Quranic root
زكو
z · k · w
The root centers on increase, flourishing, and growth through blessing, with extensions to purity, moral cultivation, and the beneficial giving of zakah.
The lexical development runs from the growth of crops, wealth, life, and other things to moral purification and goodness. Zakah is associated with both purification and the hope of increase and blessing.
- Mufradāt · row 625
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 59
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
زَكَا
zakā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To be or become pure, good, or righteous.
An intransitive Form I use describing a person’s moral condition.
- Lane · entry 31378
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:21word 22
“(would) have been pure”
زَكَّى
zakkā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 purify someone or something; to make morally pure.
A transitive causative use. The agent may be God, a prophet, or a human being, and the object may be an individual, soul, or group.
- Lane · entry 31379
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:129word 12
“and purify them”
Quran 62:2word 11
“and purifying them”
To give the zakah due from property; also, to take or collect another person’s zakah.
A specialized zakah construction: the property or its owner is associated with the due payment, while the payer’s zakah may be taken or collected.
- Lane · entry 31379
To declare or attribute purity, goodness, or righteousness; to praise, especially oneself.
The construction includes commendation of another person, validation of witnesses, and self-praise; self-ascription of purity is censured in the Quranic usage.
- Lane · entry 31379
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:49word 5
“claim purity”
Quran 53:32word 26
“ascribe purity”
تَزَكَّى
tazakkā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- Quran occurrences
- 8 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 purify oneself, become purified, or strive to attain piety.
A reflexive or intransitive use describing active self-purification and, in a Quranic construction, striving toward moral and religious excellence.
- Lane · entry 31381
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
Quran 87:14word 4
“purifies (himself)”
Quran 92:18word 4
“(to) purify himself”
أَزْكَى
ʾazkā
- Part of speech
- Adjective · comparative/superlative
- 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.
Purer, better, more wholesome, or more beneficial; purest or best.
A comparative or superlative adjective. According to context it may concern purity, lawful and pleasant food, a better course, or greater benefit, abundance, or affordability.
- Lane · entry 31388
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
زَكَاة
zakāh
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 32 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.
The prescribed zakah: the due portion of property given for God’s sake to those entitled to receive it.
A conventional religious payment associated with purification of property and the hope of increase and blessing.
- Lane · entry 31383
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:43word 4
“zakah”
Quran 2:110word 4
“[the] zakah”
Purification, or the righteous and religious practice pursued as its means.
In Quranic constructions the word can denote purification itself, the righteous conduct or worship that effects it, or the aim of such conduct. In لِلزَّكَاةِ فَاعِلُونَ, the preposition expresses purpose or cause rather than a direct object.
- Lane · entry 31383
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:4word 3
“of purification works”
Quran 19:13word 4
“and purity”
زَكِيّ
zakiyy
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Pure, innocent, or morally sound.
Used of a person; the Quranic descriptions allow for purity by nature or prospective purification, with growth in goodness also associated with the adjective.
- Lane · entry 31385
- Mufradāt · row 625
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:19word 9
“pure”
Quran 18:74word 10
“pure”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:43ٱلزَّكَوٰةَzakah
- 2:83ٱلزَّكَوٰةَthe zakah
- 2:110ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ ۚ[the] zakah
- 2:129وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ ۚand purify them
- 2:151وَيُزَكِّيكُمْand purifies you
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 15 Classical meanings
زَكَا
To increase, grow, thrive, yield increase, or prosper in abundance.
Said of crops, land, wealth, cattle, people, deeds, knowledge, and other things capable of growth; it may also be used tropically of a work or activity.
- Lane · entry 31378
زَكَا
To be suitable or befit someone.
Used in the conventional expression زَكَا الأَمْرُ بِفُلَانٍ or its negation for an affair’s suitability to a person.
- Lane · entry 31378
زَكَّى
To call or determine the even-or-odd result in a guessing game.
A specialized gaming expression paired with the verb for the opposite result.
- Lane · entry 31379
أَزْكَى
To cause something to increase, thrive, or enter a good condition.
Form IV, said of produce, wealth, livestock, or anything capable of increase.
- Lane · entry 31380
أَزْكَى
To put property into a bag or another receptacle.
A specialized Form IV use for placing property in storage or containment.
- Lane · entry 31380
تَزَكَّى
To give the poor-rate.
A Classical Arabic use distinct from the Quranic reflexive sense of purifying oneself.
- Lane · entry 31381
زَكَا
An even number, a pair, or the even side in a numerical opposition.
Used in the expression خَسَا أَوْ زَكَا for asking whether a number is odd or even.
- Lane · entry 31382
زَكَاة
Increase or augmentation resulting from divine blessing.
A broader nominal use concerning increase in worldly or otherworldly benefits.
- Lane · entry 31383
زَكَاة
The dryness and purity of earth or ground from defilement.
A specialized physical sense of purity applied to the ground.
- Lane · entry 31383
زَكَاة
Praise understood as attribution of purity, goodness, or righteousness.
A nominal use for commendatory attribution, distinct from the act of praising expressed by Form II.
- Lane · entry 31383
زَكَاة
The pure or best part of a thing.
A partitive use referring to the choice or excellence of an entity’s best portion.
- Lane · entry 31383
زَكَاء
The increase of the earth, or fruits brought forth by God.
A specialized noun for the earth’s produce and its divinely caused increase.
- Lane · entry 31384
زَكِيّ
Increasing, growing, thriving, fertile, or prosperous.
Applied to a growing boy, a prosperous person, or productive and fertile land.
- Lane · entry 31385
زَكَوِيّ
Relating to zakah or the poor-rate.
A relational adjective derived from زَكَاة.
- Lane · entry 31386
زَكَاة
Purity or freedom from defilement.
A general nominal sense of purity, including the physical purity of earth or ground.
- Lane · entry 31383
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane's printed Quran references use historical citation conventions and are not treated as modern verse keys; the displayed examples use only secure QAC locations.
The lexical evidence connects zakah with both purification and increase, while the Quranic form entries preserve the distinct almsgiving, purification-purpose, and comparative constructions explicitly attested.