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Quranic root

خلد

kh · l · d

The root centers on remaining firmly in a state or place and maintaining a condition without interruption.

From staying and continued adherence, the root develops meanings of prolonged or perpetual existence, attachment or reliance, unchanged youth, and things that remain fixed or attached.

  • Maqāyīs · row 1631
  • Mufradāt · row 428
6
Quran-attested forms
8
Quran senses
87
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.

خَلَدَ

khalada

Part of speech
Verb · Form I
Form
I
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.

  1. To remain or abide indefinitely; to live forever.

    In the Quranic Form I occurrences, the imperfect denotes continued existence without an indicated end.

    • Lane · entry 19780
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 25:69word 6

    and he will abide forever

    Quran 26:129word 4

    live forever

أَخْلَدَ

ʾakhlada

Part of speech
Verb · Form IV
Form
IV
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.

  1. To cause someone or something to remain or abide permanently; to make immortal.

    In 104:3, the verb describes wealth being imagined to make its possessor immortal.

    • Lane · entry 19782
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 104:3word 4

    will make him immortal

  2. To incline or attach oneself to, and rely upon, something.

    The Quranic construction أَخْلَدَ إِلَى describes turning toward and relying upon the earth or worldly life, rather than literal residence.

    • Lane · entry 19782
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 7:176word 6

    adhered

مُخَلَّد

mukhallad

Part of speech
Passive participle
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.

  1. Perpetually youthful or unchanged in age; not subject to decrepitude.

    This is an interpretation of مُخَلَّدُونَ in the Quranic description of those whose age and condition do not deteriorate.

    • Lane · entry 19793
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 56:17word 4

    immortal

  2. Adorned with earrings or other ear ornaments.

    This is the alternative Quranic interpretation of مُخَلَّدُونَ reported for the same passages.

    • Lane · entry 19793
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 76:19word 4

    made eternal

خَالِد

khālid

Part of speech
Active participle
Quran occurrences
74 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.

  1. One who abides or remains forever; everlasting or immortal.

    The Quranic active participle is used of beings or groups destined to remain perpetually in a stated condition or abode.

    • Lane · entry 19790
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 18:108word 1

    Abiding forever

    Quran 7:20word 25

    the immortals

خُلْد

khuld

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.

  1. Perpetual existence, immortality, or eternity.

    The noun occurs in Quranic genitive expressions for an enduring state, including an abode or punishment characterized by perpetual existence.

    • Lane · entry 19784
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 21:34word 6

    [the] immortality

    Quran 25:15word 6

    (of) Eternity

خُلُود

khulūd

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.

  1. Perpetual existence; eternity or abiding without decay.

    The verbal noun denotes the state or duration of remaining permanently.

    • Lane · entry 19780
    • Lane · entry 19784
    • Mufradāt · row 428
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 50:34word 5

    (of) Eternity

Occurrences in the Quran

Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.

  • 2:25خَـٰلِدُونَ(will) abide forever
  • 2:39خَـٰلِدُونَ(will) abide forever
  • 2:81خَـٰلِدُونَ(will) abide forever
  • 2:82خَـٰلِدُونَ(will) abide forever
  • 2:162خَـٰلِدِينَ(Will) abide forever
View all 87 occurrences

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 14 Classical meanings
  • خَلَدَ

    To remain, stay, dwell, or continue for a long time.

    An ordinary intransitive use, including remaining in a place or dwelling; the perpetually abiding use is separately represented among the Quranic senses.

    • Lane · entry 19780
  • خَلَدَ

    To be slow to become gray and retain youthful signs in old age.

    A figurative use describing continued youthfulness as though one were created to last forever.

    • Lane · entry 19780
  • خَلَّدَ

    To adorn someone with earrings, bracelets, or similar ornaments.

    A transitive Form II use; the source's mention of a girl is illustrative, not a restriction on the object.

    • Lane · entry 19781
  • أَخْلَدَ

    To keep or cling to a companion.

    Used with بِـ for maintaining attachment to someone; distinct from أَخْلَدَ إِلَى, ‘to incline or rely upon’.

    • Lane · entry 19782
  • خُلْد

    Paradise, the world to come, or an abode of perpetual existence.

    A conventional designation, especially in دَارُ الْخُلْدِ, ‘the abode of perpetual existence’.

    • Lane · entry 19784
  • خُلْد

    A bracelet or earring; collectively, personal ornaments.

    A nominal use distinct from the abstract meaning of perpetual existence.

    • Lane · entry 19784
  • خُلْد

    A mole or blind rat, especially a naturally eyeless subterranean animal; also a species of rat.

    The entry also records variant forms associated with this animal name.

    • Lane · entry 19784
  • خُلْد

    A species of lark.

    • Lane · entry 19784
  • خَلَد

    The mind or heart.

    Used for what is settled within a person's inward thought or feeling.

    • Lane · entry 19786
  • خَلْد

    The part of a person that remains unchanged while the person is alive.

    A specialized nominal designation for a bodily part distinguished by its persistence of condition.

    • Mufradāt · row 428
  • خَالِد

    Something that remains fixed in place, such as the stones of a hearth; figuratively, a mountain, stone, or rock.

    A figurative extension from enduring in place; the references to hearth stones and rocks are lexical applications of that idea.

    • Lane · entry 19790
  • مُخْلِد

    Slow to become gray, with hair remaining black in old age; also one whose teeth do not fall out because of extreme age.

    A specialized adjective describing delayed physical aging.

    • Lane · entry 19792
  • مُخْلِد

    Still or motionless.

    A rare figurative extension recorded in the lexical discussion.

    • Lane · entry 19792
  • مُخَلَّدَة

    An animal whose milk incisors remain until its permanent teeth emerge.

    A specialized animal description based on persistence of the teeth.

    • Mufradāt · row 428

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • مُخَلَّدُونَ in 56:17 and 76:19 has two explicitly reported interpretations in the supplied lexical evidence: perpetually youthful or unchanged, and adorned with earrings or other ornaments; both are retained rather than collapsed.

  • أَخْلَدَ إِلَى is a conventional attachment-and-reliance construction and should not be read as merely the causative of physical residence.