Quranic root
زني
z · n · y
The best-supported semantic center is unlawful sexual intercourse, with related forms naming the act, its male and female participants, and the act as a verbal noun.
The lexicographic evidence does not establish one single analogy across every weak-final spelling. It distinguishes the sexual lexeme from homonymous or differently rooted forms, including hamzated ascent or mounting and other uses of زَنَاءٌ; these branches should not be projected onto the Quranic forms.
- Maqāyīs · row 2305
- Mufradāt · row 631
- Lane · entry 31742
- Lane · entry 31753
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 9
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
زَنَى
zanā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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 commit fornication or adultery; to engage in unlawful sexual intercourse.
Form I verb. The construction بِهَا specifies the partner, “with her.”
- Lane · entry 31742
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:68word 17
“commit unlawful sexual intercourse”
Quran 60:12word 16
“they will commit adultery”
زَانٍ
zānin
- Part of speech
- Active participle · masculine
- 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.
A man who commits fornication or adultery; a fornicator or adulterer.
Masculine active participle used as a personal designation.
- Lane · entry 31753
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:2word 2
“and the fornicator”
Quran 24:3word 12
“a fornicator”
زَانِيَةٌ
zāniyahun
- Part of speech
- Active participle · feminine
- 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.
A woman who commits fornication or adultery; a fornicatress or adulteress.
Feminine active participle used as a personal designation.
- Lane · entry 31753
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:2word 1
“The fornicatress”
Quran 24:3word 5
“a fornicatress”
زِنًى
zinan
- 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.
Fornication or adultery: sexual intercourse without a lawful contract.
Verbal noun. The Quranic form is the shortened spelling زِنًى; the lengthened form زِنَاءٌ is also attested, with dialectal and derived-form variation in Classical Arabic.
- Lane · entry 31742
- Mufradāt · row 631
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:32word 3
“adultery”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 17:32ٱلزِّنَىٰٓ ۖadultery
- 24:2ٱلزَّانِيَةُThe fornicatress
- 24:2وَٱلزَّانِىand the fornicator
- 24:3ٱلزَّانِىThe fornicator
- 24:3زَانِيَةًa fornicatress
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 12 Classical meanings
زَنَأَ
To mount or ascend upon a thing.
A reported hamzated or dialectally related lexeme, kept distinct from the Quranic sexual lexeme.
- Lane · entry 31742
- Maqāyīs · row 2305
زَنَى
In a proverbial expression, to describe a person who does not remain consistently in one course or condition.
A figurative application of the proverb “neither her continence is continence nor the fornication fornication,” rather than an additional literal Quranic sense.
- Lane · entry 31742
زَنَّى
To accuse someone of fornication or adultery, or to call someone a fornicator or adulterer.
Derived Form II usage.
- Lane · entry 31743
زَانَى
To commit fornication or adultery with another person.
Derived Form III usage, conventionally expressing the partner with whom the act is committed.
- Lane · entry 31744
زَنْيَةٌ / زِنْيَةٌ
A single act of fornication or adultery; by an analogical usage, a mode or manner of it.
The two forms are separately attested in the lexical discussion, but belong to the same nominal branch.
- Lane · entry 31747
- Lane · entry 31748
زَنْيَةٌ
In expressions of parentage, a child or offspring born of fornication or adultery.
Occurs in phrases describing illegitimate parentage.
- Lane · entry 31747
زِنْيَةٌ
The last of a man’s children.
A separate Classical Arabic nominal use, unrelated to the Quranic sexual sense.
- Lane · entry 31748
زِنَوِيٌّ / زِنَائِيٌّ
Of or relating to fornication or adultery.
Relational adjectives derived from the corresponding sexual-act nouns.
- Lane · entry 31750
زَنَّاءَةٌ
An appellation for a female ape.
A rare Classical Arabic appellation.
- Lane · entry 31752
زَانِيَةٌ
An intensive appellation for a man who is much addicted to fornication or adultery.
The feminine-form headword is exceptionally applied to a man with intensive force; this Classical specialization is not assigned to the Quranic feminine active-participle sense.
- Lane · entry 31754
زَنَاءٌ
Short or small in relation to length.
A separately distinguished homonymous Classical use, not a development of the Quranic sexual sense.
- Maqāyīs · row 2305
زِنَاءٌ
A person who holds back urine, or a state of urinary retention.
A separately distinguished homonymous use in the lexicographic tradition, not a Quranic sexual sense.
- Maqāyīs · row 2305
- Mufradāt · row 631
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The evidence distinguishes the Quranic sexual lexeme from homonymous or differently rooted forms such as زَنَأَ “to mount” and other uses of زَنَاءٌ; those branches are separately labeled and are not Quranic senses.
The Lane citation “Kur xxiv. 2 and 3” is historical citation notation; the modern Quran locations shown here come from the independently supplied QAC occurrences.