Quranic root
ربب
r · b · b
The root centers on taking charge of something, caring for it, possessing or governing it, and bringing it toward completion.
Related branches extend this orientation to remaining with something, causing increase, joining or gathering things together, and forming bonds or covenants.
- Maqāyīs · row 1940
- Mufradāt · row 521
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 980
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
رَبٌّ
rabbun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 975 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.
Lord: the creator, possessor, sustainer, and disposer of creatures, who cares for their affairs and brings them toward completion.
With the definite article, رَبّ is properly used of God; in Quranic possessive and related constructions it denotes God's lordship over a domain or creature.
- Lane · entry 22058
- Mufradāt · row 521
Selected Quran examples
Quran 1:2word 3
“the Lord”
Lord, master, owner, or person exercising authority over another person or thing.
This human or worldly use occurs chiefly in an annexed construction or a context that identifies the person as a master, owner, or authority; in the Quran it includes the master addressed in the story of Joseph.
- Lane · entry 22058
- Mufradāt · row 521
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:42word 13
“(to) his master”
Quran 3:64word 22
“(as) lords”
رَبِيبَةٌ
rabībahun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural رَبَائِبُ
- 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.
Stepdaughter: a woman's daughter by another husband, regarded as a daughter because she is reared or cared for in the household.
The Quranic plural occurs in the construction رَبَائِبُكُمُ الَّلاتِي فِي حُجُورِكُمْ, referring to stepdaughters in the household context.
- Lane · entry 22070
- Mufradāt · row 521
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:23word 20
“and your step daughters”
رَبَّانِيٌّ
rabbāniyyun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural رَبَّانِيُّونَ
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 person devoted to God and religious learning: deeply learned, grounded in religious knowledge, and able to teach and nurture others in it.
The Quranic plural refers to religious authorities or scholars whose learning, devotion, practice, and instruction are associated with the Lord; the evidence allows emphasis on devotion, knowledge, or teaching.
- Lane · entry 22084
- Lane · entry 22086
- Mufradāt · row 521
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:79word 21
“worshippers of the Lord”
Quran 5:44word 14
“and the Rabbis”
Quran 5:63word 3
“the Rabbis”
رِبِّيٌّ
ribbiyyun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural رِبِّيُّونَ
- 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 learned, pious, steadfast religious person or scholar devoted to the Lord.
In the Quranic plural, the word may describe people characterized by religious learning, devotion, and steadfastness; it is treated in the evidence as closely related to رَبَّانِيٌّ.
- Lane · entry 22080
- Mufradāt · row 521
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:146word 6
“(were) religious scholars”
A numerous company or multitude of people.
This interpretation belongs to the Quran-attested lexical discussion of the plural رِبِّيُّونَ; related readings and explanations connect it with a large company or thousands of people.
- Lane · entry 22080
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 1:2رَبِّthe Lord
- 2:5رَّبِّهِمْ ۖtheir Lord
- 2:21رَبَّكُمُyour Lord
- 2:26رَّبِّهِمْ ۖtheir Lord
- 2:30رَبُّكَyour Lord
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 57 Classical meanings
رَبَّ
To possess, own, or exercise command and authority over something; to rule or govern people.
Form I usage; the object may be a thing, property, or people under one's authority.
- Lane · entry 22048
رَبَّ
To rear, foster, bring up, feed, nourish, and care for a child, orphan, or young animal until maturity.
Form I usage; the evidence also records a dialectal form and an emphatic derived form.
- Lane · entry 22048
رَبَّ
To increase, improve, or bring a benefit or benefaction to completion.
A figurative Form I use applied to benefits, rain, plants, or moisture.
- Lane · entry 22048
رَبَّ الأَمْرَ
To put an affair into proper order, adjust it, establish it firmly, and manage or regulate it.
A conventional Form I construction with an affair or matter as object.
- Lane · entry 22048
رَبَّ
To season or prepare a skin or vessel with inspissated juice, or to make oil or ointment good, sweet-smelling, or fragrant.
A technical preparation use; the object may be a butter skin, jar, oil, or ointment.
- Lane · entry 22048
رَبَّ
To collect or congregate people.
Form I usage describing a person who gathers people to himself.
- Lane · entry 22048
رَبَّبَ
To preserve or prepare something with رُبّ, inspissated fruit juice.
Form II usage, connected with the preparation and preservation of food or vessels with rob.
- Lane · entry 22049
أَرَبَّ
To remain, stay, dwell, or cling to a place; of animals, to keep to a place, a mate, or their young.
Form IV usage; of clouds, it can mean to continue raining over a land, and of a wind, to continue blowing.
- Lane · entry 22050
الإِرْبَابُ
Drawing near to or approaching a thing.
A nominal Form IV branch distinct from remaining or staying.
