Quranic root
قرأ
q · r · ʾ
The root centers on bringing elements together into an ordered whole, especially joining letters and words in connected recitation.
From the notion of collecting or combining, the lexical field extends to reading or reciting connected words, the assembled revelation, teaching someone to recite, and periods understood as a joined transition between states.
- Lane · entry 8032
- Mufradāt · row 1166
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 88
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
قَرَأَ
qaraʾa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 16 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.
To read or recite connected words, writing, scripture, or a passage.
Used for reading or reciting aloud or from a text; with عَلَى, it can mean to recite something to someone. The Quranic forms include commands, active and passive predicates, and recitation of a specified text.
- Lane · entry 8032
- Mufradāt · row 1166
Selected Quran examples
أَقْرَأَ
ʾaqraʾa
- 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 cause or teach someone to read or recite.
A causative construction in which a teacher or instructor enables another person to read or recite, especially the revealed text.
- Lane · entry 8035
- Mufradāt · row 1166
Selected Quran examples
Quran 87:6word 1
“We will make you recite”
قُرْآنٌ
qurʾānun
- Part of speech
- Noun / proper name
- Quran occurrences
- 70 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.
The revealed Book or Scripture sent to Muhammad; the Quran as a written, uttered, and recited textual whole.
As a proper name it denotes the revealed scripture; the indefinite form can also denote a portion or presentation of that scripture. The name is associated lexically with a collected or recited revelation, though its etymology is disputed in the classical evidence.
- Lane · entry 8043
- Mufradāt · row 1166
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:37word 4
“the Quran”
Quran 17:78word 8
“and Quran”
Recitation or reading of the revelation.
A verbal-noun use is explicit in expressions such as its recitation and the recitation of dawn; in the interpretation of 75:17–18 it includes the gathering or fixing of the revelation and its subsequent recitation.
- Lane · entry 8032
- Lane · entry 8043
- Mufradāt · row 1166
Selected Quran examples
Quran 75:17word 4
“and its recitation”
Quran 75:18word 4
“its recitation”
قُرْءٌ
qurʾun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural form قُرُوء
- 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 menstrual onset or period, understood as the entry from a state of purity into menstruation.
One interpretation of ثَلَاثَةَ قُرُوءٍ in 2:228 counts three such transitions into menstruation.
- Lane · entry 8039
- Mufradāt · row 1166
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:228word 5
“monthly periods”
A period of purity from menstruation, or an interval between menstrual periods.
A second interpretation of ثَلَاثَةَ قُرُوءٍ in 2:228 counts periods of purity rather than menstrual onsets.
- Lane · entry 8039
- Mufradāt · row 1166
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:228word 5
“monthly periods”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:185ٱلْقُرْءَانُthe Quran
- 2:228قُرُوٓءٍۢ ۚmonthly periods
- 4:82ٱلْقُرْءَانَ ۚ(on) the Quran
- 5:101ٱلْقُرْءَانُthe Quran
- 6:19ٱلْقُرْءَانُ[the] Quran
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 39 Classical meanings
قَرَأَ
To collect, bring together, or join parts into a whole.
The primary signification is stated for joining a thing part to part or portion to portion; this is broader Classical Arabic evidence, not a separate Quranic Form I translation sense.
- Lane · entry 8032
قَرَأَ
Of a female animal, to become pregnant, retain or enclose a fetus, bear, or cast forth a young one.
The reported meanings vary with the construction and authority, covering pregnancy, retention of the fetus, birth, and expulsion of the young.
- Lane · entry 8032
قَرَأَ
To convey or deliver a salutation.
Especially in the expression قَرَأَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامَ; another usage is associated with a written salutation and making it be read.
- Lane · entry 8032
قَرَّأَ
To keep a girl or woman in confinement while waiting for menstruation or the completion of a waiting period.
The confinement is described as serving to establish freedom from pregnancy or to await the end of menstruation or ʿiddah.
- Lane · entry 8033
قَارَأَ
To read or study with another, each teaching the other.
A reciprocal Form III construction.
- Lane · entry 8034
قَارَأَ
To match or equal another in the time required for reading or recitation.
Used of a text or chapter compared with another according to the time needed to read it.
- Lane · entry 8034
أَقْرَأَ
Of a female animal, to retain the male seed in the womb and enter the first stage of pregnancy.
The usage is described particularly of a she-camel, ewe, or she-goat.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
Of a woman, to menstruate or to become pure from menstrual discharge.
The verb is reported with both contrary menstrual-state meanings; related expressions can denote seeing menstrual blood or becoming one who menstruates.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
Of winds, to blow or begin to blow in their season.
Used of winds occurring at their appointed time.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
To turn back or return from a journey.
A Form IV intransitive use.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
To approach or draw near.
Used of a person approaching a family, or of an object of need that is drawing near.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
Of a star, to set, or for its time of setting to arrive.
A temporal use applied to stars and their setting.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
Of stars, to delay bringing rain.
