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Quranic root

زول

z · w · l

The root denotes a thing withdrawing or shifting away from its place or fixed state.

From physical displacement, the semantic field extends to departure, disappearance, cessation, motion, and related derived meanings of causing something to move away or striving to gain control.

  • Maqāyīs · row 2322
  • Mufradāt · row 607
2
Quran-attested forms
3
Quran senses
4
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.

زَالَ

zāla

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.

  1. To move away, depart, or shift from a place or established position.

    Quranic usage includes the removal or displacement of something from its position; English renderings may use “move” or “cease” where the emphasis is on no longer remaining in place.

    • Lane · entry 31898
    • Mufradāt · row 607
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 14:46word 10

    that should be moved

  2. To pass away, cease to exist, or come to an end.

    This is the cessation or disappearance sense of the verb, especially when what is affected no longer remains; it is distinct from merely changing position.

    • Lane · entry 31898
    • Mufradāt · row 607
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 35:41word 7

    they cease

    Quran 35:41word 9

    they should cease

زَوَال

zawāl

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.

  1. Passing away, cessation, or ending after something has been established or present.

    The noun denotes the disappearance or termination of something that had been fixed or continuing, rather than simply its initial movement.

    • Lane · entry 31910
    • Mufradāt · row 607
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 14:44word 26

    end

Occurrences in the Quran

Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.

  • 14:44زَوَالٍۢend
  • 14:46لِتَزُولَthat should be moved
  • 35:41تَزُولَا ۚthey cease
  • 35:41زَالَتَآthey should cease
View all 4 occurrences

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 37 Classical meanings
  • زَالَ

    Of the sun: to decline from the meridian.

    A conventional or figurative application of movement away from the zenith.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    Of the day: to advance as the sun rises; of the shade: to contract or decrease at midday.

    These are time-of-day applications of the movement sense.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    Of a journeying party: to cease traveling for a while, remain in a place, and then move after changing its decision.

    Attested in the expression زَالَ ظَعْنُهُمْ and related wording.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    To move, be in motion, or be in commotion and agitation.

    It may also describe someone who moves much among people without remaining stationary.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    Of a figure seen from a distance: to rise or become visible to the observer.

    Used in the construction زَالَتْ لَهُ, describing a distant form coming into view.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    Of a mirage: to raise and make a person or thing apparent.

    Used with بِهِ in a specialized description of the mirage’s visual effect.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    To affect or display acuteness, quickness of intellect, cleverness, ingenuity, skill, knowledge, or intelligence.

    This is a specialized, non-spatial use of the Form I verb.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَالَ

    To separate oneself from someone.

    A transitive construction distinct from the ordinary intransitive movement-away use.

    • Lane · entry 31898
  • زَاوَلَ

    To strive with, contend with, or struggle against someone or something; to seek to obtain or accomplish an object; or to prosecute a claim.

    The Form III verb may describe exertion to prevail, gain possession, effect an aim, or turn someone away from an affair.

    • Lane · entry 31900
  • زَاوَلَ

    To treat someone medically.

    A separately reported lexical use of the Form III verb, recorded without an accompanying example.

    • Lane · entry 31900
  • أَزَالَ

    To remove something, make it depart or disappear, do away with it, annul it, or efface it.

    The causative Form IV verb is used for removing something from a place or freeing someone from an affliction or condition.

    • Lane · entry 31901
  • تَزَوَّلَ

    To make someone or something come.

    A reported Form V use, attributed in the lexical discussion to a particular authority.

    • Lane · entry 31902
  • تَزَوَّلَ

    To attain the utmost degree of acuteness, cleverness, ingenuity, skill, knowledge, or intelligence.

    This is the intransitive Form V use said especially of a young man.

    • Lane · entry 31902
  • تَزَاوَلَ

    To strive, struggle, contend, or labor with one another to prevail or accomplish an object.

    The reciprocal Form VI expresses mutual exertion or conflict.

    • Lane · entry 31903
  • اِنْزَال

    To become removed, depart, or shift away; to become separated from someone.

    The supplied Lane entry records both the intransitive removal sense and the construction meaning separation.

    • Lane · entry 31904
  • إِسْتَزْوَلَ

    To look at a figure or object to determine whether it has moved from its place.

    Used of testing whether a distant form is actually moving or merely appears to move.

    • Lane · entry 31907
  • زَوْلٌ

    An agile, active, quick-witted, clever, ingenious, skilful, knowledgeable, or cunning person; also an effective messenger.

    The epithet is applied to men and women, including a servant-girl noted for efficiently conveying messages; the feminine form may also describe a socially outgoing and intelligent woman.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    A courageous person.

    A distinct epithet associated with the awe produced by the person’s courage.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    A liberal, bountiful, munificent, or generous person.

    An adjectival use of the noun epithet.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    A wonder or wonderful thing; by extension, something extraordinary in its briskness or severity.

    The word can describe a remarkable journeying or pace, or an unusually severe winter, in addition to a wonder generally.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    A trial or affliction.

    A figurative use recorded as a synonym of بَلَاءٌ.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    A form or figure seen from a distance, including a person or other thing; also a frightening night apparition.

    The word may denote the apparent figure itself, whether or not it is real.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    The anterior pudendum or genital opening of a man.

    An anatomical noun use, preserved as a distinct classical meaning.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوْلٌ

    A hawk.

    A separately attested nominal use.

    • