Quranic root
قبح
q · b · ḥ
The root centers on what is contrary to beauty or goodness: ugliness, badness, abhorrence, and unseemliness.
Its primary semantic orientation contrasts with beauty and propriety. From describing a form, action, or thing as ugly or bad, usage extends to causing or declaring such badness and, in a reported branch, removing someone from good. A separate anatomical usage is treated as divergent from this core.
- Maqāyīs · row 3698
- Mufradāt · row 1151
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- 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.
مَقْبُوحٌ
maqbūḥun
- Part of speech
- Passive 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 cast away from good, prosperity, or success; deprived of the attainment of what is sought.
In the Quranic occurrence, the passive participle denotes those subjected to this punitive removal; some explanations compare the banishment to driving someone away like a dog.
- Lane · entry 7700
- Mufradāt · row 1151
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:42word 10
“the despised”
One marked or rendered abhorrent, foul, or unsightly, and thereby disgraced or rejected.
The Quranic usage is also explained as being stamped with a reprehensible condition, including moral defilement and visible ugliness or disfigurement among the condemned.
- Lane · entry 7700
- Mufradāt · row 1151
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:42word 10
“the despised”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 28:42ٱلْمَقْبُوحِينَthe despised
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 11 Classical meanings
قَبُحَ
To be or become bad, evil, abominable, foul, unseemly, unsightly, ugly, or hideous.
Applied to a form, an action, or anything; the opposite of being or becoming good and beautiful.
- Lane · entry 7690
قَبَحَ
To break open a purulent pustule or squeeze it to express its contents; also to break an egg or another thing.
A concrete usage describing the opening or breaking of an object to release what it contains.
- Lane · entry 7690
قَبَّحَهُ
To render someone or something bad, ugly, or abhorrent; to reject or reprobate an utterance as bad and to declare a deed blameworthy.
A causative and evaluative use, including condemning what someone says or explicitly showing a person's deed to be bad or reprehensible.
- Lane · entry 7691
قَابَحَهُ
To revile or vilify another in reciprocal exchange, or to vie with another in reviling.
A reciprocal or competitive construction in which each party engages in verbal abuse.
- Lane · entry 7692
أَقْبَحَ
To do or say what is bad, evil, abominable, foul, or unseemly.
Also appears in the exclamatory construction مَا أَقْبَحَ وَجْهَهُ, meaning how ugly or hideous his face is.
- Lane · entry 7693
اِسْتَقْبَحَهُ
To regard someone or something as bad, evil, abominable, foul, unseemly, ugly, or hideous.
A judgment of disapproval, opposite to regarding something as beautiful or good.
- Lane · entry 7694
قَبِيحٌ
Bad, evil, abominable, foul, unseemly, unsightly, ugly, or hideous.
An adjective applied to a form, an action, or anything, as the opposite of beautiful or good.
- Lane · entry 7697
قَبِيحٌ
Of a she-camel, having wide orifices to the teats.
A specialized descriptive use applied specifically to the bodily feature of a she-camel.
- Lane · entry 7697
قَبِيحٌ
An anatomical term for a bony extremity, adjoining section, or junction near the elbow and arm bones.
Classical descriptions differ about the precise bone or junction intended; the term is associated especially with the part of the arm or forearm near the elbow.
- Lane · entry 7697
قُبَّاحٌ
A bear that is extremely aged, or old and weak.
A specialized lexical use unrelated to the ordinary adjective of ugliness.
- Lane · entry 7698
مَقَابِحُ
Bad, evil, abominable, foul, or unseemly qualities or dispositions.
A plural nominal expression, contrasted with qualities considered beautiful, praiseworthy, or otherwise commendable.
- Lane · entry 7701
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The single Quran occurrence is a plural passive participle. Its lexical explanations combine removal from good or success with being marked or rendered abhorrent or unsightly; the contextual rendering “the despised” does not by itself resolve between these branches.
The precise anatomical referent of قَبِيحٌ varies among the cited classical descriptions and is therefore stated broadly.