Quranic root
خطف
kh · ṭ · f
The root denotes taking something away swiftly and suddenly, especially by seizure or stealth.
From rapid seizure, the meanings extend to taking away sight or an opportunity to hear, carrying people off, swift movement, and objects or creatures associated with snatching, hooks, or claws. Leanness is explained figuratively as flesh seeming to have been taken away.
- Maqāyīs · row 1611
- Mufradāt · row 420
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 7
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
خَطِفَ
khaṭifa
- 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 seize, snatch, or carry away swiftly and by force.
In the Quran, it describes people being carried off from around others; the surrounding context may include killing and plundering.
- Lane · entry 19540
- Mufradāt · row 420
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:31word 13
“and (had) snatched him”
To take away sight or vision suddenly.
Used of lightning or a flash that deprives the eyes of their sight.
- Lane · entry 19540
- Mufradāt · row 420
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:20word 3
“snatches away”
To snatch an opportunity to hear secretly.
In the Quran, it describes a devil stealthily taking an opportunity to hear the speech of the angels.
- Lane · entry 19540
- Mufradāt · row 420
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:10word 3
“snatches”
تَخَطَّفَ
takhaṭṭafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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 snatch away or carry off swiftly; to be taken away in this manner.
Used of people being suddenly carried off; the Quranic occurrences include both active and passive constructions.
- Mufradāt · row 420
Selected Quran examples
Quran 29:67word 7
“while are being taken away”
Quran 8:26word 10
“might do away with you”
Quran 28:57word 6
“we would be swept”
خَطْفَة
khaṭfah
- Part of speech
- Noun · Instance 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.
A single snatch or stealthy seizure.
In the Quranic expression, it is the stealthy snatching of an opportunity to hear the angels' speech.
- Lane · entry 19540
- Mufradāt · row 420
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:10word 4
“(by) theft”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:20يَخْطَفُsnatches away
- 8:26يَتَخَطَّفَكُمُmight do away with you
- 22:31فَتَخْطَفُهُand (had) snatched him
- 28:57نُتَخَطَّفْwe would be swept
- 29:67وَيُتَخَطَّفُwhile are being taken away
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 35 Classical meanings
خَطِفَ
To strike off or sever a head swiftly.
A figurative extension of forcibly taking something away; illustrated of a sword.
- Lane · entry 19540
خَطِفَ
To move or travel quickly.
Said of a camel moving rapidly and of a ship sailing or voyaging swiftly.
- Lane · entry 19540
أَخْطَفَ
To order someone to seize, take, or carry something away by force.
Used in a command construction.
- Lane · entry 19542
أَخْطَفَ
To break off or cut short part of a discourse or narrative.
Describes interrupting speech after beginning to discuss another matter.
- Lane · entry 19542
أَخْطَفَ
To recover quickly from an illness, or for an illness such as fever to leave a person.
A reported Form IV usage describes slight sickness followed by rapid recovery.
- Lane · entry 19542
أَخْطَفَ
To narrowly escape death, or to miss a target by a small margin.
Used of death that nearly overtakes someone and of a shot or cast that nearly strikes its quarry.
- Lane · entry 19542
أَخْطَفَ
Of an arrow, to miss, glide along the ground, or proceed straight toward the object of aim.
The reports include an arrow falling to the ground and then gliding toward the target.
- Lane · entry 19542
أَخْطَفَ
To catch or hit the quarry at which one shoots.
This additional gloss is reported in the lexical entry, but its explanatory wording is uncertain.
- Lane · entry 19542
أَخْطَفُ الحَشَا
To be lean or narrow in the abdomen.
Describes a horse, especially as a conformation fault involving a small or tucked-up belly.
- Lane · entry 19542
تَخَاطَفَ
To snatch something back and forth among several people.
Illustrated by people contending together for a ball.
- Lane · entry 19544
اِخْتَطَفَ
To stretch or strain the neck while moving swiftly.
Used in a simile describing the gait of a swift camel.
- Lane · entry 19545
خُطْفٌ
A slight illness.
A rare lexical noun for a minor disease or ailment.
- Lane · entry 19546
خُطْفٌ
Leanness or thinness of the body, especially lightness of flesh at the side.
A figurative bodily description distinct from the illness sense.
- Lane · entry 19546
خُطُفٌ
Madness or diabolical possession.
Said of a person; the form may be interpreted as singular or plural in the cited discussion.
