Quranic root
كرم
k · r · m
The root centers on intrinsic or manifested nobility, excellence, and high worth, especially as moral generosity or honor.
One semantic branch extends from nobility to generosity, conferring honor, excellent or valuable things, productive land, and divine bounty. A separate branch concerns the necklace and the vine or its clustered grapes.
- Maqāyīs · row 3973
- 8
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 47
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَرَّمَ
karrama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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.
To honor, dignify, or distinguish someone, including by honoring that person above another.
The construction with عَلَى expresses preference or elevation above someone else; the broader use denotes the conferral of dignity or special honor.
- Lane · entry 32816
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:62word 5
“You have honored”
Quran 17:70word 2
“We have honored”
أَكْرَمَ
ʾakrama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 honor, treat with courtesy, or confer a beneficent favor upon someone.
The favor or benefit is understood as one that does not entail humiliation or disgrace; context may render the act as honoring, showing generosity, or making someone comfortable.
- Lane · entry 32817
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:21word 7
“Make comfortable”
Quran 89:15word 7
“and is generous to him”
Quran 89:17word 4
“you honor”
إِكْرَام
ʾikrām
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Honoring; the conferral of dignity or a noble standing.
In the Quranic expression ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ, the noun can refer to the honoring bestowed by the one described.
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:27word 6
“and Honor”
Quran 55:78word 6
“and Honor”
Beneficent bounty or generous bestowal.
In ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ, this sense emphasizes universal bounty and gracious beneficence alongside the sense of honoring.
- Lane · entry 32823
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:27word 6
“and Honor”
Quran 55:78word 6
“and Honor”
أَكْرَم
ʾakram
- Part of speech
- Adjective · Elative
- 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.
More or most noble, generous, or distinguished.
The elative form identifies the person or entity highest in the relevant quality; in the Quran this includes moral nobility and supreme generosity.
- Lane · entry 32827
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 49:13word 13
“(the) most noble of you”
Quran 96:3word 3
“(is) the Most Generous”
كَرِيم
karīm
- Part of speech
- Adjective · Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 30 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.
Possessing or displaying generosity, honor, nobility, excellence, or high worth; noble, honorable, excellent, precious, or distinguished.
Of a person, the quality is associated with manifested praiseworthy conduct rather than an unexpressed possibility. Of a thing, being كَرِيم means being excellent or distinguished in its own domain, including speech, scripture, produce, place, or status.
- Lane · entry 32825
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:23word 25
“noble”
Quran 26:58word 3
“honorable”
Of God, abundantly beneficent and bountiful, showing manifest favor; glorious.
This specialized divine predication emphasizes generous beneficence and gracious pardon rather than merely human social rank.
- Lane · entry 32825
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:40word 38
“Noble”
Quran 23:116word 11
“Honorable”
مُكَرَّم
mukarram
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- 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.
Honored, dignified, or treated as worthy of honor.
This is the passive participle of Form II كَرَّمَ; grammatical gender and number vary with the Quranic noun it describes.
- Lane · entry 32816
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 80:13word 3
“honored”
مُكْرَم
mukram
- Part of speech
- Passive 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.
Honored, favored, or accorded a dignified standing.
This is the passive participle of Form IV أَكْرَمَ and may be substantivized as “the honored ones.”
- Lane · entry 32817
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
مُكْرِم
mukrim
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who honors, favors, or bestows dignity.
The active participle denotes the agent who confers honor or gracious treatment.
- Lane · entry 32817
- Mufradāt · row 1244
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:18word 32
“bestower of honor”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 47 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
كَرُمَ
To be or become highly esteemed, excellent, precious, valuable, or rare.
- Lane · entry 32815
كَرُمَ
Of land, to become productive or fertile, with good soil and increase of its produce.
This is a specialized use with land as the subject.
- Lane · entry 32815
كَرُمَ عَلَيْهِ
To surpass another in generosity or nobility.
The construction عَلَيْهِ expresses comparison with the person exceeded.
- Lane · entry 32815
كَرَّمَ عَنْ
To preserve someone from a thing or keep that thing away from him.
This is a special use with عَنْ and is distinct from directly honoring someone.
- Lane · entry 32816
كَرَّمَ
To hold a horse or a similar valuable creature in high regard.
The object is highly esteemed for its quality or worth.
- Lane · entry 32816
أَكْرَمَ
To find a horse generous or excellent in quality.
The construction is used of recognizing the horse's superior quality.
- Lane · entry 32817
أَكْرَمَ عَنْ
To preserve oneself from a thing or refrain from it.
This is a reflexive protective construction, illustrated with preserving one's honor from an offense.
- Lane · entry 32817
تَكَرَّمَ عَنْ
To shun, avoid, or keep oneself far from something.
The construction may describe refraining from foul speech or another disapproved matter.
- Lane · entry 32818
تَكَرَّمَ
To affect or constrain oneself to be generous.
The use may imply adopting generosity as a deliberate disposition or behavior.
- Lane · entry 32818
ابْنُ الكَرْمِ
A grape or bunch of grapes.
This is a lexical expression, not the ordinary adjective كريم.
- Lane · entry 32821
كَرَم
Generous quality in a horse or similar animal.
The noun denotes the valued or generous quality attributed to the animal.
- Lane · entry 32822
كَرِيم
Of land, productive or fertile.
The adjective is used of land that yields good produce.
- Lane · entry 32825
كَرَائِم
The precious, excellent, or choice parts of one's possessions, including livestock or other property.
The plural refers to possessions held in especially high estimation.
- Lane · entry 32825
لَا وَلَا كَرَامَةً
An emphatic refusal: “No, nor anything else.”
This is an idiomatic expression rather than the ordinary noun meaning of honor.
- Lane · entry 32826
كَرَامَة
A miracle or thaumaturgical feat attributed to a holy or exceptional person.
The plural is كَرَامَاتٌ.
- Lane · entry 32826
أَكْرَم
Noble or generous, in a positive adjectival use equivalent to كَرِيم rather than a comparative.
This use occurs in expressions describing a person's noble parentage or quality.
- Lane · entry 32827
تَكْرِمَة
An act or occasion of honoring.
This noun is described as a verbal noun related to كَرَّمَ and synonymous with تَكْرِيمٌ.
- Lane · entry 32828
مَكْرَمَة
A means or cause by which honor is attained.
The noun denotes something that leads to honorable standing.
- Lane · entry 32829
مَكْرُمَة
A generous or honorable quality, action, practice, or disposition; in the plural, an excellence.
The plural مَكَارِم can refer collectively to noble qualities or deeds.
- Lane · entry 32831
مَكْرُمَة
Good, fertile, well-manured, or well-tilled land producing good herbage or plants.
This is the specialized expression أَرْضٌ مَكْرُمَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 32832
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
كَرِيم has a broad Quranic excellence branch whose English rendering depends on the referent; divine predication is listed separately because the evidence explicitly gives it the specialized sense of manifest beneficence.
Lane's historical Quran citation notation is not used as a modern verse location; examples use secure QAC locations.