Quranic root
لبس
l · b · s
The root centers on mixing, interpenetration, and close contact: a garment comes into contact with and envelops its wearer, while an affair may become mixed and unclear.
From the basic act of wearing or being closely enveloped, the lexical field extends to confusing or concealing a matter, covering, intimate association, involvement, and entanglement.
- Maqāyīs · row 4094
- Mufradāt · row 1289
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 23
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
لَبِسَ
labisa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 11 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 put on or wear clothing, armor, or another covering.
Used transitively for assuming or wearing an item; Quranic occurrences include clothing and garments worn by people.
- Lane · entry 9339
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:14word 12
“(that) you wear them”
Quran 18:31word 15
“and will wear”
To mix, confuse, obscure, or make a matter doubtful.
Used in constructions involving a matter, truth, belief, or circumstance being mixed with something else or rendered unclear; it may also describe causing people to be confused or divided.
- Lane · entry 9339
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
لَبْسٌ
labsun
- 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.
Confusion, obscurity, or doubt in a matter.
A noun describing lack of clarity or the dubiousness of an affair.
- Lane · entry 9345
Selected Quran examples
Quran 50:15word 7
“doubt”
لَبُوسٌ
labūsun
- 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 coat of mail or suit of armor.
In the Quranic expression concerning what was made for David, the word denotes protective armor rather than clothing in general.
- Lane · entry 9354
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:80word 3
“(of) coats of armor”
لِبَاسٌ
libāsun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 10 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.
Clothing, dress, apparel, or whatever is worn.
The literal sense covers garments and other things worn on the body.
- Lane · entry 9353
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:26word 6
“clothing”
A covering or enveloping veil; figuratively, something that conceals.
In the Quran, night is described as a covering because its darkness envelops and conceals.
- Lane · entry 9353
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 78:10word 3
“(as) covering”
A garment metaphorically applied to each spouse as the other's close covering and intimate companion.
Used in the reciprocal construction in which husband and wife are each called a garment for the other.
- Lane · entry 9353
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:187word 9
“(are) garments”
A figurative garment of piety: modesty, moral restraint, righteous conduct, or faith.
Used in the expression لِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى; the lexical image is a protective and morally covering garment, with several closely related interpretive renderings.
- Lane · entry 9353
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:26word 10
“But the clothing”
An all-enveloping condition, specifically the extremity of hunger and fear.
Used figuratively in the expression لِبَاسَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ, presenting hunger and fear as conditions that surround and overtake a people.
- Lane · entry 9353
- Mufradāt · row 1289
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:112word 19
“(the) garb”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:42تَلْبِسُوا۟mix
- 2:187لِبَاسٌۭ(are) garments
- 2:187لِبَاسٌۭ(are) garments
- 3:71تَلْبِسُونَdo you mix
- 6:9وَلَلَبَسْنَاand certainly We (would) have obscured
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 31 Classical meanings
لَبِسَ
To assume pudency as though it were a garment, thereby protecting oneself through modesty.
Figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 9339
لَبِسَ
To feign inattention or heedlessness toward someone or something.
Used in expressions involving pretending to be deaf or inattentive.
- Lane · entry 9339
لَبِسَ
To live with, associate with, choose as a companion, or tolerate someone over time.
A figurative extension describing sustained companionship or consorting, including association despite a person's faults.
- Lane · entry 9339
تَلْبِيسٌ
The intensive causing of confusion or doubt, including concealment, disguise, or cloaking of a matter.
A verbal noun associated with Form II; it may describe deliberate involvement of a matter in confusion.
- Lane · entry 9340
لَابَسَ
To mix or consort closely with someone and thereby become acquainted with the person's inward state.
The related noun مُلَابَسَةٌ can denote close or intimate connection and social intercourse.
- Lane · entry 9341
أَلْبَسَ
To put a garment on someone; to clothe or adorn someone with an item.
Causative usage with a person as the recipient of clothing or covering.
- Lane · entry 9342
أَلْبَسَ
To cover or overspread something; of land, to become covered by plants or herbage.
The covering may extend over the whole of the object or surface.
- Lane · entry 9342
تَلَبَّسَ
To clad oneself or put on a garment.
Used with بِـ or with a garment as the object.
