Quranic root
نسل
n · s · l
The root centers on something being drawn out, slipping away, or separating from its source.
This orientation extends to offspring as issuing from a parent, rapid movement as going forth swiftly, and material such as wool or feathers falling away. Related derived and idiomatic uses preserve the ideas of separation, succession, and precedence.
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
- Mufradāt · row 1439
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
نَسَلَ
nasala
- 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 move swiftly; to hasten forth.
In the Quranic construction مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ, it describes rapid movement forth from elevated ground. The differing contextual renderings “descend” and “hasten” are treated as realizations of this same rapid-movement sense.
- Mufradāt · row 1439
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:96word 10
“descend”
Quran 36:51word 10
“[they] will hasten”
نَسْلٌ
naslun
- 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.
Offspring or progeny.
A collective noun for descendants or young, applicable in the lexical evidence to human or animal progeny. The Quranic occurrences use it for progeny in a coordinated-object construction and in the possessive phrase نَسْلَهُ.
- Mufradāt · row 1439
- Lane · entry 32217
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:205word 10
“and progeny”
Quran 32:8word 3
“his progeny”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:205وَٱلنَّسْلَ ۗand progeny
- 21:96يَنسِلُونَdescend
- 32:8نَسْلَهُۥhis progeny
- 36:51يَنسِلُونَ[they] will hasten
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 8 Classical meanings
نَسَلَ
To come off or separate from something.
Used of wool coming off a camel and of a shirt coming off a person; the examples illustrate separation from an attached source.
- Mufradāt · row 1439
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
النُّسَالَةُ، ونُسَالُ الطَّيْرِ
Shed hair, wool, or feathers; specifically, the feathers that fall from birds.
A noun for material detached from an animal’s body, including hair or wool and fallen plumage.
- Mufradāt · row 1439
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
أَنْسَلَ
Of camels, to reach the time when their wool is about to be shed.
A derived usage describing the onset of a camel’s seasonal shedding.
- Mufradāt · row 1439
النَّسَلَانُ
A rapid gait, especially the swift gait of a wolf.
A noun for fast walking or running, with the wolf’s rapid gait given as a conventional example.
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
تَنَاسَلَ
To beget one another or descend successively from one another.
A reciprocal or successive-generation usage: one generation is born from another.
- Mufradāt · row 1439
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
نَسْلًا وَأَسْلًا
An imprecation formula.
Used as a fixed expression directed against a man, comparable to تَعْسًا وَنَكْسًا.
- Lane · entry 32216
النَّسِيلُ
Honey after it has melted.
A rare nominal usage explained by the image of the honey separating from its wax.
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
أَنْسَلَ
To get ahead of or precede a group.
Used transitively of one who advances before the people accompanying him.
- Maqāyīs · row 4625
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The verb is normalized to the perfect-tense dictionary citation form نَسَلَ, although QAC records the active Form I imperfect يَنْسِلُ.
The supplied Form VIII Lane entry is retained only as a pointer-level note and is not treated as an independently explained public meaning.