Quranic root
لبب
l · b · b
The root centers on remaining or adhering, and on the pure or choice inner part of something.
From remaining and steadfast adherence develop senses of persistence, service, and repeated response; from the inner or choicest part develop meanings for kernel, essence, and purified intellect. Several bodily, garment-related, and figurative uses extend from the chest or inner core.
- Maqāyīs · row 4086
- Mufradāt · row 1286
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 16
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
لُبّ
lubb
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural form in Quran
- 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.
Pure, sound intellect; discerning understanding.
The Quranic form أَلْبَاب is the plural of لُبّ and occurs in constructions referring to people characterized by such purified understanding, including أُولُوا الْأَلْبَابِ. It is presented as a more particular kind of intellect than intellect in general.
- Lane · entry 9263
- Mufradāt · row 1286
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:269word 16
“(of) understanding”
Quran 12:111word 7
“(of) understanding”
Quran 13:19word 15
“(of) understanding”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:179ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ(of) understanding
- 2:197ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ(of) understanding
- 2:269ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ(of) understanding
- 3:7ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ(of) understanding
- 3:190ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ(of) understanding
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 54 Classical meanings
لَبَّ
To become possessed of understanding or intelligence.
A Form I verbal use.
- Lane · entry 9256
لَبَّ
To utter a cry or sound at rutting-time.
Said of a goat, and sometimes of a buck antelope.
- Lane · entry 9256
لَبَّ
To break an almond and take out its kernel.
A transitive verbal construction with the almond or similar nut as object.
- Lane · entry 9256
لَبَّهُ
To strike someone on the upper breast or chest-pit.
The object is struck at the part called لَبَّة, the pit between the collar-bones.
- Lane · entry 9256
لَبَّ
To face, stand opposite, or be directly over against another house.
Used of one house in relation to another.
- Lane · entry 9256
لَبَّبَ
To draw garments together at the breast, grasping or holding a person by them; by extension, to prepare oneself with weaponry or clothing for action and a call for aid.
The construction includes seizing at the upper chest, putting a rope or garment around the neck, or gathering one's own garments.
- Lane · entry 9257
لَبَّبَ
To go backwards and forwards, or to go to and fro.
An alternative lexical explanation is recorded for the Form II use.
- Lane · entry 9257
لَبَّبَ
For grain, to acquire or produce an edible heart or kernel.
Used of grain and similar produce.
- Lane · entry 9257
أَلَبَّ
To remain, stay, abide, or dwell in a place; to keep to a matter.
Form IV, used with a place or with عَلَى for continued adherence to an affair.
- Lane · entry 9258
أَلَبَّ
For growing corn or similar plants, to bear or produce the edible substance in the grain.
A Form IV agricultural use.
- Lane · entry 9258
أَلَبَّ لَهُ
For something to appear or present itself to someone.
The thing that appears is expressed as the subject and the person as the indirect object.
- Lane · entry 9258
أَلْبَبَ
To make or fit a breast-girth or breast-leather to a saddle or draught animal.
The equipment is attached across the breast to keep the saddle from slipping.
- Lane · entry 9258
تَلَبَّبَ
To wrap or gather clothing around the breast; to gird oneself, tuck up one's garments, or arm oneself for action.
The scarf, garment, or weapon is arranged at the chest or waist; the cited woman is an illustration, not a gender restriction.
- Lane · entry 9259
تَلَبَّبَ
For two people to seize or grapple with each other at the upper chest.
A reciprocal construction referring to the part called لَبَّة.
- Lane · entry 9259
تَلَبَّبَ
To take one's way through a valley.
A figurative or specialized use marked as such in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 9259
اِسْتَلَبَّ
To test or make trial of someone's understanding or intelligence.
A Form X transitive construction.
- Lane · entry 9260
لَبْلَبَةٌ
Tenderness, affection, kindness, or compassion toward offspring or another person; kindness accompanied by aid or succor.
The use may describe tenderness toward young or compassionate treatment of a person.
- Lane · entry 9261
لَبْلَبَ
To become separated, dispersed, or scattered.
The transmitted lexical explanation is accompanied by a note proposing that the wording may instead have intended a gentleness or kindness meaning.
- Lane · entry 9261
لَبٌّ
Remaining, staying, keeping to, or adhering to a thing or activity.
The noun is also used in expressions of continued attendance or service; a person may be one who constantly remains with a task or craft.
- Lane · entry 9262
لَبَّيْكَ
At your service; I attend, obey, or respond to you repeatedly.
The formula is used as a repeated response of service or obedience; related forms include لَبَّيْهِ, لَبَّى يَدَيْكَ, and لَبِّي زَيْدٍ.
- Lane · entry 9262
لَبٌّ
A person who persistently keeps to a matter, occupation, craft, or business, often with practiced skill.
The phrase رَجُلٌ لَبٌّ describes steadfast professional adherence; the associated expression adds skill or expertise rather than creating a separate core sense.
- Lane · entry 9262
لَبٌّ
Affectionate, friendly, courteous, polite, or affable toward people.
The feminine form may describe affection toward a husband, but the lexical meaning is not restricted to women or marital relations.
- Lane · entry 9262
لُبٌّ
The inside, heart, or kernel of a nut, almond, or similar object; the pith of a palm-tree.
The plural for the botanical or edible sense is لُبُوب.
- Lane · entry 9263
لُبٌّ
The pure, choice, or best part of anything.
Includes the selected or purified substance of food and similar things, distinct from the specialized intellect sense.
- Lane · entry 9263
بَنَاتُ أَلْبُبٍ
Certain veins in the heart, conceived as sources of tenderness, affection, kindness, or compassion.