A reported astronomical or weather-related use, distinct from the star's setting.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
To postpone or delay something.
Used of postponing an object of want or a promised entertainment.
- Lane · entry 8035
أَقْرَأَ
To rhyme or versify.
Used in poetry, explained through the poetic sense of أَقْرَاء.
- Lane · entry 8035
تَقَرَّأَ
To devote oneself to religious exercises, especially Quranic reading or recitation.
The derived form can also mean to acquire religious or legal learning.
- Lane · entry 8036
اِقْتَرَأَ
To read or recite.
The form is reported as synonymous with قَرَأَ in the relevant reading sense.
- Lane · entry 8037
اِسْتَقْرَأَ
To investigate the modes, conditions, and properties of things; to examine a book for a particular item.
A Form X investigative use, including systematic examination of a text.
- Lane · entry 8038
اِسْتَقْرَأَ
Of a male camel, to leave a female after mating in order to determine whether she has conceived.
A specialized animal-breeding construction.
- Lane · entry 8038
اِسْتَقْرَأَ
To ask or require someone to read or recite.
A causative-demand use of Form X.
- Lane · entry 8038
قَرْءٌ
A time, season, or appointed period.
Used of the time at which an event, such as wind, occurs; this temporal branch is distinct from the menstrual interpretations represented under the Quranic plural form.
- Lane · entry 8039
قَرْءٌ
The rhyme, ending, mode, metre, or scope of a poem or verse.
A poetic technical use, including the manner or species of verse.
- Lane · entry 8039
قَرْءٌ
A periodically recurring festival or feast.
Synonymous with ʿīd in the cited lexical usage.
- Lane · entry 8039
قَرْءٌ
A periodically recurring fever.
A specialized medical use, apparently referring to intermittent or recurrent fever.
- Lane · entry 8039
قَرْءٌ
Something absent, becoming unapparent, or setting.
A reported lexical use associated with disappearance or setting, including celestial setting.
- Lane · entry 8039
قَرْءٌ
The period when a mare desires the stallion or is covered.
A specialized animal-reproductive period, used in expressions describing the mare's state.
- Lane · entry 8039
قِرْأَةٌ
The epidemic or common disease of a country.
A traditional term for the prevailing illness believed to affect newcomers to a region.
- Lane · entry 8042
القُرْآنُ
The divinely appointed act of prayer.
A classical extension based on prayer's inclusion of recitation; it is not asserted here as a Quranic lexical sense of the QAC noun.
- Lane · entry 8043
قَرَّاءٌ
A good or accomplished reader or reciter of the Quran.
An intensive personal epithet; its regular plural is reported as قَرَّاؤُونَ.
- Lane · entry 8045
قُرَّاءٌ
A devotee who gives himself or herself to religious exercises, especially Quranic reading or recitation.
The form can also serve as a plural of قَارِئٌ.
- Lane · entry 8046
قَارِئٌ
An epithet applied to a she-camel.
An animal-specific use connected with the reproductive-period terminology of قَرْءٌ.
- Lane · entry 8047
قَارِئٌ
A reader or reciter of the Quran.
The active participle can also be used in the shortened form قَارٍ; its plurals include قَرَأَةٌ, قُرَّاءٌ, and قَارِئُونَ.
- Lane · entry 8047
قَارِئٌ
The time when the wind blows.
Used in the expression وَقْتُ قَارِئِ الرِّيحِ.
- Lane · entry 8047
قَارِئٌ
The top or upper part of a pavilion or palace.
A specialized architectural meaning.
- Lane · entry 8047
أَقْرَؤُكُمْ
The one among you most accomplished in reading or reciting the Quran.
The expression can emphasize the greatest amount of recitation, or the soundest knowledge and strongest retention of the Quran.
- Lane · entry 8048
مُقْرِئٌ
A woman who is menstruating or pure from menstrual discharge.
The participle preserves the two contrary menstrual-state interpretations reported for the underlying lexical field.
- Lane · entry 8049
مُقْرِئٌ
One who makes or teaches another to read or recite, especially the Quran.
An agent noun for the instructional Form IV sense.
- Lane · entry 8049
مُقَرَّأَةٌ
A woman whose menstruation is being awaited until its termination.
A passive/intensive participial description connected with waiting out menstruation or its legal waiting period.
- Lane · entry 8050
مَقْرُوءَةٌ
Written material that is read or readable.
Used especially of a readable written sheet or document; variant forms are dialectal or irregular.
- Lane · entry 8051
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
قُرُوءٌ in 2:228 has a genuine classical ambiguity between menstrual onsets or periods and periods of purity; both interpretations are recorded.
The classical evidence reports contrary reproductive-state meanings for several animal and menstrual constructions, so those meanings are not treated as interchangeable in Quranic usage.
The etymological relation of قُرْآنٌ to قَرَأَ is disputed in the cited tradition; the artifact distinguishes its recitation use from its proper-name use without resolving that dispute.