Quranic root
خيط
kh · y · ṭ
A thin, extended line or strand; the root centers on extension in narrowness and extends metaphorically to joined, linear, or upright forms.
The basic image is the thread or fine strand. From it develop sewing, streaks resembling threads, dawn and night likened to contrasting threads, grouped things conceived as joined, and certain long or linear bodily forms.
- Maqāyīs · row 1683
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 3
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
خَيْطٌ
khayṭun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
A thread or string, serving as the image in the Quranic expression of the white thread and the black thread.
The literal thread-image underlies the contrasting expression in 2:187; the contextual interpretation of the two threads is given in the following sense.
- Lane · entry 20423
- Mufradāt · row 449
In the Quranic paired expression “the white thread” and “the black thread,” the daylight or true dawn distinguished from the darkness or night.
This is a figurative construction based on the thin visible line or distinction between dawn and night, not a reference to sewing thread in context.
- Lane · entry 20423
- Mufradāt · row 449
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:187word 36
“the thread”
Quran 2:187word 39
“the thread”
خِيَاطٌ
khiyāṭun
- Part of speech
- Noun · Instrument
- 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 needle.
In the Quranic construction سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ, it denotes the needle whose eye is being entered.
- Lane · entry 20430
- Mufradāt · row 449
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:40word 20
“(of) the needle”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 3 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 23 Classical meanings
خَاطَ
To sew, sew together, or sew up a garment or piece of cloth.
Form I verb; the related noun خِيَاطَةٌ denotes the art or activity of sewing.
- Lane · entry 20418
خَاطَ
To couple one camel with another by tying one animal’s halter to the other’s tail.
A figurative or specialized use of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 20418
خَاطَ
Of a serpent, to run or creep along the ground.
A specialized usage applied to the movement of a serpent.
- Lane · entry 20418
خَاطَ
To pass by or along quickly; to journey on without stopping, including toward a destination.
The related form اِخْتَاطَ is also mentioned with this usage.
- Lane · entry 20418
خَيْطٌ
A needle.
A classical meaning distinct from the Quranic خِيَاطٌ; it may occur alongside the ordinary meaning “thread.”
- Lane · entry 20423
خَيْطُ الرَّقَبَةِ
The spinal cord of the neck.
An anatomical expression formed with خَيْطٌ.
- Lane · entry 20423
خَيْطُ الرَّقَبَةِ
In the idiom جَاحَشَ عَنْ خَيْطِ رَقَبَتِهِ, to defend one’s blood or life.
An idiomatic extension of the expression خَيْطُ الرَّقَبَةِ.
- Lane · entry 20423
خَيْطُ بَاطِلٍ
Gossamer, fine scattered particles, or a faint shaft of light or matter visible through an opening.
The expression has variant explanations, including gossamer, light entering a dark place, and scattered particles visible in sunbeams.
- Lane · entry 20423
خَيْطُ بَاطِلٍ
In a proverb, something or someone of extremely little estimation.
A figurative idiomatic use based on the extreme fineness or insubstantiality of خَيْطُ بَاطِلٍ.
- Lane · entry 20423
خِيطٌ
A flock or collective group, especially of ostriches; also a swarm of locusts and, sometimes, a group of wild cattle.
The collective sense is associated with things conceived as joined or gathered together.
- Lane · entry 20424
خَيْطَانٌ / خِيطَانٌ
A company or group of men.
This is a plural-form usage; the same plural forms can also denote groups of animals.
- Lane · entry 20424
خَيَطٌ
The long neck or neck-bones of an ostrich; also a continuous black-and-white mixture or line in them.
The linear or streak-like appearance motivates the specialized description.
- Lane · entry 20425
خَيْطَةٌ
In the dialect of Hudhayl, a wooden peg or stake fixed in a mountain for lowering oneself to a honey deposit; also a rope, slender rope, or tether-string used in honey gathering.
The sources report several closely related identifications for the honey-gathering equipment, including peg, rope, and string.
- Lane · entry 20426
خَيْطَةٌ
A leather tunic worn by a honey gatherer.
A specialized regional usage reported alongside the rope-and-peg meanings.
- Lane · entry 20426
خَيْطَةٌ
In the expression مَا آتِيكَ إِلَّا الْخَيْطَةَ, an occasional or infrequent visit.
This meaning occurs in a fixed idiomatic construction.
- Lane · entry 20426
خَيْطَاءُ
A female ostrich with a long neck.
The adjective and noun describe the ostrich’s conspicuously extended neck.
- Lane · entry 20428
خَيَّطَ
To streak or mark with whiteness in thread-like lines, especially when gray hair appears on the head or beard.
The related reflexive construction describes a head becoming streaked with gray; the expression may also emphasize the joining or continuity of the white streaks.
- Lane · entry 20419
خِيَاطَةٌ
The art or activity of sewing.
A verbal noun associated with خَاطَ.
- Lane · entry 20431
خَيَّاطٌ
A seamster, one whose occupation is sewing.
The ordinary occupational noun formed from sewing.
- Lane · entry 20432
خَيَّاطٌ
One who passes along quickly.
A separate, figurative noun use, not the occupational meaning “seamster.”
- Lane · entry 20432
مَخِيطٌ
A garment or piece of cloth that has been sewn.
A passive-participial noun describing a sewn article.
- Lane · entry 20434
مَخِيطٌ
The whole of the exterior of the belly.
A specialized anatomical usage.
- Lane · entry 20434
مَخِيطٌ
A place of passage, especially the path along which a serpent creeps.
This usage is reported as disputed or incorrectly assigned by some authorities, but is explicitly recorded as a lexical interpretation.
- Lane · entry 20434
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane’s Quran citations use historical citation conventions; the modern example locations here follow the independently supplied QAC locations, especially 2:187 and 7:40.
The specialized خَيْطَةٌ and مَخِيطٌ meanings include competing or disputed interpretations, which are retained in their usage conditions rather than treated as certain ordinary senses.