Quranic root
لوح
l · w · ḥ
The root chiefly concerns becoming perceptible through shining, flashing, or appearing.
From the idea of gleaming or coming into view, the lexicon develops usages for visible signs, broad boards and bones, and alteration by heat that makes a surface visibly changed. Thirst and the air between heaven and earth are treated as divergent branches.
- Maqāyīs · row 4247
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
لَوْح
lawḥ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
A broad, thin board or plank.
In the Quran, this is used for the planks of the vessel in 54:13. The form may also denote a comparable broad, flat object.
- Lane · entry 9994
- Mufradāt · row 1329
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:13word 4
“(ark) made of planks”
A tablet or writing surface, especially one bearing an inscription.
The Quran uses the plural for the tablets on which the divine writing was given, and the singular for a Tablet. This sense includes a writing surface made of wood or a similar material.
- Lane · entry 9994
- Mufradāt · row 1329
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:145word 4
“the tablets”
The Preserved or Guarded Tablet, the repository associated with the record of divine decrees.
A specific Quranic expression, اللَّوْحُ المَحْفُوظُ. Its precise nature is not defined by the lexical evidence; traditional explanations associate it with the divine record or a repository of ordained events.
- Lane · entry 9994
- Mufradāt · row 1329
Selected Quran examples
Quran 85:22word 2
“a Tablet”
لَوَّاحَة
lawwāḥah
- Part of speech
- Adjective · feminine intensive form
- 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.
Scorching and blackening the skin.
A Quranic descriptive use, with the skin of human beings as its object.
- Lane · entry 9999
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:29word 1
“Scorching”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 7:145ٱلْأَلْوَاحِthe tablets
- 7:150ٱلْأَلْوَاحَthe tablets
- 7:154ٱلْأَلْوَاحَ ۖthe tablets
- 54:13أَلْوَٰحٍۢ(ark) made of planks
- 74:29لَوَّاحَةٌۭScorching
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 24 Classical meanings
لَاحَ
To shine, gleam, flash, or become apparent.
Used of light, lightning, stars, a person coming forth, an affair becoming manifest, or hoariness appearing. The lightning usage can describe a slight flash or illumination of what surrounds it.
- Lane · entry 9989
لَاحَ
To see, catch sight of, or look toward something.
The transitive construction means to see or behold; لَاحَ إِلَى can mean to look at or toward. One reported construction describes seeing something and then losing sight of it.
- Lane · entry 9989
لَاحَ
To thirst, whether slightly or quickly.
A separate verbal branch from the appearance-and-shining sense.
- Lane · entry 9989
لَاحَهُ
To alter or waste someone, making him lean or lank; to scorch or blacken the skin.
The altering causes cited include thirst, travel, cold, illness, and grief; heat, fire, or the sun may alter the skin's color and scorch it.
- Lane · entry 9989
لَوَّحَ
To heat a thing with fire.
A transitive Form II usage.
- Lane · entry 9990
لَوَّحَ
To alter a person's condition or color, including making the hair white.
The evidence specifically records hoariness as the cause of whitening; the usage is distinct from merely heating an object.
- Lane · entry 9990
أَلَاحَ
To be cautious or fearful of something.
A figurative construction with مِنْ marking the thing feared or avoided.
- Lane · entry 9991
أَلَاحَ
To signal by waving or displaying an object.
The signal may be made from a distance with a garment, sword, or another visible object; the related example describes signaling to a dog with bread.
- Lane · entry 9991
أَلَاحَ بِحَقِّي
To go away with, or take away, what belongs to another.
A fixed construction concerning property or a rightful possession.
- Lane · entry 9991
أَلَاحَهُ
To destroy someone or something.
A transitive Form IV usage.
- Lane · entry 9991
اِسْتَلَاحَ
To seek or try to see into an affair or matter.
The sense is glossed by تَبَصَّرَ, examining or seeking insight into the matter.
- Lane · entry 9993
لَوْح
A glance or quick look.
A nominal visual sense, compared with a light or quick look.
- Lane · entry 9994
لَوْح
A shoulder blade or other broad bone.
The shoulder blade may be specified as the part on which writing is made; the word can also denote a wide bone generally or the remaining broad bones of an emaciated person.
- Lane · entry 9994
لُوح
The air or atmosphere between heaven and earth, especially the upper air near the clouds.
A distinct vocalized noun, also called سُكَاك in the cited expression.
- Lane · entry 9995
لَوْحَى
Thirsty.
Used specifically in the expression إِبِلٌ لَوْحَى, thirsty camels.
- Lane · entry 9996
لِيَاحٌ / لَيَاحٌ
Shining, glistening, or intensely white.
The terms can be used substantively for a wild bull or for daybreak, named for its whiteness; they also occur in an expression for the afternoon when the sun is white.
- Lane · entry 9998
لَوَائِحُ
The apparent or external parts of a thing, especially the signs that reveal it.
Used of visible signs such as the apparent signs of hoariness.
- Lane · entry 10000
لَوَائِحُ السِّلَاحِ
Shining weapons, especially swords; alternatively, sword cases or receptacles.
The shining-weapons interpretation relates to their whiteness. An alternative interpretation takes the expression as referring to board-made sword cases with their scabbards and fittings.
- Lane · entry 10000
مِلْوَاحٌ
Large-boned or having large shoulder blades or other wide bones.
Applied to a camel or a man; it can also describe an animal having especially large or excellent broad bones.
- Lane · entry 10002
مِلْوَاحٌ
Tall.
An adjectival use distinct from the physical descriptions of bone structure and leanness.
- Lane · entry 10002
مِلْوَاحٌ
Lean, lank, light of flesh, or slender in the belly.
Applied to people of either sex, to a beast of carriage that quickly becomes so, and to a woman who quickly becomes lean.
- Lane · entry 10002
مِلْوَاحٌ
Quickly becoming thirsty; of a wind, very thirsty.
Used of a beast that soon thirsts and in the expression رِيحٌ مِلْوَاحٌ, a very thirsty wind.
- Lane · entry 10002
مِلْوَاحٌ
A kind of decoy bird.
A specialized lexical use identified by cross-reference in the entry.
- Lane · entry 10002
مُلَوَّحٌ
Altered by fire, the sun, travel, or similar exposure.
Applied to an arrow before it receives feathers and a head when fire has altered it, and to an iron arrowhead or spearhead; it can also describe something altered by the sun or travel.
- Lane · entry 10004
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The precise nature of the Quranic Preserved Tablet is left unspecified by the lexical evidence; reported explanations identify it with a guarded record or repository of divine decrees.