Quranic root
تلو
t · l · w
The root centers on following or coming after something, whether physically, sequentially, imitatively, or by adherence.
From following and succession developed the usages for reciting a text in sequence, following revealed guidance in knowledge and action, and referring to what remains after something else.
- Maqāyīs · row 956
- Mufradāt · row 190
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 63
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَلَا
talā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 61 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 follow, come after, or succeed another in sequence, position, or rank.
The Quranic usage includes following in a physical or figurative sense, as in the moon following the sun.
- Lane · entry 16800
- Mufradāt · row 190
Selected Quran examples
Quran 91:2word 3
“it follows it”
To read, recite, rehearse, or present a revealed text, passage, or account.
Used especially with revealed scripture and with presenting or recounting a narrative; the form may be active or passive and may take a direct object or occur with عَلَى.
- Lane · entry 16800
- Mufradāt · row 190
Selected Quran examples
Quran 29:45word 1
“Recite”
To follow revealed scripture by understanding it and acting according to its commands and guidance.
This is the scripture-oriented sense of تلاوة: recitation is accompanied by faithful adherence, knowledge, and practice rather than being mere vocal reading.
- Lane · entry 16800
- Mufradāt · row 190
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:17word 7
“and recites it”
تِلَاوَةٌ
tilāwahun
- 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.
Recitation of revealed scripture with attentive following and observance of its guidance.
In the Quranic construction حَقَّ تِلَاوَتِهِ, the verbal noun includes following the scripture through knowledge and action, not only reading it aloud.
- Lane · entry 16800
- Mufradāt · row 190
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:121word 6
“(of) its recitation”
تَالٍ
tālin
- 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 recites or rehearses praise.
The Quranic occurrence is the feminine plural تَالِيَات, interpreted as those who recite divine praise; the interpretation includes angels or angels and others.
- Lane · entry 16816
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:3word 1
“And those who recite”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:44تَتْلُونَ[you] recite
- 2:102تَتْلُوا۟recite(d)
- 2:113يَتْلُونَrecite
- 2:121يَتْلُونَهُۥrecite it
- 2:121تِلَاوَتِهِۦٓ(of) its recitation
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 43 Classical meanings
تَلَا
To imitate another and follow that person's actions.
A general imitation or following usage, distinct from merely coming after someone physically.
- Lane · entry 16800
تَلَا
To drive, bring, or gather camels together.
The usage is explained as arising because the driver follows the animals being driven.
- Lane · entry 16800
تَلَا عَلَى
To say false things against someone or attribute a lie to that person.
A conventional عَلَى construction meaning to lie about or against someone.
- Lane · entry 16800
- Mufradāt · row 190
تَلَا
To hold back, lag behind, withdraw from someone, or leave someone without aid.
This is a contrary-looking Classical branch in which the one who was accompanying another remains behind or abandons him.
- Lane · entry 16800
تِلْوٌ
A follower; especially a young animal that follows its mother, including a young mule, ass, camel, sheep, or goat.
The animal sense may refer to a weaned young that remains with or follows its mother.
- Lane · entry 16800
- Lane · entry 16808
تَلِيَ
To remain as a remainder of a due, claim, month, or other allotted matter.
Used in expressions for something still remaining to someone or remaining of a period.
- Lane · entry 16800
تَلَّوَ
To demand or seek to obtain the remainder of a right, due, need, or desired thing.
The Form II usage emphasizes seeking the outstanding portion until it is obtained.
- Lane · entry 16801
تَلَّوَ
To make one prayer follow another, especially to follow an obligatory prayer with a supererogatory one.
A conventional Form II prayer construction.
- Lane · entry 16801
تَلَّوَ
To stand erect for prayer.
A separately reported Classical usage of the Form II verb.
- Lane · entry 16801
تَلَّوَ
To accomplish or fulfill a vow.
A reported Form II usage with a vow as its object.
- Lane · entry 16801
تَلَّوَ
To be at the last gasp or near death.
A reported figurative or situational usage of the Form II verb.
- Lane · entry 16801
تَالَاهُ
To alternate with or relieve another in singing or in a task by taking up the strain when the other cannot continue.
The Form III construction may refer to mutual assistance in singing or work.
- Lane · entry 16802
أَتْلَى
To cause someone or something to follow; of a mother animal, to have its young following her.
The Form IV causative may describe a person followed by children or an animal followed by its young.
- Lane · entry 16803
أَتْلَى
To get ahead of, outstrip, or precede someone after pursuing him.
The meaning develops from following until one has overtaken the person followed.
- Lane · entry 16803
أَتْلَى
To leave a remainder of one's due, claim, or needed matter with someone.
Used for an outstanding portion deliberately left in another person's possession.
- Lane · entry 16803
- Lane · entry 16804
أَتْلَى
To transfer a debt or claim to another person, shifting responsibility for payment.
The transferred obligation is referred to the person who assumes responsibility for it.
- Lane · entry 16803
- Lane · entry 16809
أَتْلَى
To give someone a bond, obligation, or token securing that person's protection and safe conduct.