A conventional anatomical and figurative expression.
- Lane · entry 9263
بَنَاتُ أَلْبُبِ
The tender or affectionate feelings of the heart; figuratively, love or deep affection.
Used in the expression أَلْقَى عَلَيْهِ بَنَاتَ أَلْبُبِهِ, meaning that one loved or felt tenderly toward something.
- Lane · entry 9263
بَنَاتُ أَلْبُبِ
In a poetic interpretation, the intelligent or most discerning people of a group.
This is an alternative interpretation of a poetic expression and is not a separate Quranic form.
- Lane · entry 9263
لُبٌّ
The self, substance, or essence of a thing.
A figurative extension from the inner or pure part.
- Lane · entry 9263
لُبٌّ
Poison, especially the poison of a serpent.
A specialized lexical use.
- Lane · entry 9263
لُبٌّ
A beast of prey resembling a wolf.
A regional usage reported for al-Andalus and al-ʿAdwah.
- Lane · entry 9263
لَبَبٌ
The breast-girth or breast-strap of a saddle, fastened across an animal's breast to prevent the saddle from slipping backward.
Used of camel and horse tack.
- Lane · entry 9264
لَبَبٌ
Ample circumstances, abundance, and security.
Used in the idiom فِي لَبَبٍ رَخِيٍّ.
- Lane · entry 9264
رَخِيُّ اللَّبَبِ
Broad-bosomed or broad-hearted.
A descriptive expression equivalent to having a wide breast or heart.
- Lane · entry 9264
لَبَبٌ
A thin tract or forepart of sand descending from a larger dune, lying between smoother and rougher ground.
Used of a particular small or front portion of a sand-hill.
- Lane · entry 9264
لَبَّةٌ
The middle or upper part of the breast, especially the pit between the collar-bones where an animal is stabbed or where a necklace lies.
The word may refer to the breast area of a human or animal.
- Lane · entry 9265
لَبَابٌ
A small or non-extensive amount of pasture or herbage.
A specialized noun for scant vegetation.
- Lane · entry 9266
لَبَابِ لَبَابِ
No harm; no cause for alarm.
A reassuring formula, equivalent to لَا بَأْسَ.
- Lane · entry 9266
لُبَابٌ
The choice or best part of a group or thing; a person of outstanding quality; or pure nobility.
Used of the best people, camels, flour, or lineage according to the object named.
- Lane · entry 9267
لُبَابٌ
Finely ground flour or meal.
A food term distinct from the broader sense of the purest or best part.
- Lane · entry 9267
لَبِيبٌ
A person possessing understanding or intelligence.
A descriptive noun or adjective; its broken plural is أَلِبَّاء.
- Lane · entry 9268
لَبِيبٌ
Remaining or staying; in a particular poetic use, responsive or at someone's service.
The cited verse is interpreted either as مُقِيم or as مَلَبٍّ, so the two closely related readings are retained as alternatives.
- Lane · entry 9268
لِبَابَةٌ
A garment or drapery worn over the upper breast and shoulders by one who girds or arms himself.
A clothing term associated with the chest-covering of a person preparing for action.
- Lane · entry 9270
لَبِيبَةٌ
A particular garment, compared lexically with the بَقِيرَة.
The evidence identifies it as a named garment without specifying a broader clothing class.
- Lane · entry 9271
لَبْلَبٌ
Kind and beneficent toward one's family and neighbors.
A personal descriptive noun or adjective.
- Lane · entry 9272
بِلَبَالِبِ قَلْبِهِ
With the tenderest affections of one's heart; with profound love.
A figurative expression for heartfelt affection.
- Lane · entry 9273
لَبَالِبُ
The confused noise and cries of sheep or goats.
A plural or collective sound term.
- Lane · entry 9273
لَبْلَبَةٌ
An imitative word for the sound made by a he-goat at rutting-time.
An onomatopoeic noun, distinct from the compassion sense of لَبْلَبَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 9274
لَبْلَابٌ
A twining herb or leguminous plant, also used medicinally.
A plant name, associated with a vine that climbs or embraces trees.
- Lane · entry 9275
لَوْلَبٌ
A whirl or spiraling discharge of abundant water through a narrow outlet; by extension, a water spout or tube.
The evidence notes uncertainty over whether the term is Arabic or arabicized.
- Lane · entry 9276
أُلْبُوبٌ
The kernel of the stone of the lote-tree fruit.
A particular edible fruit kernel.
- Lane · entry 9277
مُلْبَبٌ
A draught animal furnished with a breast-girth or breast-leather.
The lexical evidence records a variant form and disagreement over which derived form is preferable.
- Lane · entry 9279
مَلْبُوبٌ
Characterized by understanding or intelligence.
A derived descriptive form.
- Lane · entry 9280
تَلْبِيبٌ
The portion of clothing situated at the breast or chest.
A substantivized clothing term; its plural is تَلَابِيب.
- Lane · entry 9281
أَخَذَ بِتَلْبِيبِهِ
To seize someone by the gathered clothing at the breast and drag or restrain him.
A conventional phrase also expressed with the plural تَلَابِيب.
- Lane · entry 9281
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The canonical Quran form is the plural أَلْبَاب, normalized here under the singular citation form لُبّ.
The Lane material is matched through the contracted geminate root لب; broader meanings below remain attached to their stated headwords and derived forms rather than being treated as meanings of the Quranic plural.
Some Classical entries preserve explicitly reported alternative readings or regional usages; these are identified in their usage conditions rather than presented as Quranic senses.