Quranic root
نحب
n · ḥ · b
The root has two principal orientations: a vow or wager that binds or challenges a person, and a vocal sound such as wailing or coughing.
The vow-and-risk branch extends to contest before a judge, strenuous persistence, determined travel, and the idiomatic fulfillment or completion of one's term. The separate sound branch yields loud weeping and the cough of camels.
- Maqāyīs · row 4565
- Lane · entry 43358
- Lane · entry 43363
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
نَحْبٌ
naḥbun
- 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 binding vow or obligation, especially the vow fulfilled in قَضَى نَحْبَهُ.
The Quranic occurrence is in the construction قَضَى نَحْبَهُ, literally understood as fulfilling or completing a binding vow.
- Lane · entry 43363
- Mufradāt · row 1417
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:23word 12
“his vow”
Death or completion of one's life-term, as an idiomatic interpretation of قَضَى نَحْبَهُ.
In this Quranic construction, the expression may denote dying, being slain, ending one's days, or yielding one's soul; some lexical explanations phrase the completion as accomplishing one's want.
- Lane · entry 43363
- Mufradāt · row 1417
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 33:23نَحْبَهُۥhis vow
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 28 Classical meanings
نَحَبَ
To vow, make a vow, or bind oneself to an undertaking.
Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 43358
نَحَبَ
To lay a bet or wager.
Form I verb; the verbal noun نَحْبٌ is also used in this sense.
- Lane · entry 43358
نَحَبَ
To raise one's voice in weeping or wailing; to weep or wail intensely or with a prolonged voice.
A figurative vocal sense.
- Lane · entry 43358
نَحَبَ
To cough.
The attested subject in this sense is a camel.
- Lane · entry 43358
نَحَبَ
To travel or journey at a quick or light pace, with exertion and perseverance.
Form I verb describing strenuous, determined travel.
- Lane · entry 43358
نَحَّبَ
To exert oneself energetically in work or to undertake and pursue a journey laboriously.
Form II; used for strenuous work and determined travel.
- Lane · entry 43359
نَحَّبَ
Of a journey, to harass or wear down a person by its length.
A causative or figurative construction in which a long journey produces the hardship.
- Lane · entry 43359
نَحَّبَ
To apply oneself to a matter and persist in it.
Reported with عَلَى أَمْرٍ and فِي أَمْرٍ constructions.
- Lane · entry 43359
نَاحَبَ
To lay a wager with another person.
Form III verb.
- Lane · entry 43360
نَاحَبَ
To refer a dispute to a judge or umpire, or to contend with another for honor or superiority before one.
Form III; the judicial or adjudicative setting is part of the reported construction.
- Lane · entry 43360
تَنَاحَبَ
To agree together on a time, especially a time for fighting.
Form VI; the appointed time may also be for another purpose.
- Lane · entry 43361
اِنْتَحَبَ
To sigh vehemently, or to weep and sigh vehemently.
Form VIII verb.
- Lane · entry 43362
نَحْبٌ
A great bet or wager.
Nominal use, distinct from the binding-vow sense.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
A proof, demonstration, or piece of evidence.
Nominal use.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
A necessity, want, needful thing, or object of need.
Nominal use.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
The soul or self.
Nominal synonymic use.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
Mind, purpose, aspiration, desire, or ambition.
Nominal use for a person's purpose or motivating aspiration.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
A laborious journey or a quick, energetic pace of travel.
Used in journey and pace expressions; the same epithet may be applied to a person who travels in this manner.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
Length or an extended span of time; a long day, period, or fixed term.
Nominal use for temporal extent or duration.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
Sleep.
Nominal synonymic use.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
Fatness.
Nominal use.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
Vehemence, violence, distress, difficulty, or adversity.
Nominal use, reported as equivalent to شِدَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
A game of hazard or gambling.
Nominal use, equivalent to قِمَارٌ.
- Lane · entry 43363
نَحْبٌ
A great camel.
A doubtful lexical report; it is noted as possibly being an error for نَجْبٌ.
- Lane · entry 43363
نُحْبَةٌ
A lot used for drawing lots, or sortilege itself.
Feminine noun; the sense is associated with deciding or adjudicating a matter by lot.
- Lane · entry 43364
نُحَابٌ
A cough that affects camels.
Animal-specific noun.
- Lane · entry 43365
نَاحِبَةٌ
A female wailer; a woman who weeps or wails.
Feminine noun, with the plural نَوَاحِبُ.
- Lane · entry 43366
مُنَحِّبٌ
One who proceeds in a direct, determined course, as though bound by a vow; by extension, a journey characterized by such determined or laborious travel.
Active-participial use in the expression سَارَ سَيْرًا مُنَحِّبًا.
- Lane · entry 43367
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The sole Quranic occurrence is the idiom قَضَى نَحْبَهُ; its lexical interpretation ranges from fulfilling a vow to dying or completing one's life-term, so translations may differ.
The reported sense نَحْبٌ 'a great camel' is explicitly treated as possibly an error for نَجْبٌ.