The token could be an arrow bearing the giver's name, or another recognized object such as a sandal, shown to a tribe to obtain protection.
- Lane · entry 16803
- Lane · entry 16809
أَتْلَى
To make someone a follower or companion.
A figurative Form IV extension of causing someone to follow.
- Lane · entry 16803
تَتَلَّى
To seek a right, due, or desired thing repeatedly, gradually, or at leisure until it is obtained.
The Form V usage emphasizes continued or stepwise pursuit.
- Lane · entry 16804
تَتَلَّى
To collect or accumulate much wealth.
A reported Form V usage without a necessary implication of gradual acquisition.
- Lane · entry 16804
تَتَالَى
To follow one another consecutively; to occur in succession.
Used of events, things, horses, or horsemen arriving one after another.
- Lane · entry 16805
اِسْتَتْلَى
To invite or cause someone or something to follow.
The Form X construction may describe making a person follow or inviting him to follow a thing.
- Lane · entry 16806
اِسْتَتْلَى
To look for, expect, await, or wait for someone.
A Form X usage involving expectation or waiting.
- Lane · entry 16806
اِسْتَتْلَى
To seek or demand the transfer of a debt or claim from one responsible person to another.
This is the active-participial and verbal usage associated with shifting responsibility for an obligation.
- Lane · entry 16806
- Lane · entry 16819
تِلْوٌ
A thing that follows another, or a follower of another person.
The noun can be used generally for what comes after or remains in another's following.
- Lane · entry 16808
تِلْوٌ
High or lofty in measure or stature.
A separate adjectival usage, as in describing someone or something as high in rank or extent.
- Lane · entry 16808
تَلُوٌّ
A person who follows persistently or incessantly.
An intensive nominal pattern describing continued following.
- Lane · entry 16810
تَلِيٌّ
A person who uses many oaths.
A reported descriptive usage of the adjective or noun.
- Lane · entry 16811
تَلِيٌّ
A person possessing much wealth.
A separate reported meaning of the same headword.
- Lane · entry 16811
تَلِيَّةٌ
A remainder or remnant of a thing, right, due, debt, or desired matter.
The word may also refer figuratively to remaining youthfulness or the last surviving member of a class.
- Lane · entry 16812
تَلِيَّةٌ
That which occurs after something else; subsequently to.
Used in the construction تَلِيَّةَ كَذَا for an event occurring after another event.
- Lane · entry 16812
تَلَوَّى
A small boat that follows a larger vessel.
A specialized noun explained through the boat's following relationship to the larger ship.
- Lane · entry 16814
تَلَّاءٌ
A person who reads, studies, or recites the Quran frequently, or who frequently follows and acts upon it.
An intensive descriptive noun for habitual engagement with the Quran.
- Lane · entry 16815
تَالٍ
One who or that which follows, goes, or walks behind or after another.
The active participle may describe immediate or effective following, bodily or figurative.
- Lane · entry 16816
التَّالِي
The fourth of ten horses started together in a race.
A technical racing designation derived from ordinal succession.
- Lane · entry 16816
تَالِي النَّجْمِ
Aldebaran, the star that follows the Pleiades.
A conventional astronomical name based on the star's position after the Pleiades.
- Lane · entry 16816
تَالِيَاتُ النُّجُومِ
The last or following stars, especially those seen last in the morning twilight.
A plural astronomical usage; the exact group is described by its following or trailing position.
- Lane · entry 16816
التَّوَالِي
The last women traveling in vehicles on camels, and likewise the last camels in a group.
A plural usage for those or those animals bringing up the rear.
- Lane · entry 16816
التَّوَالِي
The hind parts, posteriors, or rumps; of a horse, its tail and hind legs.
A specialized plural noun for the rear portion of a body or animal.
- Lane · entry 16816
مُتْلٍ / مُتْلِيَةٌ
A mother or female animal whose young follows her.
The terms may be applied to a human mother, a she-camel, or a female wild animal.
- Lane · entry 16817
مُتْلٍ / مُتْلِيَةٌ
A female camel or similar animal that bears late in the breeding season, or is pregnant according to some explanations.
The evidence records variant explanations, including late bearing, pregnancy, and being heavy with pregnancy; the term is not restricted to one of these interpretations.
- Lane · entry 16817
مُتَالٍ
One who relieves or assists another in singing or work by taking up the strain or task when the other cannot continue.
The assistance may be performed with a high voice in singing.
- Lane · entry 16818
مُتَالٍ
One who sings to camels to urge or excite them onward.
A specialized use of the participle in camel-driving contexts.
- Lane · entry 16818
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The root has a documented Classical branch in which تَلَا means to hold back or leave someone; this contrary-looking usage is kept separate from following and recitation.
The animal terms مُتْلٍ and مُتْلِيَةٌ have divergent reported explanations, including late bearing, pregnancy, and being heavy with pregnancy; no narrower interpretation is imposed.
Mufradat records an alternate reading تَبْلُوا at 10:30. That reading is not treated as a تلو occurrence because 10:30 is absent from the supplied QAC locations for this root.