Quranic root
نكح
n · k · ḥ
The root centers on sexual and marital union, including the formal institution of marriage and its contract.
The evidence presents marriage contract as the primary lexical domain, with intercourse as a transferred euphemistic use. Derived forms extend the marriage relation to giving someone in marriage, intermarriage, and seeking marriage.
- Maqāyīs · row 4741
- Mufradāt · row 1482
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 23
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
نَكَحَ
nakaḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 14 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 marry; to enter into or contract a marriage with someone.
In the Quranic attestations, this is the marriage or marriage-contract use, distinct from the separately attested use for sexual intercourse. Voice, aspect, and the grammatical participant vary by construction.
- Lane · entry 44468
- Mufradāt · row 1482
Selected Quran examples
أَنْكَحَ
ʾankaḥa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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.
To arrange or effect someone's marriage to another; to give someone in marriage or marry someone to a partner.
A causative marriage construction: the person being married and the partner may be expressed separately or understood. It includes both active and passive Quranic constructions.
- Lane · entry 44470
- Mufradāt · row 1482
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:32word 1
“And marry”
Quran 2:221word 14
“give in marriage (your women)”
Quran 28:27word 5
“marry you to”
اِسْتَنْكَحَ
āistankaḥa
- 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 seek to marry; to seek marriage with someone.
The supplied Quranic occurrence uses Form X in a marriage construction. It does not establish a separate intercourse sense for this form.
- Lane · entry 44472
- Lane · entry 44468
- Mufradāt · row 1482
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:50word 38
“marry her”
نِكَاح
nikāḥ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
Marriage; the marriage contract or marital union.
In Quranic legal and social contexts, the noun denotes marriage or its contractual institution. In بُلُوغِ النِّكَاحِ, the context refers to reaching marriageable age.
- Mufradāt · row 1482
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:6word 6
“(the age of) marriage”
Quran 24:33word 5
“(means for) marriage”
Quran 2:235word 30
“(of) marriage”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:221تَنكِحُوا۟[you] marry
- 2:221تُنكِحُوا۟give in marriage (your women)
- 2:230تَنكِحَshe marries
- 2:232يَنكِحْنَ(from) marrying
- 2:235ٱلنِّكَاحِ(of) marriage
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 9 Classical meanings
نَكَحَ
To have sexual intercourse; by extension, to copulate or mate.
A broader Classical Arabic use, including intercourse without marriage and, in some usage, the mating of animals or insects. The sources also recognize marriage without intercourse as a distinct application of the verb.
- Lane · entry 44468
- Mufradāt · row 1482
نَكَحَ
Of rain, to mingle with the soil or settle upon the ground so as to soak it.
A figurative or specialized use applied to rain and the ground.
- Lane · entry 44468
نَكَحَ
To infect, overcome, or overtake.
Used of disease overcoming a person and of drowsiness or sleep overcoming or settling upon the eye.
- Lane · entry 44468
أَنْكَحَ
To accustom camels' feet to pebbles.
A tropical Form IV construction with pebbles as what the camel's feet are accustomed to.
- Lane · entry 44470
تَنَاكَحَ
To intermarry; to contract marriages with one another, and, of trees, to become joined or connected.
The reciprocal Form VI use applies to persons marrying one another and figuratively to trees becoming connected.
- Lane · entry 44471
نِكْحٌ
The act of giving a woman in marriage; also an epithet for the person who gives her in marriage or for the person given in marriage.
A quasi-infinitive and epithet used in a conventional pre-Islamic marriage formula, especially as the response to an asker of marriage.
- Lane · entry 44473
نُكَحَةٌ
A man who marries often or repeatedly; in one explanation, a man sexually vehement.
An epithet for a man, with the two explanations preserved as related traditional descriptions rather than separate headwords.
- Lane · entry 44476
نَاكِحٌ
A married woman; a woman who has a husband.
The feminine form نَاكِحَةٌ is also attested, including in poetry.
- Lane · entry 44478
مَنَاكِحُ
Women or wives; women considered as marriage partners.
A plural term reported as having no fixed singular, though related singular forms are also reported. It may occur in proverbial statements about women taken in marriage.
- Lane · entry 44480
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Classical discussions debate whether the marriage and intercourse uses are primary or transferred. The Quranic form senses here are limited to the explicitly supported marriage, marriage-contract, and marriage-arrangement uses.