- Lane · entry 22050
تَرَبَّبَ
To assert oneself to be the lord or authority over a land or a person.
Form V usage expressing a claim to lordship or control.
- Lane · entry 22051
تَرَبَّبُوا
To collect themselves together, congregate, or become gathered.
Intransitive Form V usage.
- Lane · entry 22051
تَرَابُّوا
To unite in a confederacy, league, or covenant.
Reciprocal Form VI usage.
- Lane · entry 22052
اِرْتَبَّ
To adjust, arrange, compose, or gather together, especially hair.
A Form VIII usage recorded in a construction about arranging hair.
- Lane · entry 22053
اُرْتُبَّ
To be cooked until becoming inspissated juice or rob.
A passive-looking Form VIII usage applied to grapes prepared as rob.
- Lane · entry 22053
رُبَّ
A particle governing a following indefinite noun and indicating few or many, according to context; with مَا, it can precede a verb or nominal expression.
The particle may express scarcity, abundance, or an indeterminate amount. With مَا, the following verb is commonly perfect and may occur in Quranic-style future expressions.
- Lane · entry 22059
رُبٌّ
Rob: inspissated juice of fruit, especially dates or grapes; also the thickened residue or dregs of clarified butter or oil.
A food and preparation noun, with plural forms for kinds or quantities.
- Lane · entry 22060
رَبَّةٌ
A temple or sacred house, including named pre-Islamic sanctuaries.
A historical and cultic noun applied to temples associated with particular tribes or deities.
- Lane · entry 22061
رَبَّةٌ
A large house or mansion.
It may occur in the expression دَارٌ رَبَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 22061
رُبَّةٌ
A party, division, sect, distinct body, company, or large assembly of people; also a myriad or very large number.
The noun has related plural forms and can denote either a social body or an approximate multitude.
- Lane · entry 22062
رُبَّةٌ
Plenty or abundance of means of subsistence, and constant or inseparable prosperity.
A figurative nominal use distinct from the sense of a company or assembly.
- Lane · entry 22062
رِبَّةٌ
A covenant, compact, or bond of alliance; by extension, a confederate or person bound by such a covenant.
The related plural can denote confederates or allied tribes.
- Lane · entry 22063
- Lane · entry 22071
رِبَّةٌ
A plant or herb that remains green through the hot season; also a particular tree or group of plants.
A botanical noun with several regional identifications in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 22063
رَبَبٌ
Much water gathered together, or sweet water.
The adjective or noun may describe water collected by clay or soil.
- Lane · entry 22064
رَبَابٌ
Clouds, especially accumulated or layered white or dark clouds.
A collective or unit noun for clouds, including clouds suspended beneath other clouds.
- Lane · entry 22066
رَبَابٌ
A stringed musical instrument played with a bow or by striking its strings.
A technical noun for an instrument of diversion or music.
- Lane · entry 22066
رِبَابٌ
Tithes or tenths.
A figurative or specialized plural-like use associated with the notion of covenant.
- Lane · entry 22068
رِبَابٌ
An oath, promise, or token of safe-conduct or permission.
In a poetic expression about animals being allowed to water, the word is interpreted as an oath or promise, or as the token signifying that permission.
- Lane · entry 22068
رَبِيبٌ
Reared, fostered, brought up, fed, or carefully tended; a fosterling or person brought up in a household.
The masculine and feminine forms apply to children and, by extension, to animals reared or kept near the house.
- Lane · entry 22070
رَبِيبٌ
A stepson or stepdaughter: the child of one's spouse by another husband or wife.
The terminology is based on the rearing or care provided by the spouse; the feminine form has plural رَبَائِبُ.
- Lane · entry 22070
رَبِيبٌ
A stepfather, stepmother, or foster-mother who takes charge of and rears a child.
These are extended agentive uses of the rearing sense, with variation in the gendered form and lexical authorities.
- Lane · entry 22070
رَبِيبٌ
A confederate or person united with another by a league or covenant.
A conventional social extension of the bonding sense.
- Lane · entry 22070
رَبِيبٌ
A king.
A separately attested, rare nominal use.
- Lane · entry 22070
رِبَابَةٌ
A covenant, compact, confederacy, or league.
A verbal noun or abstract noun for a bond that joins or allies parties.
- Lane · entry 22071
رِبَابَةٌ
A container, strip of skin, cord, or binding used to enclose or bind the arrows used in the game of lots.
A technical noun for the apparatus or collective bundle associated with those arrows.
- Lane · entry 22071
رَبُوبِيٌّ
Relating to the Lord, lordship, or God.
A relational adjective used in expressions concerning knowledge or doctrine of the Lord.
- Lane · entry 22074
رُبُوبِيَّةٌ
Lordship, ownership, governance, or the quality of being a lord; with the definite article, godhead or deity.
The abstract noun may also denote the condition or status of a slave in relation to a master.
