Quranic root
نخر
n · kh · r
The root centers on a nasal or wind-borne sound, especially the prolonged sound issuing from the nostrils.
From this sound, the lexicon extends to the nostrils and nose, vehement wind, and hollowed bones or wood through which wind enters and produces a sound. The sense of decay is associated with such hollowing and wasting.
- Maqāyīs · row 4580
- Mufradāt · row 1423
- 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.
نَخِرَةٌ
nakhirahun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Decayed, wasted, hollowed out, and crumbling.
In 79:11, it describes bones that have become wasted and hollowed so that wind may pass through them.
- Lane · entry 43446
- Mufradāt · row 1423
Selected Quran examples
Quran 79:11word 4
“decayed”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 79:11نَّخِرَةًۭdecayed
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
نَخَرَ
To emit a prolonged nasal sound; to snort or snore.
Said of people and animals. In a sexual-intercourse construction, it describes the emission of this sound, not the sexual act itself; the related active participle نَاخِرٌ denotes one making the sound.
- Lane · entry 43445
- Lane · entry 43449
- Mufradāt · row 1423
نَخِرَ
To become old, wasted, soft, and crumbling.
Used of things such as bones, wood, and other material objects.
- Lane · entry 43445
- Mufradāt · row 1423
نُخْرَةٌ
A vehement blowing of wind.
A lexical use for forceful wind or its blowing.
- Lane · entry 43447
- Maqāyīs · row 4580
- Mufradāt · row 1423
نُخْرَةٌ
The nose, especially its forepart, tip, or the space between the nostrils; also a nostril or the nose itself.
The term may denote the flexible forepart, the end or tip, the hole, the part between the nostrils, or the whole nose.
- Lane · entry 43447
- Mufradāt · row 1423
مَا بِهَا نَاخِرٌ
There is no one in it; it is uninhabited.
An idiomatic expression said of a house or other place.
- Lane · entry 43449
- Mufradāt · row 1423
مَنْخِرٌ
A nostril or nasal passage; the place from which the nasal sound issues.
The word denotes the hold or opening of the nose and is also explained as the original place of the sound called نَخِيرٌ.
- Lane · entry 43451
- Mufradāt · row 1423
مِنْخَارٌ
A person who makes the snorting sound during sexual intercourse.
The usage is explicitly applied to both a man and a woman.
- Lane · entry 43452
نَخُورٌ
A she-camel that does not yield milk unless a finger is inserted into her nostril.
A specialized lexical description of a camel with this condition.
- Mufradāt · row 1423
- Maqāyīs · row 4580
نَخْوَرِيٌّ
Having a wide urethral opening.
A related anatomical or technical designation.
- Maqāyīs · row 4580
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The single QAC occurrence is the adjective نَخِرَةٌ; related verb and noun entries are therefore retained as broader Classical Arabic meanings rather than treated as additional Quranic form groups.
The lexical evidence records a reading comparison at 79:11 between نَاخِرَةٌ and نَخِرَةٌ. This artifact follows the QAC-attested form نَخِرَةٌ and does not create a separate form for the reported alternative.