Quranic root
رغب
r · gh · b
The root has two principal orientations: seeking or desiring something, and spaciousness or abundance in something.
The seeking branch develops into desire, directed longing, aversion when used with عَنْ, and petition or supplication when used with إِلَى. The spaciousness branch describes capacity, breadth, abundance, and related extensions such as voracity and large gifts.
- Maqāyīs · row 2083
- Mufradāt · row 563
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- 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.
رَغِبَ
raghiba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 desire, wish for, or earnestly turn toward something.
Used with فِي or إِلَى for directed desire or longing. The Quranic uses include desiring a matter, turning one's attention toward a Lord or object, and preferring one course over another.
- Lane · entry 23765
- Mufradāt · row 563
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:127word 22
“and you desire”
Quran 94:8word 3
“turn your attention”
To turn away from, shun, abstain from, or relinquish something.
Used with عَنْ. The related construction رَغِبَ بِنَفْسِهِ عَنْهُ expresses holding oneself aloof from or above something; it is attested in the Quranic expression involving not holding oneself back from the Messenger.
- Lane · entry 23765
- Mufradāt · row 563
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:130word 2
“will turn away”
Quran 9:120word 15
“they prefer”
رَاغِب
rāghib
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
Desiring, hoping for, or turning earnestly toward something.
With فِي or إِلَى, the participle denotes a person whose desire or hope is directed toward an object, person, or God.
- Lane · entry 23782
- Mufradāt · row 563
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:59word 19
“turn our hopes”
Quran 68:32word 10
“turn devoutly”
Turning away from or disinclined toward something.
With عَنْ, the participle denotes repudiation, aversion, or withdrawal of desire from the object.
- Lane · entry 23765
- Mufradāt · row 563
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:46word 2
“Do you hate”
رَغَب
raghab
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- 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.
Earnest desire or hopeful longing.
A verbal noun expressing breadth or intensity of will; in the Quran it occurs alongside fear as a motive accompanying supplication.
- Lane · entry 23765
- Mufradāt · row 563
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:90word 15
“(in) hope”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:130يَرْغَبُwill turn away
- 4:127وَتَرْغَبُونَand you desire
- 9:59رَٰغِبُونَturn our hopes
- 9:120يَرْغَبُوا۟they prefer
- 19:46أَرَاغِبٌDo you hate
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 31 Classical meanings
رَغِبَ إِلَيْهِ
To petition, ask, seek, or supplicate someone.
A conventional use with إِلَى, often implying humility, earnestness, or self-abasement in making the request.
- Lane · entry 23765
رَغُبَ
To be or become wide, spacious, or ample; of land or a valley, to have the capacity to receive much water.
Applied to valleys, land, and other expanses; this is the spaciousness branch rather than the desire branch.
- Lane · entry 23765
رَغُبَ
To be voracious or gluttonous, and excessively desirous of food or worldly goods; to have large hopes and desires.
A derived extension from largeness or capaciousness, applied to appetite, acquisitiveness, or expansive hopes.
- Lane · entry 23765
رَغُبَ رَأْيُهُ
To be liberal or bountiful, with broadness of judgment or opinion.
Used of a person's judgment or disposition in the reported figurative expression.
- Lane · entry 23765
رَغَّبَ
To make someone desire or wish for something.
A Form II causative construction, commonly followed by فِي or expressing the thing desired.
- Lane · entry 23766
رَغَّبَ
To give someone what he desires or wishes for.
A distinct Form II usage in which the verb denotes granting the desired object rather than producing desire for it.
- Lane · entry 23766
أَرْغَبَ
To make wide or ample; to enlarge or extend.
The reported Form IV usage includes the idiomatic wish that God enlarge a person's power and extend its reach.
- Lane · entry 23768
تَرَاغَبَ
To vie with one another in desiring something or to desire it competitively.
A reciprocal Form VI construction, synonymous with competing or emulating one another in pursuit of an object.
- Lane · entry 23769
تَرَاغَبَ الْمَكَانُ
For a place to be or become wide or ample.
A reported figurative Form VI use applied to a place.
- Lane · entry 23769
رَغْبَةٌ
A desire or wish.
A deverbal noun with a plural referring to multiple desires or wishes.
