Quranic root
نور
n · w · r
The root centers on illumination and the restless movement associated with flame, yielding the related domains of light, fire, brightness, manifestation, and certain forms of agitation or avoidance.
The lexical development extends from light and fire to intellectual and revelatory illumination, blossoming and visible appearance, guiding signs, and figurative expressions of conflict, counsel, and aversion.
- Maqāyīs · row 4786
- Mufradāt · row 1496
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 194
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مُنِير
munīr
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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.
Giving light; shining or illuminating.
An active participle describing something that emits, displays, or provides light. In Quranic usage it may be rendered as shining, luminous, or enlightening according to its referent.
- Lane · entry 44737
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:61word 11
“shining”
Quran 33:46word 6
“illuminating”
نَار
nār
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 145 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.
Fire or flame, especially a visible burning fire.
The ordinary physical noun, used with both indefinite and definite reference and in descriptions of a fire that is kindled, seen, or used for practical purposes.
- Lane · entry 44731
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:96word 14
“fire”
The Fire of Hell.
A conventional Quranic designation for the eschatological fire prepared as punishment, often appearing with the definite article or in expressions describing entry into, residence in, or fuel for the Fire.
- Lane · entry 44731
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:24word 7
“the Fire”
A fire kindled for war or conflict.
A figurative construction in which kindling a fire denotes initiating or renewing warfare; it is distinct from the ordinary physical fire and from the eschatological Fire.
- Lane · entry 44731
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:64word 36
“(the) fire”
نُور
nūr
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 43 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.
Light or illumination perceptible by sight.
The physical light of luminous bodies or an illumination contrasted with darkness; the Quran also distinguishes the moon's نور from the sun's ضياء in one explicit comparison.
- Lane · entry 44733
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:5word 7
“a reflected light”
Intellectual, revelatory, or divinely given light that makes truth manifest and guides.
Used for revelation, the Quran, faith, Islam, and the guidance by which a person is brought out of darkness or enabled to see the truth. This sense includes the light brought by the Messenger and the light through which people are guided.
- Lane · entry 44733
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:157word 37
“the light”
The divine source or agent of illumination and guidance; a designation of God.
In the predication Allah is the نور of the heavens and the earth, the noun describes God as the one who illuminates, manifests, and rightly guides rather than merely denoting created physical light.
- Lane · entry 44733
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:35word 2
“(is the) Light”
The eschatological light carried or allotted to believers.
Refers to the light of the Hereafter that proceeds before believers, is associated with their right sides, or is sought from them by those deprived of it.
- Lane · entry 44733
- Mufradāt · row 1496
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:12word 6
“their light”
A bearer or embodiment of divine light, applied to Muhammad in Quranic interpretation.
This is a special Quran-attested application of the noun to the Prophet, distinct from the broader use for revelation or guidance; the historical citation attached to this interpretation is not converted here into a modern verse location.
- Lane · entry 44733
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:17نَارًۭاa fire
- 2:17بِنُورِهِمْtheir light
- 2:24ٱلنَّارَthe Fire
- 2:39ٱلنَّارِ ۖ(of) the Fire
- 2:80ٱلنَّارُthe Fire
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 33 Classical meanings
نَار
A brand or mark made on a camel with a hot iron.
A specialized concrete use of نار for the mark itself or the branding by which an animal is identified.
- Lane · entry 44726
- Lane · entry 44731
تَنْوِير
The brightening of dawn; specifically, performing the dawn prayer after daylight has begun to appear.
A conventional temporal and ritual use derived from the brightening of the horizon.
- Lane · entry 44727
- Lane · entry 44742
نَوَّرَ
To blossom or flower; to put forth blossoms.
Said of a tree or plant that produces its flowers.
- Lane · entry 44727
نَوَّرَ
Of seed-produce, to reach maturity.
A specialized agricultural use, distinct from flowering.
- Lane · entry 44727
نَوَّرَ
To smear a person or thing with نُورَة, a depilatory preparation.
A transitive grooming use referring to the application of the depilatory substance.
- Lane · entry 44727
نَوَّرَ
To prick the skin and apply pigment in the punctures, especially in tattooing.
The construction describes pricking the forearm or another body part and placing the pigment in the punctures.
- Lane · entry 44727
أَنَارَ
To give light, shine, or shine brightly; of dawn, to become light or have its light appear.
Intransitive use with a luminous object, dawn, or a comparable source of illumination.
- Lane · entry 44728
أَنَارَ
Of sedition or discord, to arise and spread.
A figurative use describing conflict or unrest becoming active and extending among people.
- Lane · entry 44728
أَنَارَ
Of a plant, to become beautiful or apparent, including by putting forth blossoms.
