Quranic root
سجن
s · j · n
The root centers on holding back, confining, or keeping something within bounds.
From this core develop the act of imprisoning, the prison as a place of confinement, and the state of being imprisoned. Classical usage also extends the idea to restraint, hardness, permanence, and specialized names such as سِجِّين.
- Maqāyīs · row 2366
- Mufradāt · row 664
- Lane · entry 40332
- Lane · entry 40337
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 12
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَجَنَ
sajana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To imprison or confine.
The Quranic group contains both active and passive imperfect forms: to imprison someone and to be imprisoned. These voice differences do not create separate lexical senses.
- Lane · entry 40332
- Mufradāt · row 664
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:25word 20
“he be imprisoned”
Quran 12:35word 9
“surely they should imprison him”
مَسْجُونٌ
masjūnun
- Part of speech
- Passive 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.
Imprisoned; held in confinement.
The public headword is the singular passive-participial citation form; the Quranic occurrence is plural.
- Lane · entry 40335
- Lane · entry 40340
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:29word 8
“those imprisoned”
سِجِّينٌ
sijjīnun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 record or register containing the deeds of the wicked.
In the Quranic passage of 83:7–8, this is one established interpretation of what سِجِّين denotes; the record may be described as the written register or its repository.
- Lane · entry 40337
- Mufradāt · row 664
Selected Quran examples
Quran 83:7word 6
“Sijjin”
Quran 83:8word 4
“(is) Sijjin”
A named place or realm associated with the wicked, described as beneath or within Hell and, in some accounts, as Hell itself.
Explanations of the Quranic term variously identify it with a valley, a stone or rock, the seventh earth, or a place in Hell. These are variant identifications of the named place or realm.
- Lane · entry 40337
- Mufradāt · row 664
Selected Quran examples
Quran 83:7word 6
“Sijjin”
Quran 83:8word 4
“(is) Sijjin”
سِجْنٌ
sijnun
- 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 prison or place of confinement.
The Quranic occurrences in the story of Joseph use the kasra form for the prison as a place of confinement. The lexical discussion also records a fatḥ reading in 12:33 as the related verbal noun 'imprisonment'; that vocalization distinction is not treated as a separate QAC form group.
- Lane · entry 40334
- Mufradāt · row 664
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 12:25يُسْجَنَhe be imprisoned
- 12:32لَيُسْجَنَنَّsurely, he will be imprisoned
- 12:33ٱلسِّجْنُthe prison
- 12:35لَيَسْجُنُنَّهُۥsurely they should imprison him
- 12:36ٱلسِّجْنَ(in) the prison
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 10 Classical meanings
سَجَّنَ
To cut, split, or cleave lengthwise.
A Form II derived-verb usage.
- Lane · entry 40333
سَجَّنَ
To trench around palm trees so as to channel water to their roots when it does not reach them.
A specialized derived-verb construction concerning the treatment of palm trees.
- Lane · entry 40333
سَجَنَ
To restrain or hold back; figuratively, to suppress or conceal anxiety.
The figurative application includes restraining the tongue and keeping inward anxiety from being expressed.
- Lane · entry 40332
سِجِّينٌ
Hard, vehement, or severe.
The evidence specifically applies this description to a forceful or severe beating.
- Lane · entry 40337
سِجِّينٌ
Continuing, lasting, or everlasting.
A Classical Arabic adjectival usage synonymous with دوام or permanence.
- Lane · entry 40337
سِجِّينٌ
Openly or publicly.
Used in the expression عَمِلَ ذٰلِكَ سِجِّينًا, 'he did that openly.'
- Lane · entry 40337
سِجِّينٌ
A designation for palm trees whose roots have trenches dug around them to channel water.
A dialectal usage reported for the people of Bahrain and associated with the term سِلْتِين.
- Lane · entry 40337
سَجَّانٌ
A keeper or guard of a prison.
An occupational noun derived from the prison-related branch of the root.
- Lane · entry 40336
مَسْجَنَةٌ
A cause or occasion of imprisonment.
One reported gloss takes it as the act of imprisoning, but the lexical discussion favors the sense 'cause of imprisonment.'
- Lane · entry 40339
سَاجُونٌ
A soft kind of iron.
The description uses the expression 'female iron' for iron regarded as soft.
- Lane · entry 40338
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
سِجِّين in 83:7–8 has several reported interpretations, including a register of the wicked and a place or realm beneath or within Hell; these are presented as two broad Quranic senses.
The Quranic verb group combines active and passive imperfect forms under the normalized Form I citation headword سَجَنَ.