Quranic root
زلق
z · l · q
A core image of something sliding away from its station or losing a firm hold.
This image extends to slipping and dislodgement, slippery surfaces, smoothness, swift movement, and the expulsion of a fetus. These developments do not make every extension a meaning of every form.
- Maqāyīs · row 2283
- Lane · entry 31474
- Lane · entry 31479
- Lane · entry 31476
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَزْلَقَ
ʾazlaqa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 cause someone or something to slip; to make a foot lose its firm hold and thereby cause a fall.
In the Quranic occurrence, the hostile gaze is understood as nearly causing the addressee to fall.
- Lane · entry 31476
- Mufradāt · row 628
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:51word 5
“surely make you slip”
To dislodge someone from a position or station.
In the Quranic construction involving the gaze, an alternative interpretation understands the action as nearly removing the addressee from the station in which he is established.
- Lane · entry 31474
- Lane · entry 31476
- Mufradāt · row 628
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:51word 5
“surely make you slip”
To destroy.
This meaning occurs in a reported non-canonical reading, where the form replaces the transmitted form أَزْلَفْنَا in another Quranic passage; it is not a canonical occurrence of this form in the supplied data.
- Mufradāt · row 628
زَلَقٌ
zalaqun
- Part of speech
- 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.
Smooth, bare, slippery ground; a surface on which the feet do not hold firmly.
In the Quranic phrase صَعِيدًا زَلَقًا, the description can emphasize ground stripped of vegetation or ground too slippery for firm footing.
- Lane · entry 31479
- Mufradāt · row 628
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:40word 15
“slippery”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 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 27 Classical meanings
زَلِقَ
To slip or slide away; of a foot, to lose its firm footing; of an arrow, to slide along the ground.
The form is also reported as زَلَقَ in some usages.
- Lane · entry 31474
زَلِقَ بِمَكَانِهِ
To become disgusted with a place, loathe it, and withdraw or retire from it.
- Lane · entry 31474
زَلَقَ
Of a she-camel, to be or become quick and swift.
- Lane · entry 31474
زَلَقَ
To shave the head.
A related intensive form is also reported in this usage.
- Lane · entry 31474
زَلَّقَ
To make a place slippery, even without water.
The resulting surface is compared with a مَزْلَقَة.
- Lane · entry 31475
زَلَّقَ
To anoint the body with oil or a similar substance so that it becomes slippery.
This is distinguished from making a place slippery.
- Lane · entry 31475
زَلَّقَ
To keep an iron object sharp.
- Lane · entry 31475
زَلَّقَ
To look sharply or intently at someone or something.
- Lane · entry 31475
أَزْلَقَ
Of a female, to cast forth her young or fetus.
The usage is reported especially of camels and mares, and authorities differ over whether the fetus is fully formed.
- Lane · entry 31476
تَزَلَّقَ
To slip or slide along; also, to become smooth or slippery.
The smoothness or slipperiness is a related state or result of the sliding sense.
- Lane · entry 31477
تَزَلَّقَ
To anoint one's body with oils or similar substances.
- Lane · entry 31477
تَزَلَّقَ
To ornament or adorn oneself; to live an easy, soft life associated with a shining or glistening exterior.
- Lane · entry 31477
زَلَقٌ
The rump of a horse or similar beast.
- Lane · entry 31479
زَلِقٌ
Quick to anger at what is said.
Applied to a man.
- Lane · entry 31480
زَلِقٌ
A man who emits semen before intercourse or upon speaking to a woman, without intercourse.
The definition describes a premature or non-coital emission, not ordinary sexual intercourse.
- Lane · entry 31480
زَلَقَةٌ
A smooth rock.
- Lane · entry 31481
زَلَقَةٌ
A mirror.
- Lane · entry 31481
زَلُوقٌ
A quick or swift she-camel.
- Lane · entry 31482
زَلُوقٌ
A far-extending stage of a journey.
Used in the expression عُقْبَةٌ زَلُوقٌ.
- Lane · entry 31482
زَلِيقٌ
A young one or fetus expelled abortively, immature or dead but developed enough to have a recognizable form.
- Lane · entry 31483
زُلَّيْقٌ
A smooth peach.
- Lane · entry 31485
زَيْلَقٌ
A wind swift in its passage.
Used in the expression زِيحٌ زَيْلَقٌ.
- Lane · entry 31487
الزَّالُوقُ
The name of a shield from which weapons slip off without wounding its bearer.
This is a named object whose designation is explained by its protective property.
- Lane · entry 31488
أَزْلَقُ
Hairless and glistening in body.
- Lane · entry 31489
مَزْلَقَةٌ
A slippery path; figuratively, a perilous path such as a way of false religion.
The figurative use occurs in the expression عَلَى مَزْلَقَةِ البَاطِلِ.
- Lane · entry 31491
مِزْلَاقٌ
A dialectal variant of مِزْلَاجٌ: a device by which a door is fastened and which can be opened without a key.
- Lane · entry 31492
مِزْلَاقٌ
A mare or other female that frequently casts her young; also applied to a camel.
This is a habitual disposition, not a single act of casting young.
- Lane · entry 31492
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form IV sense meaning “to destroy” reflects a reported non-canonical reading, not a canonical occurrence of the form in the supplied Quran morphology data.
The canonical Quran locations used here are 18:40 and 68:51; a differing printed citation associated with the classical discussion of زَلَقًا is not converted into a modern location.