Quranic root
كيف
k · y · f
The direct semantic center of كَيْف is inquiry into a describable state, quality, or manner—“how?”. The same root record also contains the distinct noun الكِيفَة, “a piece of cloth.”
The evidence juxtaposes the cloth noun with the interrogative كيف without establishing a secure derivational path between them. In Quranic usage, inquiry into state or manner also functions rhetorically to alert or rebuke the addressee.
- Maqāyīs · row 4078
- Mufradāt · row 1280
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 83
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَيْف
kayf
- Part of speech
- Interrogative adverb
- Quran occurrences
- 83 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.
How?—asking about the state, quality, or manner of a person, thing, or event.
The question concerns a describable condition or mode of occurrence, whether the answer is explicit or understood. Quranic rhetorical references to divine matters are treated under the following usage.
- Mufradāt · row 1280
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:260word 6
“how”
Quran 29:20word 6
“how”
How could, can, or will it be?—a rhetorical question used to draw attention to a matter or to rebuke the addressee.
In Quranic rhetoric, especially in statements concerning divine acts or the conduct of people, كيف may alert or reproach rather than seek an ordinary informational answer.
- Mufradāt · row 1280
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:86word 1
“How”
Quran 18:68word 1
“And how can”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 83 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 4 Classical meanings
الكِيفَة
A piece or cut section of cloth.
A distinct nominal lexical item recorded separately from the interrogative كيف.
- Maqāyīs · row 4078
كَيَّفَ
To specify something by ascribing a quality to it; to make it defined by a particular quality.
Form II usage in theological terminology; the formation is reported as analogical rather than as a form heard from the Arabs.
- Lane · entry 33001
تَكَيَّفَ
To become specified by, or acquire, a particular quality.
Form V usage in the same theological terminology; the formation is reported as analogical rather than as a form heard from the Arabs.
- Lane · entry 33001
كَيْفِيَّة
Quality as answering the question “how?”; the mode or manner of being.
An abstract noun referring to the quality, mode, or manner in which something exists or occurs.
- Lane · entry 33003
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
QAC separates three occurrences under a nominal tag and eighty under INTG; they are presented together because the evidence supports one lexical interrogative كيف with the same Quranic uses.