Quranic root
نجو
n · j · w
The root combines two broad orientations: separation or clearing away from something, and concealment or confidential exchange.
The separation branch develops into escape, safety, deliverance, elevated refuge, movement away, and the removal of waste; the concealment branch develops into private speech, secret discourse, and private interlocution. Related usages also extend to uncovering or stripping away.
- Maqāyīs · row 4563
- Mufradāt · row 1416
- 10
- Quran-attested forms
- 11
- Quran senses
- 84
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
نَجَا
najā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 escape, get away, or become safe from danger.
An intransitive verb describing the subject’s escape or attainment of safety.
- Lane · entry 32097
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:45word 3
“was saved”
Quran 28:25word 23
“You have escaped”
نَجَّى
najjā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- Quran occurrences
- 37 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 save, rescue, or deliver someone from danger or destruction.
A transitive causative/intensive form; the object may be an individual or a group, and the danger may be physical or punitive.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:58word 4
“We saved”
Quran 26:118word 5
“and save me”
To preserve or leave someone safely beyond destruction, with the surviving body or person set apart as a sign.
In the Quranic account of Pharaoh, the form is explained as leaving or preserving his body after the destruction of his people; this is a particular preservation construction within the saving branch.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:92word 2
“We will save you”
نَاجَى
nājā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 converse privately with someone; to hold a confidential consultation.
A transitive interpersonal construction involving private speech with a specified interlocutor.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 58:12word 5
“you privately consult”
أَنْجَى
ʾanjā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 23 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 save, rescue, or preserve someone from danger or destruction.
A transitive causative form used for deliverance of individuals or groups.
- Lane · entry 32099
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:119word 1
“So We saved him”
Quran 6:63word 12
“He saves us”
تَنَاجَى
tanājā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VI
- Form
- VI
- 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.
To confer privately with one another; to hold secret counsel.
A reciprocal or collective construction for parties engaging in private conversation.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 58:9word 5
“you hold secret counsel”
Quran 58:8word 13
“and they hold secret counsels”
مُنَجٍّ
munajjin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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.
One who saves, rescues, or delivers.
The active participle of نَجَّى; in the Quran it occurs with a pronoun object referring to those delivered.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 15:59word 5
“surely will save them”
Quran 29:33word 17
“(will) save you”
نَاجٍ
nājin
- 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.
One who escapes or is safe.
The active participle of the intransitive Form I verb نَجَا.
- Lane · entry 32097
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:42word 5
“(would be) saved”
نَجِيّ
najiyy
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 person or persons engaged in private conversation; a private interlocutor or confidant.
The noun may refer to one private interlocutor or to a group engaged in confidential discussion.
- Lane · entry 32104
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:80word 5
“(in) private consultation”
Quran 19:52word 7
“(for) conversation”
نَجْوَى
najwā
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 11 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.
Private or secret discourse, consultation, or counsel; also the confidential matter shared in such an exchange.
The noun can denote the act or event of secret conversation, the participants’ confidential exchange, or the secret communicated between parties.
- Lane · entry 32104
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:114word 6
“their secret talk”
Quran 58:12word 10
“your private consultation”
Quran 58:7word 15
“secret counsel”
نَجَاةٌ
najāhun
- 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.
Salvation, deliverance, or safety from danger.
An abstract noun for escape or being brought safely beyond harm.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Selected Quran examples
Quran 40:41word 6
“the salvation”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:49نَجَّيْنَـٰكُمWe saved you
- 2:50فَأَنجَيْنَـٰكُمْthen We saved you
- 4:114نَّجْوَىٰهُمْtheir secret talk
- 6:63يُنَجِّيكُمsaves you
- 6:63أَنجَىٰنَاHe saves us
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 12 Classical meanings
نَجَا
To void excrement or emit wind.
A bodily-function usage distinct from the escape meaning.
- Lane · entry 32097
نَجَا
To be quick or swift, and to outstrip others.
The sense includes the related verbal noun نَجَاءٌ for speed.
- Lane · entry 32097
نَجَا
To strip or peel bark from a tree or skin from an animal; a peeled stick or branch may also be called نَجًا.
A transitive usage involving removal of an outer covering.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
- Maqāyīs · row 4563
نَجَا
In a transitive usage, to speak privately with someone.
This reported usage is distinct from the ordinary intransitive sense ‘to escape’; it is interpreted as equivalent to private conversation.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
اِسْتَنْجَى
To wash or wipe the place of excrement with a stone, dry clay, or similar material.
A technical purification usage connected with removing bodily waste or seeking a secluded place for that purpose.
- Lane · entry 32100
نَجْوٌ، نَجَاءٌ
A shower of rain.
- Lane · entry 32101
نَجَاءٌ
A well whose water lies far below its mouth.
- Lane · entry 32101
نَجْوَةٌ
An elevated piece of land, especially ground that remains above surrounding floodwater.
The elevation is understood as providing refuge from a flood.
- Lane · entry 32102
- Mufradāt · row 1416
- Maqāyīs · row 4563
نَجَاةٌ
A type of land whose trees provide usable sticks or rods.
A classical land-description usage, separate from the abstract sense ‘salvation’.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
مَنْجَاةٌ
A cause or means of safety.
A noun of means or circumstance denoting what affords deliverance.
- Lane · entry 32105
أَنْجَى
To go to or resort to an elevated place.
A classical Form IV usage connected with reaching a نَجْوَةٌ; it is distinct from the Quranic Form IV sense ‘to save’.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
أَنْجَى
To restore or make someone stand or recover.
A rare reported usage occurring in a statement about the effect of medicine.
- Mufradāt · row 1416
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The public Form I headword نَجَا is normalized from the Quranic lemma and includes the surface form نَجَوْ.
The Quranic Form II use in 10:92 is a preservation or leaving-safe construction and should not be reduced to an ordinary generic rescue gloss.
The hamzated noun نَجْأَةٌ discussed in the lexical material is a separate item and is not assigned to the ن ج و root.
An attributed interpretation of نَجَوْتُ فلانًا as ‘I tested his breath’ is not treated as an independent meaning because the discussion rejects its evidentiary basis and explains the verse as private speech instead.