Quranic root
زلزل
z · l · z · l
The root centers on slipping or moving away from a place, and in its reduplicated development on repeated or violent movement, agitation, and convulsion.
From the basic idea of movement away or smooth passage come figurative error and slipping from the right course; the reduplicated form زلزل extends this into sustained agitation, shaking, and earthquake-like motion.
- Maqāyīs · row 2277
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 6
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
زَلْزَلَ
zalzala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 be violently shaken or convulsed; of the earth, to quake.
Attested in the Quran chiefly in the passive perfect, describing physical shaking or convulsion.
- Lane · entry 31396
Selected Quran examples
Quran 99:1word 2
“is shaken”
To be thrown into severe agitation, fear, or an unsettled state.
Used of people or a group undergoing intense trial; the passive construction presents the resulting agitation rather than an agent's action.
- Lane · entry 31396
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:214word 16
“and they were shaken”
Quran 33:11word 4
“and shaken”
زَلْزَلَة
zalzalah
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
A convulsion or violent shaking; an upheaval.
An event noun denoting the occurrence or state of violent movement.
- Lane · entry 31396
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:1word 6
“(the) convulsion”
زِلْزَال
zilzāl
- 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.
Violent shaking, commotion, or an earthquake; a severe upheaval.
A noun for intense physical or figurative agitation, including an earthquake or a grave shaking of circumstances.
- Lane · entry 31396
- Lane · entry 31412
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:11word 5
“(with a) shake”
Quran 99:1word 4
“(with) its earthquake”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:214وَزُلْزِلُوا۟and they were shaken
- 22:1زَلْزَلَةَ(the) convulsion
- 33:11وَزُلْزِلُوا۟and shaken
- 33:11زِلْزَالًۭا(with a) shake
- 99:1زُلْزِلَتِis shaken
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 44 Classical meanings
زَلَّ
To slip, move aside, or pass away from one's place; figuratively, to err or make a mistake.
Used of slipping in mud and of lapses in speech, action, judgment, opinion, or religion; also used for turning aside from a course.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
Of a benefit, to pass or be transferred from one person to another.
A figurative use describing the transfer of a benefit from a benefactor to its recipient.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
To pass along quickly or run; to move lightly or nimbly.
Used of rapid or agile movement, including movement from place to place in search of pasture.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
Of life, to pass or glide away.
A figurative expression for the passing away of a person's life.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
Of money, to pour or flow out.
Used of dirhams or similar pieces of money.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
Of money, to become deficient in weight.
Used of coins or pieces of money whose weight falls short.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
To be or become lean in the hips or haunches.
The lexical description concerns lack of flesh in the posterior and thighs.
- Lane · entry 31392
زَلَّ
To take or receive something offered, especially food.
A specialized intransitive use discussed in legal phrasing concerning knowledge of permission or consent.
- Lane · entry 31392
زُلَّ
To be made or rendered thin or slender.
A rare passive or resultative use.
- Lane · entry 31392
أَزَلَّ
To cause someone to slip, fall, or commit an error.
May concern slipping physically or falling into error in speech, judgment, opinion, or religion; also used in Quranic interpretations of causing persons to slip.
- Lane · entry 31394
أَزَلَّ
To remove or cause someone to move away.
Reported as an alternate interpretation of a Quranic construction otherwise understood as causing someone to slip.
- Lane · entry 31394
أَزَلَّ
To send or advance someone to a people or party.
A transitive construction with a person as the one sent forward.
- Lane · entry 31394
أَزَلَّ
To make someone turn away from an opinion.
Used causatively with a person's view or judgment as the object.
- Lane · entry 31394
أَزَلَّ
To give or bestow a benefit, food, or part of someone's due.
A figurative transfer construction with a recipient introduced by إِلَى or a specified share of food or entitlement.
- Lane · entry 31394
أَزَلَّ
To draw a benefit forth from someone.
A causative benefit-transfer construction distinct from bestowing a benefit on someone.
- Lane · entry 31394
زَلْزَلَ
To drive camels roughly, violently, or vehemently.
A transitive use describing forceful driving of animals.
- Lane · entry 31396
زَلْزَلَ
To cause liquid to slip into the throat or pass into the fauces.
An idiomatic use illustrated with cold water entering the throat.
