Quranic root
مكن
m · k · n
A semantic field centered on securing a place or position, extending to establishment, enabled access, mastery, firmness, authority, and rank.
The evidence connects concrete notions such as settled places, bird nests, and lizard eggs with derived meanings of establishing someone securely, making something attainable, becoming firmly positioned, and possessing standing or power. This describes the root's semantic orientation, not a meaning shared by every derivative.
- Maqāyīs · row 4448
- Mufradāt · row 1384
- Lane · entry 5787
- Lane · entry 5788
- Lane · entry 5789
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 18
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مَكَّنَ
makkana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 13 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 establish or settle someone securely in a place, condition, or sphere; to give a firm position.
Frequently used with فِي or لِ constructions for establishing someone in the land, a realm, or an appointed sphere. The Quranic use emphasizes secure establishment and standing; broader direct-object senses of granting mastery are listed separately under Classical Arabic meanings.
- Lane · entry 5787
- Mufradāt · row 1384
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:10word 2
“We established you”
Quran 28:6word 1
“And [We] establish”
Quran 24:55word 16
“and that He will surely establish”
أَمْكَنَ
ʾamkana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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.
To enable someone to reach, obtain, or have power over something; to make it possible or accessible.
The construction أَمْكَنَهُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ places the thing within someone's power or reach. It can also describe an opportunity becoming available for attainment or capture.
- Lane · entry 5788
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:71word 9
“So He gave (you) power”
مَكِين
makīn
- Part of speech
- Adjective / substantivized adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
Firmly established, fixed, or secure in a place or position.
Used of a settled location or secure position, as in قَرَارٍ مَكِينٍ, and may describe something securely situated or established.
- Mufradāt · row 1384
Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:13word 6
“firm”
Quran 77:21word 4
“safe”
Firmly established in standing, authority, or rank; of assured status.
Used of a person or being whose position and standing are securely established, including the Quranic description of one possessing rank with the Lord of the Throne.
- Mufradāt · row 1384
Selected Quran examples
Quran 81:20word 6
“secure”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 6:6مَّكَّنَّـٰهُمْWe had established them
- 6:6نُمَكِّنWe (have) established
- 7:10مَكَّنَّـٰكُمْWe established you
- 8:71فَأَمْكَنَSo He gave (you) power
- 12:21مَكَّنَّاWe established
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
مَكَّنَ
To give someone mastery, authority, or power over a thing; to put it within their power.
Typically constructed with مِنْ. This is the broader direct-object sense of the Form II verb, distinct from the Quranic establishment-in-a-place construction.
- Lane · entry 5787
أَمْكَنَ
In a euphemistic sexual construction, to grant access or allow intercourse.
Attested in expressions addressed to a woman or describing her granting attainment; the illustrative wording does not establish a general gender restriction.
- Lane · entry 5788
تَمَكَّنَ
To settle, become fixed, or become established; of a person, to become firmly established, especially in authority.
Used of a person or thing becoming steady in its place or position.
- Lane · entry 5789
تَمَكَّنَ
To become possessed of mastery, authority, or power over something or someone; to become able to avail oneself of it.
Constructed with مِنْ for mastery or effective access to a thing or person.
- Lane · entry 5789
اِسْتَمْكَنَ
To become firm; of a plant, to take firm root.
The plant-related use describes firm rooting.
- Lane · entry 5790
مُكْنَةٌ
Power, ability, or strength.
A noun denoting the capacity or strength to act.
- Lane · entry 5791
مَكِنَةٌ
A state of being established or settled; a settled place or resting place.
In the plural, it can denote people's settled places and, in the bird-related usage, nests or resting places.
- Lane · entry 5792
- Mufradāt · row 1384
مَكَانٌ
A place or locus containing a thing.
The root-focused lexical discussion records this usage while also reporting a derivational debate connecting the word with ك و ن.
- Mufradāt · row 1384
مَكَانَةٌ
Greatness, high rank, or honored standing.
Denotes an elevated position in the estimation of a ruler or other authority.
- Lane · entry 5795
مُتَمَكِّنٌ
Firmly or securely settled in posture, especially seated in a stable position.
Attested in the expression جَلَسَ مُتَمَكِّنًا, describing a firm seated posture such as sitting cross-legged.
- Lane · entry 5796
مَكْنٌ
The eggs of a lizard.
A concrete noun preserved in the older lexical vocabulary.
- Maqāyīs · row 4448
- Mufradāt · row 1384
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The QAC Form II lemma candidate مَكَّ is normalized to the dictionary citation form مَكَّنَ.
مَكَانٌ is included because it is explicitly discussed in the root-focused lexical evidence, although no corresponding QAC form group is supplied and its derivational connection with this root is reported as debated.
The Mufradat discussion mentions the Quranic phrase بَيْضٌ مَكْنُونٌ, but no matching QAC form group is supplied for that expression; it is therefore not presented as a separate Quranic form of this root.