Quranic root
نبط
n · b · ṭ
The root centers on bringing something out, especially water emerging from or being drawn from the ground.
The concrete image of water welling forth and being extracted extends to drawing out concealed things, including knowledge. The designation of the Nabataeans is also associated with their extraction of water.
- Maqāyīs · row 4525
- Lane · entry 43129
- Lane · entry 43130
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
اِسْتَنْبَطَ
āistanbaṭa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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 extract or elicit knowledge or information from a source; to derive it from those who possess it.
In the Quranic construction, the extracted matter is obtained from a source or people possessing it, expressed with مِنْهُمْ in 4:83.
- Mufradāt · row 1408
- Lane · entry 43129
- Lane · entry 32051
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:83word 20
“draw correct conclusion (from) it”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:83يَسْتَنۢبِطُونَهُۥdraw correct conclusion (from) it
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 15 Classical meanings
نَبَطَ
To well forth or issue forth, especially of water.
An intransitive verb used of water emerging or flowing out.
- Lane · entry 43123
أَنْبَطَ
To reach a well’s water and bring it out by digging or other labor; to produce or fetch out the water.
Used of a digger reaching the water and transitively of a well or its water.
- Lane · entry 43126
إِنْبَاطٌ
The production of an effect or the making of an impression.
A figurative verbal noun meaning the exertion of influence.
- Lane · entry 43126
تَنَبَّطَ
To imitate the Nabataeans or to claim kinship with them.
A derived Form V use concerning resemblance to or asserted affiliation with the Nabataeans.
- Lane · entry 43127
اِسْتَنْبَطَ
To draw out, extract, produce, fetch out, or extort something by labor, skill, or art.
The object may be physical or something obtained through exertion or ingenuity; the Quranic knowledge use is separately listed above.
- Lane · entry 43129
- Lane · entry 32051
اِسْتَنْبَطَ
To bring a concealed matter to light or make it apparent after it has been hidden.
A figurative extension of drawing something out, including eliciting an obscure matter through effort or study.
- Lane · entry 43129
اِسْتَنْبَطَ
To seek to obtain offspring from a mare.
A specialized figurative or idiomatic use; one transmitted interpretation connects it with seeking what is in the mare’s belly.
- Lane · entry 43129
اِسْتَنْبَطَ
To become a naturalized Nabataean.
Used of a person becoming identified with the Nabataean people or culture.
- Lane · entry 43129
نَبَطٌ
The first water that appears when a well is dug.
A noun for the water emerging at the beginning of the digging of a well.
- Lane · entry 43130
- Lane · entry 43129
نَبْطٌ
Water extracted from a well.
A noun for water obtained through the process of extraction.
- Mufradāt · row 1408
- Lane · entry 43123
نَبَطٌ
In idioms, a person’s underlying depth or eventual fulfillment; hence a promise whose fulfillment is remote, an unfathomable depth or extent of knowledge, or an inaccessible opponent.
These are fixed figurative expressions built on the notion of a hidden or difficult-to-reach depth.
- Lane · entry 43130
نَبَطٌ
A well whose water has been produced or fetched out by the labor of digging.
A noun describing the well by reference to the water obtained from it.
- Lane · entry 43130
نَبَطٌ
What oozes or exudes from a mountain, like sweat issuing from the sides of rock.
Used of moisture emerging from a mountain or rocky surface.
- Lane · entry 43130
نَبَطٌ
The Nabataeans; later, by extension, mixed, low, vulgar, or socially inferior people.
The original use is an ethnonym; later extended or pejorative applications are also recorded.
- Lane · entry 43130
أَنْبَطُ / نُبْطَةٌ
A white patch beneath a horse’s armpit; an أَنْبَطُ horse is one marked by it.
An anatomical color marking used in describing a horse.
- Mufradāt · row 1408
- Maqāyīs · row 4525