Quranic root
كلل
k · l · l
The root exhibits three broad orientations: loss of sharpness or force, enclosure or surrounding, and a bodily member. These develop into meanings of dullness, fatigue, dependence, encompassing totality, collateral relation, and crown-like encirclement.
The loss-of-edge branch yields dullness, weakness, fatigue, and burden; the enclosing branch yields total inclusion, collateral kinship, and crown or surrounding formations. Related lexical developments also include anatomical and figurative extensions.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
- Mufradāt · row 1260
- Lane · entry 32910
- Lane · entry 32914
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 377
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَلَالَةٌ
kalālahun
- 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.
A deceased person who leaves neither parent nor offspring; by extension, the inheritance situation defined by that absence.
Used in inheritance discourse; the term may refer to the deceased person or to the estate and succession case associated with the absence of direct ascendants and descendants.
- Mufradāt · row 1260
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:12word 54
“(has) no parent or child”
The collateral heirs of a person who leaves neither parent nor offspring—heirs other than the direct parent or child.
Used in inheritance discourse for heirs connected through a collateral relationship rather than the direct parent-child line.
- Mufradāt · row 1260
- Lane · entry 32918
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:176word 6
“the Kalala”
كَلٌّ
kallun
- Part of speech
- 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.
A burden, especially a dependent person who must be supported.
In the Quranic construction كَلٌّ عَلَى مَوْلَاهُ, the term describes someone or something burdensome to a supporting patron.
- Lane · entry 32913
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:76word 12
“(is) a burden”
كُلٌّ
kullun
- Part of speech
- Noun · quantifier
- Quran occurrences
- 358 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 whole or complete extent of a thing, including all of its relevant parts or states; fully or completely.
Used with a noun, pronoun, or an understood complement when the emphasis is on the entirety or complete degree of a thing or state.
- Mufradāt · row 1260
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:29word 9
“(to its) utmost”
Every, each, or all: encompassing the members or kinds of a set.
Used with a definite plural, a pronoun, a singular indefinite, or an understood complement; the construction may be distributive or collective according to context.
- Mufradāt · row 1260
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:11word 9
“every kind”
Any one.
In a negative clause followed by an exception, كُلٌّ means “any one,” as in the Quranic negative–exception construction.
- Lane · entry 32914
Selected Quran examples
Quran 38:14word 2
“all (of them)”
كُلَّمَا
kullamā
- Part of speech
- Temporal conjunction
- Quran occurrences
- 16 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.
Whenever; every time that; as often as.
Introduces a recurring temporal condition or circumstance, normally followed by a clause describing what happens on each occurrence.
- Lane · entry 32914
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 377 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 20 Classical meanings
كَلَّ
To become dim, dull, or less clear, especially of sight.
A Form I verbal use applied to the sight or visual faculty.
- Lane · entry 32910
كَلَّ
To become fatigued, weary, or weak, with resulting inability to perform an act.
Used of a person, animal, or limb in constructions describing fatigue, weakness, or incapacity.
- Lane · entry 32910
كَلَّ / أَكَلَّ
To set the teeth on edge.
A conventional expression for the effect of acidic or sour food or drink; the Form IV expression takes the teeth as its object.
- Lane · entry 32910
- Lane · entry 32912
كَلَّ
To become blunt and unable to cut, especially of a sword or similar implement.
Used of an edged tool whose cutting sharpness has been lost.
- Lane · entry 32910
كَلَّلَ / مُكَلَّلٌ
To adorn or be adorned with gems or jewels.
كَلَّلَ is the active Form II verb; مُكَلَّلٌ is the corresponding passive participial description.
- Lane · entry 32911
- Lane · entry 32920
كَلِيلٌ
Weak or faint, as of lightning; dull or lacking sharpness, as of a tongue.
A derived adjective used for diminished force, brightness, or sharpness.
- Lane · entry 32917
كُلٌّ
The utmost degree of a quality in an emphatic construction.
Used in an emphatic appositional expression such as “the learned one, the entirety of the learned”; this is a Classical Arabic intensifying construction.
- Lane · entry 32914
كُلَّمَا
Whatever; anything that.
A Classical use distinct from the temporal conjunction “whenever.”
- Lane · entry 32914
كُلَّمَنْ
Whoever.
A compound indefinite expression referring to any person who satisfies the following condition.
- Lane · entry 32914
كُلِّيٌّ / كُلِّيَّةٌ
Universal, general, or relating to the whole; as a substantive, a universal or that which comprises particulars; كُلِّيَّةٌ denotes universality or totality.
Used in contrast with the particular or جزئيّ; the forms may be adjectival, substantive, or abstract.
- Lane · entry 32916
الكُلِّيَّاتُ الخَمْسُ
The five predicables of logic: genus, species, difference, property, and accident.
A technical logical expression.
- Lane · entry 32916
الإِكْلِيلُ
The seventeenth lunar mansion, associated with the head of Scorpio; also the group of three bright stars in or before that region.
An astronomical term whose naming is connected with encirclement or a crown-like arrangement.
- Lane · entry 32919
إِكْلِيلُ الظُّفُرِ
The border of flesh surrounding the nail.
An anatomical expression using the image of a surrounding crown or rim.
- Lane · entry 32919
الإِكْلِيلُ
A cloud that circles or surrounds a place.
A figurative or descriptive use based on surrounding or encircling.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
كَلٌّ
An orphan, understood as one requiring support.
A reported Classical usage motivated by the person’s dependence on a supporter; it is distinct from the Quranic burden construction.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
كَلَّلَ
To carry.
A reported usage attributed to some speakers; its relation to the comparison with نكل is uncertain.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
كَلَالَةٌ
Distant collateral kin, especially remote cousins, considered as heirs.
A Classical inheritance specialization narrower than the general collateral-heir use.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
الكَلْكَلُ
The chest.
A bodily term tentatively related in the lexical tradition to the surrounding or supported-body branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
الكُلْكُلُ
Short.
A separate, rare lexical use reported in the Classical tradition.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
انْكَلَّ
To laugh.
Attested in the expression describing a woman laughing; the subject in that example does not restrict the verb to women.
- Maqāyīs · row 4017
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
كَلَالَةٌ is used in the supplied Quran-focused evidence both for the deceased or inheritance situation lacking a parent and child and for the collateral heirs; these are presented as separate but related senses.
The negative–exception sense of كُلٌّ is illustrated at the independently supplied QAC location 38:14; the historical printed citation in the lexical evidence is not converted into a modern location.
A reported comparison of كَلَّلَ with نكل in the root discussion does not have a securely recoverable sense in the supplied evidence.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The exact meaning intended by the comparison كَلَّلَ مِثْلُ نَكَلَ in the Maqayis discussion remains unresolved; the separately reported 'to carry' usage is retained as a qualified Classical meaning rather than treated as certain.