Quranic root
كفف
k · f · f
The root centers on grasping, contracting, and holding back, represented concretely by the hand and extended to restraint, enclosure, and surrounding.
From the act of grasping or closing the hand, the lexical family develops meanings of restraining or preventing, forming an edge or enclosing rim, surrounding something, and related derived actions. These root-level relations do not make every development a meaning of each Quranic form.
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
- Mufradāt · row 1254
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 15
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَفَّ
kaffa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To restrain, hold back, withhold, avert, or prevent.
Used transitively with a person, action, force, or the hands as object; the Quranic contexts include restraining people from acting, withholding hands, and averting an attack or harm.
- Lane · entry 32885
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:77word 7
“Restrain”
Quran 48:24word 3
“withheld”
كَافَّةٌ
kāffahun
- Part of speech
- Noun · collective qualifier
- 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.
All together, collectively, or comprehensively; as a whole.
A collective or comprehensive qualifier, sometimes rendered “all,” “entirely,” or “completely.” In the Quran it can describe a group acting together or the comprehensive scope of an action or address.
- Lane · entry 32895
- Mufradāt · row 1254
Selected Quran examples
Restraining or holding people back, especially from wrongdoing.
An explicitly reported Quranic interpretation of كَافَّةً لِلنَّاسِ and of the parallel construction in the command concerning the polytheists; it represents the restraint-related interpretation rather than a general replacement for the collective sense.
- Mufradāt · row 1254
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:36word 28
“all together”
Quran 34:28word 4
“comprehensively”
كَفٌّ
kaffun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 hand, especially the palm or grasping part of the hand.
The Quranic occurrences are the dual possessive form كَفَّيْهِ, “his two hands”; the singular citation form is used here for the lexical headword.
- Lane · entry 32888
- Mufradāt · row 1254
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:14word 14
“his hands”
Quran 18:42word 5
“his hands”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:208كَآفَّةًۭcompletely
- 4:77كُفُّوٓا۟Restrain
- 4:84يَكُفَّrestrain
- 4:91وَيَكُفُّوٓا۟and they restrain
- 5:11فَكَفَّbut He restrained
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 27 Classical meanings
كَفَّ
To sew or fell the edge or border of a garment or piece of cloth after an initial stitching.
A specialized garment-making use.
- Lane · entry 32885
- Mufradāt · row 1254
كَفَّ عَنْهُ
To refrain, desist, forbear, abstain, or hold back from something.
An intransitive or prepositional construction with عَنْ; distinct from making another person desist.
- Lane · entry 32885
كَفَّ بَيْنَهُمَا
To interpose between two parties as a restraining barrier.
A conventional interpersonal construction.
- Lane · entry 32885
كَفَّ مِنَ الشَّعَرِ
To shorten the hair.
A specialized grooming expression.
- Lane · entry 32885
كَفَّ
To strike or push someone with the hand or palm.
A hand-action use; the pushing sense may be extended to driving something back.
- Mufradāt · row 1254
مَكْفُوفٌ
Blind; deprived or restrained of sight.
A derived passive-participial adjective describing one whose sight is held back.
- Mufradāt · row 1254
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
تَكَفَّفَ / اِسْتَكَفَّ
To hold out the hand in asking or begging.
A derived-form use involving extending the hand to solicit from people.
- Mufradāt · row 1254
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
اِسْتَكَفَّ الشَّمْسَ
To shade the eyes with the hand while looking toward something.
The hand is placed over the brow as a sunshade in order to see what is being sought.
- Mufradāt · row 1254
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
اِسْتَكَفَّ القَوْمُ
To gather or surround something while looking at it.
A derived construction describing people forming a circle around an object of attention.
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
لَقِيتُهُ كَفَّةً كَفَّةً
To meet someone suddenly or unexpectedly.
An idiomatic expression explained through the image of one palm meeting another.
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
كَافَّوا عَدُوَّهُمْ
To keep an enemy at bay or hold the enemy off.
A Form III military or interpersonal use involving mutual obstruction or keeping opposing parties apart.
- Lane · entry 32886
مُكَافَّةٌ
Mutual holding off or abstention from fighting.
A verbal noun for preventing engagement or keeping combatants apart.
- Lane · entry 32886
كَفٌّ
A cake or similar portion having approximately the length and thickness of a hand.
A derived measure-like nominal based on the hand.
- Lane · entry 32888
كَفٌّ
A handful: what one takes or grasps with the hand.
Equivalent to a grasp or handful.
- Lane · entry 32888
كَفٌّ
The paw of a beast.
An animal-body-part extension of the hand sense.
- Lane · entry 32888
الكَفُّ
The name of certain stars, including named stars in Cetus and Cassiopeia.
An astronomical naming use recorded for the bare noun.
- Lane · entry 32888
كُفَّةٌ
The selvage, border, side, or edge of a garment, cloth, sand, or another thing.
Used for an elongated bordering or surrounding edge.
- Lane · entry 32890
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
كِفَّةٌ
The bezel or collet of a signet ring, the part in which the stone is set.
A specialized jewelry term.
- Lane · entry 32891
كِفَّةٌ
The pan of a balance or scale.
The containing part of a balance, understood by analogy with the hand that holds what is weighed.
- Lane · entry 32891
- Mufradāt · row 1254
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
كِفَّةٌ
The loop or noose of a snare.
A hunting implement understood as a surrounding or holding device.
- Mufradāt · row 1254
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
كَفَافٌ
The like, equal, or equivalent of a thing.
A nominal of comparison or equivalence.
- Lane · entry 32892
كَفَافٌ
Sustenance sufficient for one’s needs, neither exceeding nor falling short.
Especially food or provision that makes a person independent of others.
- Lane · entry 32892
كِفَافٌ
The circuit, rim, or surrounding edge of a thing.
A nominal describing an enclosing perimeter.
- Lane · entry 32893
كِفَافَةٌ
The act or craft of sewing in the manner called كَفٌّ.
A specialized garment-sewing noun, not a general verbal noun of restraint.
- Lane · entry 32894
نَاقَةٌ كَافَّةٌ
An old and weak she-camel.
A fixed descriptive expression for a camel; the animal category is part of this idiom, not a general restriction on كافّة.
- Lane · entry 32895
حَرْفُ مُكَافَأَةٍ
A particle denoting compensation or the complement of a condition.
A grammatical term, compared with a particle of requital or consequence.
- Lane · entry 32896
كِفَفٌ
Circles or ring-like marks in tattooing.
A technical body-marking term.
- Maqāyīs · row 4010
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
كَافَّةٌ has an explicitly reported Quranic restraint-related interpretation in addition to its collective or comprehensive interpretation; the two are retained as separate senses.
A poetic derived-form use reported in the root discussion is ambiguous: مُسْتَكِفَّاتٌ is interpreted either as eyes or as gathered camels. It is not used to define a separate public meaning here.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
maqayis:row:4010 reports a poetic interpretation of مُسْتَكِفَّاتٌ as either “eyes” or “gathered camels”; the evidence does not permit a confident single lexical assignment.