Quranic root
خير
kh · y · r
The root centers on inclination toward what is desired and beneficial: good as opposed to evil, excellence, preference, and choice.
The underlying sense of turning or inclining develops into goodness and benefit, comparative superiority, the excellent or chosen, generosity, and seeking the better of two alternatives.
- Maqāyīs · row 1680
- Mufradāt · row 448
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 196
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَخَيَّرَ
takhayyara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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.
To select or choose what is regarded as good or preferable.
Form V; the Quranic occurrences are imperfect forms meaning “they select” and “you choose.”
- Mufradāt · row 448
- Lane · entry 20390
Selected Quran examples
Quran 56:20word 3
“they select”
Quran 68:38word 5
“you choose”
اِخْتَارَ
āikhtāra
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- 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 choose, select, elect, or prefer someone or something.
The object may be selected from among others or preferred over them. In the account of the chosen community, the usage can also be understood as God making them good or preferring them over others.
- Lane · entry 20392
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
خَيْرٌ
khayrun
- Part of speech
- Adjective · Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 178 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.
Goodness, good, benefit, or a good thing; what is desirable, useful, or excellent, as opposed to evil or harm.
Used both as a noun and as an adjective. Depending on context, it may denote good deeds, beneficial outcomes, welfare, or good things generally.
- Lane · entry 20394
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:30word 8
“Good”
Quran 38:32word 5
“(of) the good”
Wealth or property.
A Quranic usage in which خير denotes accumulated wealth or property, especially in contexts of inheritance, spending, ownership, or provision.
- Lane · entry 20394
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:180word 9
“good”
Better, best, or excellent; the superior or most excellent among alternatives.
Used in comparative and superlative constructions, including comparison with مِنْ, genitive superlative expressions, and plural forms referring to the excellent or best.
- Lane · entry 20394
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:58word 8
“(is) better”
Horses.
This is an explicitly reported Quranic interpretation of خير. The lexical interpretation is retained, but Lane’s printed Quran reference is historical and is not converted into a modern verse citation.
- Lane · entry 20394
خَيْرَةٌ
khayrahun
- Part of speech
- Noun · feminine plural
- Quran occurrences
- 10 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.
Good things, good deeds, or acts of goodness.
Feminine plural of the adjectival or substantivized sense of خَيْرَةٌ; the Quranic contexts use it for good things and virtuous deeds.
- Lane · entry 20394
- Lane · entry 20397
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:114word 12
“the good deeds”
Good or excellent women.
Feminine plural used as an epithet for women characterized as good or excellent, especially in disposition and qualities.
- Lane · entry 20394
- Lane · entry 20397
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 55:70word 2
“(are) good”
خِيَرَةٌ
khiyarahun
- 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.
Choice or option; the right to choose.
In the Quranic construction, it may deny people an independent choice against God’s determination or choice.
- Lane · entry 20406
- Mufradāt · row 448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:68word 9
“the choice”
Quran 33:36word 14
“(any) choice”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:54خَيْرٌۭ(is) better
- 2:61خَيْرٌ ۚ(is) better
- 2:103خَيْرٌۭ ۖ(would have been) better
- 2:105خَيْرٍۢgood
- 2:106بِخَيْرٍۢbetter
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 30 Classical meanings
خَارَ
To be or become possessed of good or goodness.
Form I intransitive usage.
- Lane · entry 20386
خَارَ
To be good or do good; in supplication, to grant someone good or choose the better outcome for them.
Includes idiomatic prayers asking God to bless, prosper, favour, or choose the better alternative for someone.
- Lane · entry 20386
خَارَ
To prefer one person to another.
Transitive usage with a person or thing preferred before a companion or rival.
- Lane · entry 20386
خَيَّرَ
To give someone the choice or option between two things or affairs; to prefer one among others.
Form II; may describe granting an option or preferring some people or things over others.
- Lane · entry 20387
خَايَرَ
To vie or contend with someone for superiority or excellence.
Form III; competition may concern a particular matter or quality.
- Lane · entry 20388
أَخْيَرَ
How good or excellent!
Form IV exclamatory construction, including expressions praising the suitability or goodness of something.
- Lane · entry 20389
تَخَايَرَ
To contend together for superior goodness or excellence.
