Quranic root
خرص
kh · r · ṣ
The root contains several markedly divergent lexical branches: conjectural estimation and speech without knowledge; rings and earrings; branched rods or offshoots; and the state of being hungry and cold.
Within the conjectural branch, estimating an unseen quantity develops into speaking from supposition rather than knowledge, and hence into the designation of unsupported or false speech as lying.
- Maqāyīs · row 1558
- Mufradāt · row 400
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
خَرَصَ
kharaṣa
- 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 conjecture, guess, or speak on the basis of supposition rather than knowledge.
Used for an assertion made without certainty or adequate knowledge; the emphasis is on conjectural judgment rather than verified information.
- Lane · entry 18815
- Mufradāt · row 400
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:116word 18
“guess”
Quran 10:66word 25
“guess”
To lie or assert what is untrue.
A development of unsupported conjecture in which the assertion is treated as falsehood; this sense is explicitly applied to the Quranic statement about those who claim that the angels are female.
- Lane · entry 18815
- Mufradāt · row 400
Selected Quran examples
Quran 43:20word 15
“lie”
خَرَّاصٌ
kharrāṣun
- Part of speech
- Noun · intensive agent 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 habitual conjecturer; one who speaks without knowledge, hence a liar.
In the Quranic plural designation, the term denounces people who merely opine or make unsupported assertions; conjecture and lying are closely related aspects of the usage.
- Lane · entry 18823
- Mufradāt · row 400
Selected Quran examples
Quran 51:10word 2
“the liars”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 6:116يَخْرُصُونَguess
- 6:148تَخْرُصُونَguess
- 10:66يَخْرُصُونَguess
- 43:20يَخْرُصُونَlie
- 51:10ٱلْخَرَّٰصُونَthe liars
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 8 Classical meanings
خَرَصَ
To estimate by conjecture the quantity of fruit on palm trees.
A conventional agricultural construction, including estimating fresh dates on the trees by the quantity expected after drying.
- Lane · entry 18815
خِرْصٌ
A conjectural calculation or the quantity estimated by conjecture, especially the produce of palm trees.
A verbal noun or substantive used for the estimate itself or the estimated yield.
- Lane · entry 18819
خَارِصٌ
An estimator who calculates by conjecture the quantity of fruit on palm trees.
The agent noun is also associated with the plural form خُرَّاصٌ.
- Lane · entry 18823
خُرْصٌ
A ring or small ornamental ring, especially a gold or silver ring or an earring.
May denote an earring with a bead or a similar ornament; in the idiom مَا تَمْلِكُ فُلَانَةُ خُرْصًا, having no such ornament signifies possessing nothing.
- Lane · entry 18818
- Maqāyīs · row 1558
خَرِصٌ
Hungry and cold, or hungry in cold weather.
The lexical description requires hunger together with cold; cold without hunger is distinguished separately in the cited discussion.
- Lane · entry 18820
- Maqāyīs · row 1558
خُرْصَةٌ
Food prepared for a woman who has recently given birth.
Reported as an apparently dialectal or variant form in the supplied lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 18821
خَرْصٌ
A rod or branch belonging to a branching object; specifically, a spear or sticks used with a honey-gatherer.
The branch or rod sense extends to named implements and objects made from such slender branches.
- Maqāyīs · row 1558
خَرِيصٌ
A gulf or inlet of the sea.
A specialized term within the branch or offshoot semantic family.
- Maqāyīs · row 1558
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The conjecture and lying senses overlap: unsupported speech may be called lying even when the proposition happens to correspond to reality; the Quranic evidence nevertheless explicitly foregrounds lying in 43:20 and denunciatory liars in 51:10.