- Lane · entry 23773
رَغَبُوتٌ
A person who petitions, asks, seeks, or supplicates with humility or earnestness.
An epithet for a person, derived from the petitionary use of رَغِبَ إِلَيْهِ or from رَغْبَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 23775
رُغْبَانَةٌ
The knot beneath the sandal strap, the part called سَعْدَانَة.
A technical term for a component of a sandal.
- Lane · entry 23776
رَغَابٌ
Soft, broad land with even or sandy soil that absorbs much water.
Used in the expression أَرْضٌ رَغَابٌ; the land is said not to flow unless after much rain.
- Lane · entry 23777
رَغِيبٌ
Wide, ample, or spacious.
Applied to a watering place, tank, water or milk skin, road, valley, place, wound, sword, or a horse with a broad stride.
- Lane · entry 23778
رَغِيبٌ
Having a capacious interior or belly.
Applied to a person or other animal, especially with reference to bodily capacity.
- Lane · entry 23778
رَغِيبٌ
Voracious, a great eater, or intensely desirous of much food or worldly goods.
Includes the idiom رَغِيبُ الْجَوْفِ and the expression رَغِيبُ الْعَيْنِ for one content only with much.
- Lane · entry 23778
رِغَابٌ
Camels yielding abundant milk, or a large number of camels.
A plural expression extending the notion of abundance to livestock and their produce.
- Lane · entry 23778
حِمْلٌ رَغِيبٌ
A heavy or substantial load.
A conventional adjectival use describing the size or burden of a load.
- Lane · entry 23778
رَغِيبَةٌ
A thing desired, wished for, or held in high estimation.
The plural رَغَائِبُ denotes desired or highly valued things.
- Lane · entry 23779
رَغِيبَةٌ
A large or generous gift.
A conventional extension of something greatly desired or abundant; the plural is رَغَائِبُ.
- Lane · entry 23779
رَغِيبَةٌ
A large recompense desired to be obtained through prayer.
The specialized expression صَلَاةُ الرَّغَائِبِ is associated with the hoped-for recompense.
- Lane · entry 23779
الرُّغَابَى
The appendage or enlargement of the liver called زِيَادَةُ الْكَبِدِ.
A specialized anatomical term, synonymous with the cited names for this liver structure.
- Lane · entry 23780
رِغِّيبٌ
Exceedingly desirous of much eating.
An intensive adjectival form focused specifically on appetite.
- Lane · entry 23781
مَرْغَبٌ
A place or time of desire, and hence an object or goal of desire.
May denote the desired objective attained by a person's request or pursuit.
- Lane · entry 23783
مُرْغِبٌ
Possessing competence, sufficiency, wealth, or much property.
A reported figurative adjectival use connected with abundance.
- Lane · entry 23784
مَرْغُوبٌ فِيهِ
Desired or wished for.
The passive participle with فِي denotes that something is an object of desire.
- Lane · entry 23786
مَرْغُوبٌ عَنْهُ
Not desired, shunned, or avoided.
The passive participle with عَنْ expresses withdrawal of desire from the object.
- Lane · entry 23786
مَرْغُوبٌ إِلَيْهِ
Petitioned or supplicated.
The passive participle with إِلَى denotes the person to whom a petition is directed.
- Lane · entry 23786
مُرَغَّبٌ لَهُ
Allowed or permitted to have something.
A reported passive Form II expression concerning what is made available to someone.
- Lane · entry 23787
مَرَاغِبُ
Things eagerly desired or coveted, especially things sought for subsistence or livelihood.
A plural expression for desired acquisitions or means of sustenance.
- Lane · entry 23788
مُرْتَغِبٌ
Large, big, bulky, or corpulent.
A reported figurative or assumed-tropical use applied to a man.
- Lane · entry 23790
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Two Lane reports are retained as unresolved rather than normalized: the Form II gloss reported by Golius and the Form III meaning attributed to Golius and Freytag are both explicitly said not to be found in the editor's other lexica.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:rgb:23766:g1:sub3 reports a Form II meaning glossed as intense desire, but the entry states that the meaning is not found in the editor's copy of the cited work or in other lexica.
lane-unit:rgb:23767:g1:main reports a Form III meaning, but the entry states that it is not verified in the cited lexica.