- Lane · entry 31396
تَزَلْزَلَ
To be or become in a state of motion, agitation, convulsion, or violent movement.
An intransitive or quasi-passive construction, including the earth's quaking.
- Lane · entry 31397
تَزَلْزَلَ
Of the soul, to tremble or move within the chest at death.
A specialized expression for the soul's agitation at the time of death.
- Lane · entry 31397
زُلٌّ
A slippery place or surface.
Used of a place where the foot slips, including a smooth slope or slide.
- Lane · entry 31398
زَلَّة
A slip, lapse, fault, wrong action, mistake, or sin.
A noun for an error or fall into wrongdoing, especially a serious or disapproved act.
- Lane · entry 31399
زَلَّة
A benefit, good action, gift, or benefaction.
A distinct nounal use referring to something beneficial bestowed on another.
- Lane · entry 31399
زَلَّة
A feast or repast prepared for guests; a marriage feast.
In a dialectal use, it can also denote food carried from a friend's or relation's table.
- Lane · entry 31399
زُلَّة
A straitened or difficult state of the breath.
A rare nominal use; the transmitted wording is associated with constricted breathing.
- Lane · entry 31400
زِلَّة
Stones or smooth stones.
The plural is زِلَلٌ.
- Lane · entry 31401
زَلَل
A deficiency, especially a shortfall in weight.
Used in the expression for deficiency in a balance or measure.
- Lane · entry 31402
زُلَال
A small white animal said to cool water when placed in it.
A rare traditional zoological designation.
- Lane · entry 31403
زُلَال
Of water, cool or cold, sweet, clear, pure, and easy to swallow.
The description can emphasize sweetness, clarity, coolness, or its quick and smooth passage down the throat.
- Lane · entry 31403
زُلَال
Clear or limpid.
The adjective may be applied to things generally, not only to water.
- Lane · entry 31403
زَلِيل
A sweet food known as فَالُوذ.
A specialized food term.
- Lane · entry 31405
زِلِّيَّة
A carpet or a particular kind of woollen floor covering.
A loanword used for a type of carpet or mat; its plural is زَلَالِيّ.
- Lane · entry 31406
زَلْزِل
Household goods, utensils, or furniture of a house or tent.
A collective or plural-like noun for domestic equipment and possessions.
- Lane · entry 31408
زُلْزُل
Light or agile.
Especially used as an epithet for a boy or young man.
- Lane · entry 31409
زُلْزُل
A skilful player on the drum.
A specialized personal description.
- Lane · entry 31409
زُلْزُول
Light or active in body and spirit; mentally quick, clever, or ingenious.
An adjective and substantive description of agility and quick intelligence.
- Lane · entry 31413
زُلْزُول
Conflict, fighting, and an evil or troubled condition.
Used in the expression for leaving people in a state of conflict and hardship.
- Lane · entry 31413
زَلَازِل
Difficulties, terrors, or causes of fear.
A plural noun for troubling circumstances or things that inspire fear.
- Lane · entry 31414
زَالّ
Deficient in weight.
Applied to a dirham, dinar, or other coin whose weight is short.
- Lane · entry 31416
أَزَلّ
Quick or swift.
A general adjective of rapid movement.
- Lane · entry 31417
أَزَلّ
Lean in the buttocks, hips, or thighs, with little flesh in the rear.
Applied to a person or animal; the feminine form is used of a woman, and the epithet is also applied to a lean or agile wolf.
- Lane · entry 31417
زَلَّاء
Of a bow, one from which the arrow slips because of the speed of its release.
A specialized description of a rapidly shooting bow.
- Lane · entry 31417
إِزِلْزِلْ
An exclamation uttered on occasions of convulsion, alarm, or distress.
An interjection associated with the urgency and fear of a shaking or calamity.
- Lane · entry 31418
مَزِلَّة
A slippery place, such as a smooth rock or similar surface.
Also used metaphorically of a perilous or slippery path.
- Lane · entry 31420
مُزَلِّل
One who bestows many benefits or gifts.
An active-participial description of a generous benefactor.
- Lane · entry 31421
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Lane's matched evidence is indexed through the contracted زل entry and therefore includes distinct زل/زلل lexemes as well as the reduplicated زلزل family; those headwords are retained separately rather than treated as additional QAC form groups.