Quranic root
لبث
l · b · th
The root centers on remaining or lingering in a place, implying continued presence over time.
The basic idea of staying develops into tarrying, waiting, pausing, and delay. Classical usage also includes causative and evaluative branches connected with making or judging someone slow to proceed.
- Maqāyīs · row 4088
- Mufradāt · row 1287
- Lane · entry 9295
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 31
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
لَبِثَ
labitha
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To remain, stay, or abide in a place or for a stated period.
Used for continued presence or residence, including remaining somewhere for a measured duration or reporting how long someone has stayed.
- Lane · entry 9295
- Mufradāt · row 1287
Selected Quran examples
Quran 29:14word 6
“and he remained”
To tarry, pause, or delay before proceeding.
The sense emphasizes a pause or delay rather than simple continued residence; in a context involving an intended action, it may be rendered as hesitating.
- Lane · entry 9295
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:14word 11
“they (would) have hesitated”
لَابِثٌ
lābithun
- 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.
Remaining, staying, or abiding.
An active participle describing one who remains; the supplied Quran occurrence is the masculine plural لَابِثِينَ.
- Lane · entry 9308
Selected Quran examples
Quran 78:23word 1
“(They will) be remaining”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:259لَبِثْتَ ۖ(have) you remained
- 2:259لَبِثْتُI remained
- 2:259لَّبِثْتَyou (have) remained
- 10:16لَبِثْتُI have stayed
- 10:45يَلْبَثُوٓا۟they had not remained
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 11 Classical meanings
لَبِثَ
To wait, expect, or remain patiently.
A Classical use in which tarrying involves waiting for or expecting something.
- Lane · entry 9295
لَبِثَ
In the construction مَا لَبِثَ أَنْ، not to delay or be slow to do something.
A conventional construction meaning that an action followed without delay.
- Lane · entry 9295
لَبِثَ
To wait for someone while leaving him until his error or poor judgment becomes apparent.
Attested in the imperative expression اِلْبَثْ عَنْ فُلَانٍ.
- Lane · entry 9295
أَلْبَثَ
To make someone tarry, wait, or remain patient.
A transitive causative use corresponding to making another person delay or wait.
- Lane · entry 9297
اسْتَلْبَثَ
To deem someone or something slow or tardy.
An evaluative Form X use describing the subject as judging another person or thing to be slow to proceed.
- Lane · entry 9299
لُبْثٌ
A tarrying, stay, stopping, or loitering; a period of waiting or pausing in expectation.
A verbal noun for remaining or lingering, including prolonged stagnation.
- Lane · entry 9300
لَبِثٌ
Slow, tardy, or late.
An adjectival use describing slowness or lateness rather than the act of remaining.
- Lane · entry 9301
لَبْثَةٌ
A single act or instance of tarrying, staying, or stopping.
A countable occurrence of tarrying.
- Lane · entry 9302
لِبْثَةٌ
A mode or manner of tarrying, staying, or stopping.
Describes the manner or way in which tarrying occurs.
- Lane · entry 9304
لَبَاثٌ
Slow, in a specialized description of a horse or bow.
The transmitted lexical discussion records a reading issue between a slow horse and, in the corrected reading, a slow bow.
- Lane · entry 9305
لَبِيثَةٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ
A company or assembly of people from different tribes.
A collective expression for a socially mixed group.
- Lane · entry 9307
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied QAC metadata places the surface form تَلَبَّثُوا at 33:14 within the canonical Form I verb group; it is retained under that supplied group rather than split into an unsupplied public form.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:lbv:9306:g1:main reports لَبِيثٌ in the fixed expression خَبِيثٌ لَبِيثٌ نَبِيثٌ, but does not provide enough semantic explanation to assign a stable independent dictionary meaning.