Form VI reciprocal usage; the cited construction includes appealing to a judge or arbiter.
- Lane · entry 20391
اِسْتَخَارَ
To seek or ask for divine blessing, favour, or the better outcome.
Form X; commonly takes God as the object of asking and an affair as the matter in which the better alternative is sought.
- Lane · entry 20393
خَيْرُ بَوَّاءُ
A kind of small, sweet-smelling grain resembling cardamom.
A specialized plant name, reported as a Persian-derived expression.
- Lane · entry 20394
خِيرٌ
Generosity, liberality, or munificence.
A noun denoting generous character or conduct.
- Lane · entry 20395
خِيرٌ
Eminence, nobility, or an elevated state or condition.
A distinct abstract noun sense.
- Lane · entry 20395
خِيرٌ
Origin.
A lexical noun sense distinct from generosity and appearance.
- Lane · entry 20395
خِيرٌ
Nature or disposition.
Used of a person’s inherent or characteristic disposition.
- Lane · entry 20395
خِيرٌ
Form, aspect, appearance, figure, mien, or external condition.
Equivalent in this usage to a person’s visible form or aspect.
- Lane · entry 20395
خِيرَةٌ
The blessing, prospering, or favour granted by God; the favourable state resulting from seeking God’s choice.
A verbal noun or substantive associated with asking God to choose or provide the better outcome.
- Lane · entry 20398
خِيَرَةٌ
A chosen or selected thing, person, or beast; one’s choice.
Substantive associated with choosing or being chosen; this classical “chosen item” sense is distinct from the Quranic abstract sense of choice.
- Lane · entry 20399
خَيْرِيٌّ
Of or relating to good or goodness.
Relational adjective formed from the خير lexical family.
- Lane · entry 20403
خِيرِيٌّ
Of, relating to, or possessing generosity, liberality, or munificence.
Relational adjective associated with the خِيرٌ sense of generosity.
- Lane · entry 20404
خِيرِيٌّ
The gilliflower or wallflower plant, generally the yellow species.
A botanical term reported as Arabicized; its oil was used in medicines.
- Lane · entry 20404
خِيرِيُّ البَرِّ
A desert plant identified with the خُزَامَى.
Compound botanical name referring to a strongly scented wild plant.
- Lane · entry 20404
خَيْرِيَّةٌ
The quality of goodness.
Abstract noun denoting the quality associated with خَيْرٌ.
- Lane · entry 20405
خِيَارٌ
A contractual option, especially the option to accept or return a purchased item.
Includes options based on inspection, a sitting with the seller, a defect, a stipulated condition, or later specification of the selected item.
- Lane · entry 20406
خِيَارٌ
A cucumber or cucumber-like plant.
An Arabicized botanical word, explicitly reported as not originally Arabic.
- Lane · entry 20406
خِيَارُ شَنْبَرَ
The cassia fistula tree or its well-known fruiting tree.
A compound plant name, itself Arabicized from Persian.
- Lane · entry 20406
خَائِرٌ
Doing good or acting well.
Active participle of خَارَ.
- Lane · entry 20409
اِخْتِيَارِيٌّ
Voluntary or originating from the will or choice.
Technical adjective opposed to خِلْقِيٌّ, something innate or created as an inherent quality.
- Lane · entry 20411
مَخْيَرَةٌ
A cause of good; excellence, eminence, or nobility.
Abstract noun for a quality or circumstance producing excellence or elevated status.
- Lane · entry 20412
مُخْتَارٌ
Choosing, selecting, or electing.
Active participle of Form VIII اِخْتَارَ.
- Lane · entry 20414
مُخْتَارٌ
Chosen, selected, elected, or preferred; choice or select.
Passive-participial or substantivized usage.
- Lane · entry 20414
مُخْتَارٌ
Excellent or choice, especially of a camel.
An adjectival usage applied to a male or female camel, including the sense of excellent and brisk.
- Lane · entry 20414
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The core nominal group combines noun and adjective uses and includes the Quranic plural surface form أَخْيَارِ under the normalized headword خَيْرٌ.
Lane’s horse interpretation of خير is preserved as Quran-attested lexical evidence, but its printed reference uses an older citation convention and does not supply a secure modern location matching the QAC occurrence.