِنْكَشَفَ عَنْهُ
To withdraw, recede, or become removed from someone or something, including from over it.
An intransitive or quasi-passive Form VII construction describing the disappearance or withdrawal of a covering, thing, or condition.
- Lane · entry 32871
اِنْكَشَفَ
To be routed, defeated, or put to flight.
A specialized intransitive or quasi-passive Form VII usage, especially in descriptions of defeat.
- Lane · entry 32871
مَكْشُوفٌ
Uncovered, exposed, or overt.
A passive participial adjective describing something laid open or publicly apparent.
- Lane · entry 32873
مُكَاشِفٌ
A discoverer or revealer.
An agent noun for one who discovers or reveals.
- Lane · entry 32874
كَشَفٌ
A whorl or circular patch in the forelock; in horses, a twist in the tailbone or tail.
An anatomical or zoological term describing a feature as though hair were exposed from its point of growth.
- Maqāyīs · row 3993
أَكْشَفُ
A man who has no shield with him in war.
A Classical description associated with exposure in battle.
- Maqāyīs · row 3993
تَكَشَّفَ
For lightning to spread through or fill the sky.
A figurative Form V usage understood through the idea of becoming exposed or conspicuous.
- Maqāyīs · row 3993
كِشَافٌ
Successive offspring, one birth following another; also, a female left unbred for two or three years.
An animal-breeding term with two reported related applications.
- Maqāyīs · row 3993
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic expression يُكْشَفُ عَنْ سَاقٍ is idiomatic and has more than one reported explanation; it should not be treated as an ordinary physical uncovering without noting its severe-crisis interpretation.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The supplied كَشَّافٌ entry is only a pointer to an external source, so no independent lexical sense can be recovered from this packet.