- Lane · entry 22075
رُبُوبِيَّةٌ
The condition or status of being owned as a slave.
A specialized sense distinct from lordship or godhead.
- Lane · entry 22075
رُبَّى
A ewe or she-goat that has recently given birth, is accompanied by its young, or is kept at home for its milk.
The term may also be applied to a she-camel or to a female within a specified period after giving birth; the lexical evidence records variation in the exact period.
- Lane · entry 22077
رُبَّى
A benefit, favor, boon, or good.
A rare nominal use.
- Lane · entry 22077
رُبَّى
A want or need that one asks another to supply or accomplish.
Attested in the construction لِي عِنْدَ فُلَانٍ رُبَّى.
- Lane · entry 22077
رُبَّى
A child's nurse or caregiver.
The evidence notes that the form may reflect or be confused with رَابَّةٌ in this sense.
- Lane · entry 22077
رُبَّى
A firm knot or secure binding.
A figurative use in a proverb concerning reliance and rest.
- Lane · entry 22077
رُبَّى
A traditional name for certain months of the pre-Islamic Arabian calendar.
The name is variously associated with Jumādā al-Awwal, Jumādā al-Ākhirah, or Dhū al-Qaʿdah in the reported traditions.
- Lane · entry 22077
رُبَّانٌ
The beginning, first, fresh, or initial state of something; sometimes the whole or main portion of it.
The noun occurs in expressions meaning to take or do something at its first stage or altogether.
- Lane · entry 22082
رُبَّانٌ
The chief or aggregate part of a constellation, or an assembly or aggregate.
A rare nominal branch with variant vocalizations.
- Lane · entry 22082
رُبَّانٌ
A ship's captain or a person skilled in navigation.
A technical occupational noun, with a plural or collective form related to navigation.
- Lane · entry 22082
رَبْرَبٌ
A herd of wild cattle or, according to one report, gazelles.
A collective noun without an ordinary singular; the evidence records disagreement about the animal class.
- Lane · entry 22087
مَرَبٌّ
A place where people or animals gather, alight, remain, or dwell.
It can refer specifically to a place where camels stay, or more generally to a gathering or resting place.
- Lane · entry 22090
مَرَبٌّ
A person who gathers people, or an object of resort for counsel and authority.
An extended figurative use of the gathering-place noun.
- Lane · entry 22090
مَرَبٌّ
Land abundant in plants, moisture, or people.
A geographical or descriptive noun for fertile or continually moist land.
- Lane · entry 22090
مُرِبٌّ
Clinging or remaining with something; of an animal, keeping to and being attached to its young or mate.
The participial form may also describe constant or inseparable poverty in a figurative expression.
- Lane · entry 22091
مُرَبَّبٌ
Made or preserved with rob, the inspissated juice of fruit; a preserve or confection prepared with it.
A passive participial adjective and noun for food prepared with رُبّ.
- Lane · entry 22093
مُرَبَّبٌ
Oil perfumed with sweet-smelling plants.
A specialized preparation sense distinct from preservation with rob.
- Lane · entry 22093
مَرْبُوبٌ
A slave or bondman, one possessed by another.
A passive participle emphasizing the relation of being owned; it can also describe mankind as servants or bondmen of God.
- Lane · entry 22096
مَرْبُوبٌ
A skin or vessel for clarified butter that has been seasoned with rob or otherwise prepared.
A technical noun derived from the preparation sense.
- Lane · entry 22096
مُرْتَبٌّ
One who confers a benefit or benefits.
A rare participial use.
- Lane · entry 22097
مُرْتَبٌّ
One on whom a benefit or benefits are conferred.
A distinct, opposite-relation interpretation of the same rare form.
- Lane · entry 22097
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic group رِبِّيُّونَ has two lexically reported interpretations in the supplied evidence: learned or religiously devoted people, and a numerous company; the Quran Foundation gloss supports the former but does not eliminate the latter.
رَبٌّ is divine when used absolutely with the definite article, while Quranic contexts also attest its use for a human master or owner in an annexed construction, especially in the story of Joseph.
The Quranic plural رَبَّانِيُّونَ is normalized under the singular citation form رَبَّانِيٌّ; related vocalized forms and etymologies are disputed in the classical evidence.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The supplied Lane discussion of رِبَابٌ in a poetic expression allows both an oath or permission-token interpretation and an interpretation as owners; both are preserved together under rbb_ribab_oath rather than treated as separate secure senses.
Lane records variant interpretations for رُبَّى concerning the exact animal, sex, and period after giving birth; the artifact states the common semantic branch without imposing one disputed duration.
The source evidence reports variant derivations and vocalizations for رَبَّانِيٌّ and رِبِّيٌّ, including possible non-Arabic origin claims; these are not treated as separate lexical meanings.