- Lane · entry 9343
تَلَبَّسَ
To occupy, engage, or involve oneself in an affair or activity.
The affair may be described as something with which one becomes mixed or entangled.
- Lane · entry 9343
تَلَبَّسَ
To cling to, adhere to, or become mingled with something.
Used of food adhering to a hand or of an affair or feeling mingling with and clinging to a person.
- Lane · entry 9343
اِلْتَبَسَ
To become entangled, as spun thread.
Literal usage describing threads or similar material becoming tangled.
- Lane · entry 9344
اِلْتَبَسَ
To become involved, complicated, confused, or doubtful.
Used of a thing, affair, or case becoming unclear, or of a matter becoming confused to someone.
- Lane · entry 9344
اِلْتَبَسَ
To overtake someone, specifically said of horsemen overtaking him.
An idiomatic tropical usage.
- Lane · entry 9344
اِلْتَبَسَ
To have something as an accompaniment, adjunct, or concomitant.
Used with بِـ for an accompanying attribute or circumstance.
- Lane · entry 9344
لَبْسٌ
The confused onset of darkness or the beginning of night.
A specialized noun usage referring to darkness becoming confused or indistinct.
- Lane · entry 9345
لَبِسٌ
A man possessing clothing, dress, or apparel.
A possessive epithet.
- Lane · entry 9349
لَبْسَةٌ
A single act or occasion of putting on or wearing a garment.
Can specify that a garment was worn once.
- Lane · entry 9350
لِبْسَةٌ
A mode or manner of dressing, or a particular type of garment or cloth.
May refer to the style of attire appropriate to a time or circumstance.
- Lane · entry 9352
لِبَاسٌ
The cloth covering of the Kaaba or of a camel litter.
A conventional possessive construction for a covering made of cloth.
- Lane · entry 9353
لِبْسٌ
The pericranium, the membranous layer between the skin and flesh over a bone.
An anatomical usage, especially in the expression لِبْسُ الْعَظْمِ.
- Lane · entry 9353
لَبُوسٌ
Anything worn, including clothing and protective equipment.
A broader nominal usage than the Quranic specialized reference to a coat of mail.
- Mufradāt · row 1289
لَبُوسٌ
A weapon.
A masculine usage distinct from the feminine usage for a coat of mail.
- Lane · entry 9354
لَبِيسٌ
Much-worn, used, or worn-out.
Applied to garments, leather water-bags, ropes, houses, and similar things according to the relevant comparison.
- Lane · entry 9355
لَبِيسٌ
A like, equal, or counterpart.
Used in the expression لَيْسَ لَهُ لَبِيسٌ, meaning that someone or something has no equal.
- Lane · entry 9355
لَبَّاسٌ
A person who has or wears many clothes.
An intensive personal epithet.
- Lane · entry 9357
لَبَّاسٌ
A person who frequently confuses or confounds matters.
An intensive epithet; the lexical evidence distinguishes it from the vulgar form مُلَبِّسٌ for this meaning.
- Lane · entry 9357
لَابِسٌ
One who feigns inattention or heedlessness.
Used in the expression لَابِسًا أُذُنَيْهِ.
- Lane · entry 9358
مَلْبَسٌ
Profit, benefit, or something enjoyable obtained from a person.
Used in the expression مَا فِي فُلَانٍ مَلْبَسٌ, literally asking whether there is anything to be enjoyed or gained in someone.
- Lane · entry 9359
مَلْبَسٌ
Pride or greatness in a person.
Used in the expression إِنَّ فِيهِ لَمَلْبَسًا according to the cited explanation.
- Lane · entry 9359
مُلْتَبِسٌ
Confounded, confused, or doubtful.
An adjective applied to an affair, thing, or case that lacks clarity.
- Lane · entry 9363
مُلَبَّسٌ
Sugared almonds and similar confectionery.
A specialized lexical usage with the plural مُلَبَّسَات.
- Lane · entry 20523
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form I QAC group contains both the wear/put-on branch and the confuse/mix branch; their assignment depends on the Quranic construction and lexical context, not on the undifferentiated internal QAC lemma alone.
The figurative expression لِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى has a closely related interpretive range including modesty, moral restraint, righteous conduct, and faith; these are retained as one figurative garment sense rather than separate lexical entries.