Quranic root
خرر
kh · r · r
A root centered on falling or being thrown into disturbance with an accompanying sound.
The semantic field extends from audible falling and collapse to the sounds of water, wind, and breathing, with related developments in descent, movement, and places or openings into which things fall.
- Maqāyīs · row 1545
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- 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.
خَرَّ
kharra
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 12 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 fall or fall down, especially from a higher to a lower place; originally, to fall with an audible impact or sound.
Used for physical falling, collapse, and descent. The audible element is explicit in the lexical explanation of the verb's original usage but is not required in every later use.
- Lane · entry 18674
- Mufradāt · row 397
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:143word 30
“and fell down”
Quran 16:26word 11
“so fell”
Quran 22:31word 10
“he had fallen”
Quran 34:14word 15
“he fell down”
To fall prostrate or bow down in submission.
Occurs in constructions such as خَرَّ لِلّٰهِ سَاجِدًا, خَرُّوا سُجَّدًا, and خَرُّوا لِلْأَذْقَانِ. In the Quranic prostration construction, the falling is associated with glorification and praise.
- Lane · entry 18674
- Mufradāt · row 397
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:100word 5
“and they fell down”
Quran 17:109word 1
“And they fall”
Quran 32:15word 8
“fall down”
Quran 38:24word 30
“and fell down”
To die, figuratively understood as falling down.
An alternative tropical interpretation of a Quranic passage discussed in the lexical evidence; the same passage is also explained as physical falling, so this is not the ordinary sense of every Quranic occurrence.
- Lane · entry 18674
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 7:143وَخَرَّand fell down
- 12:100وَخَرُّوا۟and they fell down
- 16:26فَخَرَّso fell
- 17:107يَخِرُّونَthey fall
- 17:109وَيَخِرُّونَAnd they fall
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 18 Classical meanings
خَرَّ
To make a murmuring, rumbling, gurgling, rustling, or rattling sound, of water, wind, an eagle's wings, or breathing during sleep; also of the sound made in strangulation.
The subject may be water, wind, a flying bird, a sleeping person or animal, or a person suffering strangulation.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَّ
To stumble after going right or following the proper course.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَّتْ خَطَايَاهُ
For sins to fall away, depart, or be removed.
An idiomatic or figurative expression.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَّ
To roll or tumble down from a mountain.
Used of a person or an inanimate object such as a stone.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَّ
To come down or descend from one place to another.
A motion use distinct from literal falling.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَّ
To come upon someone suddenly or unawares from an unknown place.
A conventional figurative construction.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَّ
To come from one town, country, or other place to another, or to pass along, away, or by.
A figurative movement use.
- Lane · entry 18674
خَرَرْتَ عَنْ يَدَيْكَ
To be confounded or stupefied by shame, becoming speechless and motionless.
Restricted to the idiomatic expressions خَرَرْتَ عَنْ يَدَيْكَ and خَرَرْتَ مِنْ يَدَيْكِ.
- Lane · entry 18674
أَخَرَّ
To cause an arm or hand to fall by a stroke of the sword.
Form IV transitive usage.
- Lane · entry 18675
اِنْخَرَّ
To become lax or flabby.
Explicitly used of a person or of the belly. Form VII usage.
- Lane · entry 18676
تَخَرْخَرَ
For the belly to quiver or shake about because of bigness or leanness.
A conventional Form II quadriliteralized usage concerning the belly.
- Lane · entry 18677
خُرٌّ
The mouth or opening of a mill or millstone into which grain is thrown.
- Lane · entry 18678
خَرُورٌ
A she-cat that makes loud breathing or purring sounds in sleep.
- Lane · entry 18679
خَرِيرٌ
A depressed, elongated tract between two hills.
The plural is أَخِرَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 18680
خَرَّارَةٌ
A sounding or murmuring spring, a running spring, or a spring welling forth abundantly.
The sound or abundance of the flowing water motivates the designation.
- Lane · entry 18682
خَرْخَرٌ
The sound of water or wind, or the rustling sound made by an eagle's wings in flight.
- Lane · entry 18683
خَرْخَارٌ
Water flowing vehemently or copiously.
- Lane · entry 18684
خُرَّارٌ
A plural designation for men coming from one town, country, or other place to another, and for those passing along, away, or by.
A derived plural usage associated with the active-participle family.
- Lane · entry 18685
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied Lane citation for the alternative death interpretation uses historical citation notation and is not converted into a modern verse location. The supplied Mufradat discussion identifies the relevant Quranic occurrence as 34:14 and supports the physical-fall interpretation.
The death sense is presented as an alternative Quranic interpretation recorded in the lexical evidence, not as the default meaning of the Quranic verb.