- Lane · entry 19547
خَطْفَة
A single act of seizing, carrying off by force, or snatching away quickly.
This is the broader Classical noun sense beyond the Quranic specialized expression involving stolen hearing.
- Lane · entry 19548
خَطْفَة
A portion or limb snatched from a living animal by a predator or person.
The term may refer to flesh or fat taken from a living animal; such separated flesh is discussed as carrion.
- Lane · entry 19548
خَطْفَة
A quick single suck of a small amount of milk from the breast.
Describes an infant's brief taking of milk.
- Lane · entry 19548
خَطِيفَة
The act of seizing or carrying something away by force or unexpectedly.
A nominal variant emphasizing sudden or unawares snatching.
- Lane · entry 19551
خَطِيفَة
A cooked dish of milk and flour eaten or taken up hastily.
The food is made by sprinkling flour on heated milk, cooking it, and eating it with the fingers or spoons.
- Lane · entry 19551
الخَطَّاف
One who habitually snatches opportunities to hear the angels' speech; by extension, the Devil or Satan.
A conventional epithet derived from the act of stealthy hearing.
- Lane · entry 19553
أَبُو الخَطَّاف
A name for the kite, a bird of prey.
Used as a bird-name or surname.
- Lane · entry 19553
خُطَّاف
A swallow or similar small black bird.
The plural is خَطَاطِيف.
- Lane · entry 19554
خُطَّاف
A bent or hooked iron tool, including the hooked parts of a pulley, bit, or bridle.
The term covers an iron hook, grapple, or the paired bent pieces used with a pulley or bit.
- Lane · entry 19554
خَطَاطِيف
The claws or talons of a predatory animal or bird.
A figurative plural usage based on the resemblance of talons to hooked iron.
- Lane · entry 19554
خُطَّاف
A wicked thief.
A figurative or contemptuous usage attested in proverbial and poetic language.
- Lane · entry 19554
خُطَّاف / مَخْطُوف
A mark made with a hot iron on a camel in the shape of a hook.
The branded camel is described by reference to the hooked iron used as the model.
- Lane · entry 19554
- Lane · entry 19562
خُطَّاف
The part of a horse where the rider's heel rests.
An anatomical equestrian term.
- Lane · entry 19554
الخَاطِف
A wolf.
The animal-name is explained by its seizing and carrying off its prey.
- Lane · entry 19555
خَاطِفُ ظِلِّهِ
A desert bird that pounces at its own reflection or shadow as though it were prey.
Also known as مُلَاعِبُ ظِلِّهِ; the name refers to its imagined seizure of the shadow.
- Lane · entry 19555
خَاطِف
Of lightning, taking away sight by its flash.
An adjectival construction describing blinding lightning.
- Lane · entry 19555
سَهْمٌ خَاطِف
An arrow that glides along the ground toward the target, or an arrow that misses.
The expression is explained through the image of an arrow snatching something from the ground.
- Lane · entry 19555
خَيْطَف
A quick or swift camel, and by extension a rapid pace.
The term is explicitly connected with a camel stretching its neck in swift motion; خَيْطَفَى is a related form.
- Lane · entry 19556
- Lane · entry 19557
خَاطُوف
A reaping-hook-like device attached to a snare for catching a gazelle.
A specialized hunting implement.
- Lane · entry 19558
مُخْطَفُ الحَشَا
Lean or narrow in the belly.
Used of a person or animal whose abdominal flesh is tucked in or diminished; related forms include أَخْطَفُ الحَشَا.
- Lane · entry 19560
مِخْطَف
A sword whose glint takes away the sight.
A figurative description based on the blinding effect of a polished blade.
- Lane · entry 19561
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
A reported Form IV gloss in lane-unit:xTf:19542:g2:sub4 describes catching the quarry, but the entry itself suggests a possible wording or transcription problem.
lane-unit:xTf:19546:g1:sub2 translates a proverbial phrase with خُطْفٌ as involving a cure, while the surrounding lexical entry defines خُطْفٌ as a slight illness; no separate cure sense has been assigned.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The catch-quarry gloss in lane-unit:xTf:19542:g2:sub4 is retained as a cautiously worded Classical meaning because the source explicitly reports it, but its explanatory wording may be corrupt or mistranscribed.
The phrase in lane-unit:xTf:19546:g1:sub2 is treated as an example subsumed under the slight-illness meaning rather than evidence for an independent cure sense, because the source's translation conflicts with its nearby definition.