Quranic root
كور
k · w · r
A root orientation of turning around and gathering parts together.
Turning produces winding, wrapping, and circular formation; gathering produces bundling, compacting, and the alternation or overlaying of one thing upon another. Several nominal branches extend this orientation to grouped camels, saddles, bee structures, and regions.
- Maqāyīs · row 4063
- Mufradāt · row 1277
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 3
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَوَّرَ
kawwara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 wrap, roll, or fold something together; to gather it into a compact whole.
In the passive expression إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ (81:1), the sun is described as wrapped or folded up, with its light gathered, removed, or extinguished in the associated explanations.
- Lane · entry 28650
Selected Quran examples
Quran 81:1word 3
“is wrapped up”
To cause one thing to pass over, overlay, or encircle another in succession.
In يُكَوِّرُ اللَّيْلَ عَلَى النَّهَارِ and its reciprocal construction (39:5), night and day are brought successively upon one another, with their relative increase and decrease.
- Lane · entry 28650
- Mufradāt · row 1277
Selected Quran examples
Quran 39:5word 5
“He wraps”
Quran 39:5word 9
“and wraps”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 3 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 21 Classical meanings
كَارَ
To wind or wrap a turban around the head; by extension, to wind a thing into a round form.
Form I usage; the Form II derivative is also associated with intensified or repeated winding.
- Lane · entry 28649
كَارَ
To be in a state of increase or good condition before passing into decrease or defect.
Used in the idiom حَارَ بَعْدَ مَا كَارَ; the saying is also interpreted as a return from obedience or a right course.
- Lane · entry 28649
كَارَ
To carry a bundle or load called كَارَة on one's back.
Form I verbal usage.
- Lane · entry 28649
كَوَّرَ
To collect goods and bind or tie them, or to place them one upon another.
A Classical Form II construction concerning collected or stacked goods.
- Lane · entry 28650
كَوَّرَ
To throw someone down gathered together or to prostrate him.
The action may follow striking or piercing, but prostration is also reported without an explicitly stated blow.
- Lane · entry 28650
تَكَوَّرَ
To fall or fall down, become prostrate, or fall upon one's side while drawing oneself together.
Form V usage; the descriptions of falling, becoming prostrate, and drawing oneself together are grouped as one intransitive branch.
- Lane · entry 28651
تَكَوَّرَ
To wrap oneself up and tuck up one's garment or skirt.
Form V reflexive usage.
- Lane · entry 28651
اِكْتَارَ
To put on a turban or attire oneself with one.
Form VIII usage.
- Lane · entry 28652
اِكْتَارَ
Of a horse, to turn or raise its tail while running.
A specialized Form VIII usage concerning a horse in motion.
- Mufradāt · row 1277
- Maqāyīs · row 4063
كَوْرٌ
A turn or twist of a turban.
A nominal usage, also used for the individual turns composing a turban.
- Lane · entry 28654
كَوْرٌ
Increase, abundance, or redundancy.
Occurs in the expression الحَوْرُ بَعْدَ الكَوْرِ, referring to decrease or defect after increase; a variant reading uses الكَوْنِ.
- Lane · entry 28654
كَوْرٌ
A large group or gathered body of camels, reported as approximately one hundred and fifty.
A collective nominal usage explained through the idea of camels gathered together.
- Maqāyīs · row 4063
- Mufradāt · row 1277
كُورٌ
A camel's saddle, or a saddle together with its equipment.
The vocalization كُورٌ is distinguished from كَوْرٌ ‘a turn or increase’; variant pronunciations are discussed in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 28655
كُورٌ
A blacksmith's fire-place or clay hearth; according to some, the leather skin used to blow the fire.
The fire-place meaning is primary in the cited explanations; the bellows-skin sense is disputed and is elsewhere assigned to كِيرٌ.
- Lane · entry 28655
كُورٌ
A nest or constructed habitation of hornets or bees.
The term can denote the place or structure made by the insects.
- Lane · entry 28655
كَارَةٌ
A bundle or load carried on the back, especially a tied bundle of clothes or a quantity of wheat.
The lexical descriptions include both a clothes bundle enclosed and tied in one piece of cloth and a carried quantity of grain.
- Lane · entry 28656
كُورَةٌ
A province, district, tract, or region containing associated towns and villages; also a city or provincial city.
The regional sense is the commonest in the cited usage; the word is also reported as possibly non-Arabic in origin.
- Lane · entry 28657
كُوَارَةٌ
A beehive or habitation for bees, including a structure made of clay, twigs, or both.
The term may refer to a constructed bee habitation, including one containing honey.
- Lane · entry 28659
كُوَارَةٌ
Honey contained in the beeswax.
A related lexical usage distinct from the hive or bee-habitation sense.
- Lane · entry 28659
مِكْوَرٌ
A turban.
A nominal designation; related feminine forms are cross-referenced in the lexical material.
- Lane · entry 28662
كَارَى
A stranger.
An attributed supplemental usage explicitly applied to a man.
- Lane · entry 32985
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The interpretations associated with 81:1 range from wrapping or folding the sun to gathering or removing its light; these are retained as variants within the same Quranic wrapping construction.
The historical citation attached to the Lane discussion of the sun is not used to derive the modern verse location; 81:1 is identified independently by QAC.