A use for the visible flourishing or conspicuous appearance of vegetation.
- Lane · entry 44728
أَنَارَ
To make a lamp or other object give light, or to illuminate a place.
Transitive causative use: a lamp is made bright, light is put into a place, or something is made visually clear. Figuratively it can mean to elucidate a matter or teach someone the proof of it.
- Lane · entry 44728
تَنَوَّرَ
To look for or discern a fire from afar, and to move toward or come to it.
The object is a fire; the construction can emphasize seeing it, directing oneself toward it, or arriving at it.
- Lane · entry 44728
تَنَوَّرَ
To observe a person by the light of a fire without being seen.
A specialized concealment construction describing observation from darkness by using another person's firelight.
- Lane · entry 44728
اِنْتَارَ
To smear oneself with نُورَة, a depilatory preparation.
A reflexive or intransitive variant of the depilation use, with lexical variation among the reported forms.
- Lane · entry 44729
اِسْتَنَارَ
To seek the aid of a light or its rays.
The construction استنار به means to use or seek support from the light of something.
- Lane · entry 44730
نَار
A ceremonial fire kindled when entering into a confederacy or confirming an oath.
A pre-Islamic cultural expression involving salt thrown into the fire as part of the ritual.
- Lane · entry 44731
نَار
Heat considered apart from visible flame.
A Classical Arabic extension of the noun to mere heat, without requiring an actually visible fire.
- Lane · entry 44731
نَار
Figuratively, evil, agitation, rage, or war.
Used in expressions that compare destructive excitement or hostility to a fire; the Quranic war-specific construction is separately listed above.
- Lane · entry 44731
نَار
Figuratively, opinion, counsel, or advice.
In the expression seeking illumination from someone's fire, the fire denotes the counsel or guidance obtained from that person or group.
- Lane · entry 44731
نَوْر
The blossoms or flowers of a tree or plant.
A collective noun, with نَوْرَة as its singulative; it may particularly refer to pale or white blossoms.
- Lane · entry 44732
نُورَة
Quicklime, or a preparation of quicklime and mineral additives, used as a depilatory.
The lexical item can denote the lime or the prepared mixture applied for removing hair; its etymology is reported differently by authorities.
- Lane · entry 44735
نَيِّر
Bright, shining, luminous, or conspicuous; by extension, strikingly beautiful in appearance.
The adjective may describe light itself, visible brightness, conspicuousness, or beauty of color and appearance.
- Lane · entry 44737
- Lane · entry 44740
نَوُور
A black or blue-black pigment, including lampblack or smoke-black, used for tattooing and sometimes as a cosmetic pigment.
The form and spelling vary in the lexicons; the substance is associated especially with filling tattoo punctures or coloring them greenish.
- Lane · entry 44738
نَوُور
A small stone resembling إثمد, crushed and taken medicinally by the lip.
A specialized medicinal use distinct from the pigment sense.
- Lane · entry 44738
نَائِرَة
Sedition or discord that breaks out and spreads.
A noun for active social disturbance or conflict.
- Lane · entry 44740
نَائِرَة
Rancor, malevolence, enmity, or violent hatred between people.
Used of hostile feeling existing between parties, not merely of an event that spreads.
- Lane · entry 44740
نَائِر
One who causes evils among people.
An agentive use describing a person who produces harmful discord or trouble.
- Lane · entry 44740
أَنْوَر
Lighter or brighter than another.
A comparative adjective of visible brightness or lightness.
- Lane · entry 44741
مَنَار
A place or source of light.
The noun can denote a location from which light is displayed or perceived.
- Lane · entry 44743
مَنَار
A sign, landmark, boundary marker, or visible ordinance by which a way or territory is recognized.
Used of markers between lands and, figuratively, of signs and ordinances by which a religious way is known.
- Lane · entry 44743
مَنَار
The central or main course of a road.
A figurative extension from a visible guiding landmark to the principal route itself.
- Lane · entry 44743
مَنَارَة
A structure associated with a light, including a lamp stand, candle, lighthouse, or minaret.
The noun covers structures on which a lamp is placed, structures that display a light, and the mosque tower from which the call to prayer is proclaimed.
- Lane · entry 44745
مَنَارَة
A pillar-like structure.
A broader architectural extension of the structure sense.
- Lane · entry 44745
مَنَارَة
A perch for a hawk or falcon.
A specialized term for a raised, pillar-like place on which a bird of prey rests.
- Lane · entry 44745
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic noun نور covers materially different physical, revelatory, divine, and eschatological applications; English renderings of light do not by themselves distinguish them.
Some Lane Quran references use historical citation conventions and have not been converted into modern verse locations unless the QAC packet independently supplied and securely identified the occurrence.