Quranic root
كأس
k · ʾ · s
The semantic center is a drinking cup, with the same word extending metonymically to the beverage it contains.
The evidence develops from the vessel and its contents to figurative expressions for something undergone or administered as though it were a drink, such as death, abasement, separation, or love.
- Lane · entry 27730
- Mufradāt · row 1226
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَأْس
kaʾs
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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 drinking cup or vessel, including the cup together with the drink it contains.
The word may refer to the vessel itself or to the vessel viewed together with its contents; Quranic descriptions specify the drink served in it.
- Lane · entry 27730
- Mufradāt · row 1226
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:45word 3
“a cup”
The drink contained in a cup; a beverage referred to by the name of its vessel.
This is a metonymic use in which the container names the beverage. The Quran-focused evidence applies it to described drinks, including drinks mixed with camphor or ginger and drink from a flowing spring.
- Lane · entry 27730
- Mufradāt · row 1226
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 6 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 1 Classical meanings
كَأْس
A metaphorical draught or allotted experience of something, especially an evil or painful thing; figuratively, what someone is made to undergo.
Used in constructions such as giving or making someone drink a cup of abasement, separation, death, or love; the expression need not refer to an actual vessel or drink.
- Lane · entry 27730
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The lexical evidence permits كأس to name either the vessel or its contents; contextual translations such as “cup” do not always determine which is foregrounded.
One strand of the Classical evidence narrows the term to a cup containing wine, while the Quran-focused evidence applies it to described beverages beyond that narrow formulation.