Quranic root
قبر
q · b · r
The root centers on concealment within something and lowering or deepening. Its clearest lexical development is burial: placing the dead into a concealed, lowered place.
From this orientation come the grave and burial-place, the act of burying, and the causative provision of a place in which someone is buried.
- Maqāyīs · row 3699
- Mufradāt · row 1152
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 8
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَقْبَرَ
ʾaqbara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 provide or assign a grave for someone; to cause someone to be buried.
Causative Form IV. In the Quranic use, the emphasis is on ensuring a burial place and burial for the dead, rather than merely performing the burial oneself.
- Lane · entry 7703
- Mufradāt · row 1152
Selected Quran examples
Quran 80:21word 3
“and provides a grave for him”
مَقْبَرَةٌ
maqbarahun
- Part of speech
- Noun · place of graves
- 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.
A cemetery, burial-place, or place containing graves.
The Quranic plural مَقَابِر in the expression حَتَّى زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَ is also understood as a conventional euphemism for death.
- Lane · entry 7710
- Mufradāt · row 1152
Selected Quran examples
Quran 102:2word 3
“the graves”
قَبْرٌ
qabrun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
A grave, tomb, sepulchre, or place where a human being is buried.
The Quranic plural قُبُور refers literally to graves and their contents. In expressions concerning those in the graves, the noun may also metonymically evoke the dead or persons treated as dead; references to what is in the graves can point to the resurrection.
- Lane · entry 7704
- Mufradāt · row 1152
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 9:84قَبْرِهِۦٓ ۖhis grave
- 22:7ٱلْقُبُورِthe graves
- 35:22ٱلْقُبُورِthe graves
- 60:13ٱلْقُبُورِ(of) the graves
- 80:21فَأَقْبَرَهُۥand provides a grave for him
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
قَبَرَ
To bury a corpse; to conceal it in the earth.
Form I verb; the associated aorist and verbal nouns are grammatical variants of this burial sense.
- Lane · entry 7702
أَقْبَرَ
To order that someone be buried.
A Classical Form IV causative or directive use distinct from simply providing a grave.
- Lane · entry 7703
أَقْبَرَ
To permit burial or give a slain person to others so that they may bury him.
A Classical use concerning authorization or release for burial.
- Lane · entry 7703
أَقْبَرَ
To order someone to dig a grave.
A rare attributed Classical interpretation of the Form IV verb.
- Lane · entry 7703
قُبَّرٌ
A lark or other small bird.
A distinct noun from the burial vocabulary, with variant forms such as قُبَرٌ and قُنْبُرٌ.
- Lane · entry 7706
مَقْبَرِيٌّ
A cemetery or grave keeper; a gravedigger.
A masculine occupational adjective applied to a man.
- Lane · entry 7711
أَرْضٌ قَبُورٌ
Deep or obscure land.
A Classical adjectival use describing land that is deep or difficult to penetrate.
- Maqāyīs · row 3699
نَخْلَةٌ قَبُورٌ
A date palm whose yield is borne among its fronds.
A specialized Classical description of a date palm and the position of its fruit.
- Maqāyīs · row 3699
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic group مَقَابِر is presented under the supported singular citation form مَقْبَرَةٌ, while قُبُور is presented under قَبْرٌ.
The bird noun قُبَّرٌ is a separate lexical item from the burial-related words despite sharing the reported consonantal spelling.