Quranic root
قنع
q · n · ʿ
The root chiefly conveys turning or directing oneself toward something; a separate branch concerns roundness and encircling coverings.
The directional branch extends to asking, contentment with what one has, sufficiency, and several acts of extending or inclining toward an object. A divergent elevation sense is explicitly attested in the Quranic expression مُقْنِعِي رُؤُوسِهِمْ, while the roundness branch yields sand formations, trays, and head coverings.
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
- Mufradāt · row 1214
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مُقْنِعٌ
muqniʿun
- Part of speech
- Active 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 who raises or holds the head aloft.
In the Quranic construction مُقْنِعِي رُؤُوسِهِمْ, it describes heads raised upward rather than inclined downward.
- Mufradāt · row 1214
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
Selected Quran examples
Quran 14:43word 2
“raised up”
قَانِعٌ
qāniʿun
- Part of speech
- Active 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.
A petitioner or beggar who asks without persistent insistence.
In the Quranic distribution of sacrificial meat, the term is lexically explained as one who asks and is satisfied with what is given without pressing the request.
- Lane · entry 21146
- Mufradāt · row 1214
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:36word 21
“the needy who do not ask”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 14 Classical meanings
قَنَاعَةٌ
Contentment; making do with a small amount of needed worldly provisions.
The related verb قَنِعَ denotes being satisfied or content, as distinct from قَنَعَ in the asking sense.
- Mufradāt · row 1214
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
قَنَعَ (قُنُوعًا)
To ask or beg.
This is the verbal asking sense corresponding to the petitioner noun قَانِعٌ.
- Mufradāt · row 1214
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
تَقَنَّعَ
To be content or satisfied with a thing.
- Lane · entry 21143
تَقَنَّعَ
To put on a helmet or other head armor.
The usage is explained by analogy with a woman putting on a head covering.
- Mufradāt · row 1214
قُنْعَانٌ
A satisfactory or acceptable authority, especially one whose judgment or evidence is sufficient to rely upon.
The word is reported as usable for masculine and feminine, singular, dual, and plural referents.
- Lane · entry 21144
- Mufradāt · row 1214
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
مَقْنَعٌ
A sufficiency; something adequate to satisfy or suffice.
Used in expressions stating that a matter provides enough or is satisfactory.
- Lane · entry 21147
قِنَاعٌ
A woman’s head covering worn over the khimār and wider than it.
- Lane · entry 21145
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
قِنَاعُ الْقَلْبِ
The integument of the heart, or pericardium.
An anatomical usage of قِنَاعٌ.
- Lane · entry 21145
مِقْنَعَةٌ
A woman’s head veil.
- Lane · entry 21149
قَنَّعَ
To cover the head with blows from a sword or whip.
The expression is figurative, as though the blows formed a covering over the head.
- Mufradāt · row 1214
إِقْنَاعٌ
Directing or extending toward something, including turning the face toward it or extending the hand in supplication.
The same directional construction is also applied to extending an animal’s head toward water and to inclining a vessel so that its water runs downward.
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
قَنَعَتِ الْإِبِلُ وَالْغَنَمُ
For camels or sheep to incline toward a pasture.
A construction with لِـ marking the pasture toward which they turn.
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
قِنْعٌ
A rounded formation of sand.
This belongs to the root’s separate roundness branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
قِنْعٌ / قِنَاعٌ
A tray-like platter on which a gift is presented.
A nominal usage associated with a rounded or encircling form.
- Maqāyīs · row 3878
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied contextual rendering for قَانِعٌ is “the needy who do not ask,” whereas the direct lexical evidence supports “one who asks or begs,” particularly without insistence; this is a genuine interpretive variation.
The Lane citation recorded as “Kur, xxii. 37” is not converted into a modern verse location. The Quran example here uses the independently supplied QAC occurrence at 22:36.