Quranic root
كدي
k · d · y
The root centers on encountering a hard obstruction that halts progress.
Its core image is a digger reaching a hard layer of earth and having to stop. This develops into meanings of blocked or unsuccessful pursuit, giving little and then stopping, turning someone or something back, and related forms of resistance or setback.
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
- Mufradāt · row 1239
- 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.
أَكْدَى
ʾakdā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 give little and then stop; to withhold or cut off one's giving.
In the Quranic usage at 53:34, it describes a person who gives only a small amount and then ceases giving.
- Mufradāt · row 1239
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:34word 3
“and withheld”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 53:34وَأَكْدَىٰٓand withheld
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 7 Classical meanings
الكُدْيَةُ
A hard layer or mass of earth encountered while digging.
الكُدَايَةُ is reported as a variant; reaching this hard material causes digging to stop.
- Mufradāt · row 1239
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
أَكْدَى
To fail in pursuing or attaining an objective when effort is blocked.
A figurative extension from the digger whose progress is stopped by a hard layer of earth; distinct from the Quranic application to giving little and stopping.
- Mufradāt · row 1239
أَكْدَى
To turn someone back from something or prevent him from proceeding toward it.
A transitive Form IV usage expressing removal or turning back from an intended object.
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
أَرْضٌ كَادِيَةٌ
Land that is slow or resistant to yield.
An adjectival description linked to the obstruction or resistance associated with a hard layer of earth.
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
كَادِئَةٌ، كَدَّأَ
Cold or frost that damages crops, and to set crops back into the earth.
The source reports the noun with hamz and notes that the hamz may be secondary rather than original.
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
كَدِيَ
Of a dog: to develop digestive disorder after drinking milk.
A specialized usage attributed to al-Farrāʾ and explicitly restricted to this animal-and-milk context.
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
كَدَاءٌ
A place name, possibly connected with the hard-ground meaning.
The etymological connection is reported tentatively rather than asserted as certain.
- Maqāyīs · row 3955
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
No Lane primary entry was supplied for this root; the Quranic sense is supported by the unique Mufradat evidence, while the broader classical branches are drawn from the supplied Mufradat and Maqayis evidence.
The crop-related form كَادِئَةٌ is reported with possible secondary hamz and is kept separate from the Quranic Form IV verb أَكْدَى.