Quranic root
نشأ
n · sh · ʾ
The root centers on rising, elevation, and emergence: something rises, comes forth, grows, or is brought into being.
From physical rising and becoming elevated, the lexical range develops toward growth, emergence, creation, formation, and the production of new forms or states. Related extensions include composing speech and seeking something by raising it toward the senses.
- Maqāyīs · row 4629
- Mufradāt · row 1441
- 7
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 28
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
نَشَّأَ
nashshaʾa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 rear, bring up, or foster to growth.
The Quran attests the passive form, describing someone brought up or reared in adornment.
- Lane · entry 43671
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 43:18word 2
“is brought up”
أَنْشَأَ
ʾanshaʾa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 20 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 bring into being; create, originate, or produce.
Quranic uses include bringing people, communities, bodily forms, and a later creation into existence. The construction is especially associated with divine creation and production.
- Lane · entry 43672
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:61word 15
“produced you”
Quran 29:20word 11
“will produce”
To raise, form, or bring forth progressively.
This developmental aspect is used of clouds as they form and rise and of living beings as they are brought into growth; it remains a form of bringing something into being rather than a merely physical elevation.
- Lane · entry 43672
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:12word 7
“and brings up”
إِنْشَاء
ʾinshāʾ
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Bringing into being; creation or formative production.
In the Quranic expression concerning the creation of the inhabitants of Paradise, the verbal noun denotes a distinctive act of bringing into being and forming.
- Lane · entry 43672
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:35word 3
“(into) a creation”
مُنْشَأَة
munshaʾah
- Part of speech
- Passive 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.
Raised or elevated.
The Quranic plural مُنْشَآت describes ships with their sails raised. The expression is also associated in transmitted interpretations with ships raising their sails, advancing and retiring, or commencing their courses.
- Lane · entry 43682
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:24word 3
“elevated”
مُنْشِئ
munshiʾ
- 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.
Those who bring into being or produce.
The Quranic active participle occurs in a contrast between human production and divine production.
- Lane · entry 43672
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:72word 6
“(are) the Producers”
نَاشِئَة
nāshiʾah
- Part of speech
- Noun · active-participle 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.
A rising at night; a nocturnal rising or vigil.
In the Quranic phrase نَاشِئَةَ اللَّيْلِ, the term is explained especially as rising and standing for night prayer. It is also interpreted as the first part or hours of the night, or repeated rising after sleep.
- Lane · entry 43680
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 73:6word 2
“(the) rising”
نَشْأَة
nashʾah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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.
Creation; original bringing into being.
The noun can denote an originating or first creation, as in the Quranic reference to the first creation.
- Lane · entry 43670
- Lane · entry 43676
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:62word 3
“the creation”
The other or latter creation; resurrection and the life to come.
In the fixed expressions النَّشْأَةُ الْآخِرَةُ and النَّشْأَةُ الْأُخْرَى, the noun denotes the subsequent creation understood as resurrection or the latter life.
- Lane · entry 43670
- Mufradāt · row 1441
Selected Quran examples
Quran 29:20word 12
“the creation”
Quran 53:47word 3
“(is) the bringing forth”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 6:6وَأَنشَأْنَاand We raised
- 6:98أَنشَأَكُم(has) produced you
- 6:133أَنشَأَكُمHe raised you
- 6:141أَنشَأَproduced
- 11:61أَنشَأَكُمproduced you
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 32 Classical meanings
نَشَأَ
To live.
- Lane · entry 43670
نَشَأَ
To rise, become elevated, or become high.
A general intransitive use of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 43670
نَشَأَ
To grow up and become a youth or young man.
Used of a person growing from childhood toward youth or manhood.
- Lane · entry 43670
نَشَأَ
Of a cloud, to rise and appear at its first formation.
The expression concerns the first appearance or beginning of a cloud's rise.
- Lane · entry 43670
نَشَأَ
To originate or come into being from something else.
The construction may be followed by عَنْ to indicate origin from another thing.
- Lane · entry 43670
نَشَأَ
To happen, occur, or come to pass.
Used of an event or occurrence.
- Lane · entry 43670
نَشَأَ
Of an opinion, to arise in the mind.
In the expression نَشَأَ لَهُ رَأْىٌ, an opinion occurs to someone.
- Lane · entry 43670
أَنْشَأَ
To set up a beacon or sign of the way.
Used of placing a visible guide or landmark in a desert or on a highway.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ
To cause someone to attain or approach the age of manhood.
A causative maturation use, distinct from the broader sense of creating or producing.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ
To found or begin building a house or similar structure.
Used of initiating construction.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ
To formulate or compose a proverb, phrase, or literary language.
Applied to the deliberate construction of verbal expression, including an ode or similar composition.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ
To recite poetry or a sermon well.
This use concerns skilled oral delivery rather than composition alone.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ
To forge a tradition and attribute it to the Prophet.
A specialized use for fabricating and ascribing a report.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ
To begin to relate, say, or do something.
The inchoative construction is followed by an imperfect verb.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ مِنْهُ
To go forth from a place.
The construction أَنْشَأَ مِنْهُ asks or states from where someone has come forth.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَتِ النَّاقَةُ
Of a she-camel, to conceive.
A dialectal use attributed to Hudhayl.
- Lane · entry 43672
أَنْشَأَ عَلَيْهِ
To come to, advance toward, or approach someone or something.
Used with عَلَى in the cited construction.
- Lane · entry 43672
تَنَشَّأَ
To rise and go to accomplish one's affair or business.
The form may describe rising and going energetically or running to complete an undertaking.
- Lane · entry 43673
اِسْتَنْشَأَ
To scent or sniff the wind.
Used of an animal, especially a wolf, testing the wind by scent.
- Lane · entry 43674
اِسْتَنْشَأَ
To seek or search after news.
The use may occur with or without the hamza in the cited dialectal variation.
- Lane · entry 43674
اِسْتَنْشَأَ
To request someone to compose or recite an ode or similar poem.
The cited expression permits either composition or recitation as the requested act.
- Lane · entry 43674
نَشْء
The first rising or appearance of clouds.
The term may refer to risen clouds, their first appearance, or clouds spread out like a piece of drapery.
- Lane · entry 43675
نَشْء
The exhalation or odor of wine.
A specialized nominal use.
- Lane · entry 43675
نَشْء
The young ones of camels.
Used as a plural or quasi-plural designation.
- Lane · entry 43675
نَشِيئَة
A structural first or base part of a tank or cistern, including its bottom stone or surrounding earth; also earth removed from a well.
A technical vocabulary of tanks, cisterns, and wells, with several closely related applications.
- Lane · entry 43679
نَشِيئَة
Fresh, green, newly sprouted plant growth.
Used of vegetation that has sprung up but has not yet become thick or dry.
- Lane · entry 43679
نَاشِئ
A young person or youth past childhood or puberty.
The term can apply to either a boy or a girl and may also denote a youth who has attained adult stature.
- Lane · entry 43680
نَاشِئ
A cloud not yet completely gathered together.
The cloud meaning is associated with the image of something newly arising or not yet fully formed.
- Lane · entry 43680
مَنْشَأ
The place or source from which something originates, literally or figuratively.
A noun of place or source of origination.
- Lane · entry 43681
مُنْشَأ
A raised and pointed beacon or sign of the way; also an elevated hill.
The noun denotes a visibly raised landmark.
- Lane · entry 43682
مُنْشِئ
A she-camel that has conceived.
A dialectal use attributed to Hudhayl.
- Lane · entry 43683
مُسْتَنْشِئَة
A female diviner who seeks or searches after news.
The word is also recorded as the proper name of a particular female diviner; an alternative etymological explanation connects it with originating.
- Lane · entry 43685
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic expression نَاشِئَةَ اللَّيْلِ has closely related interpretations: night prayer or standing, the first part or hours of night, and rising after sleep; these are retained as usage nuances rather than separate lexical forms.
The Quranic مُنْشَآت is presented under the singular passive-participle citation form مُنْشَأَة; transmitted interpretations of the associated ship expression include both elevated sails and variant motion-related readings.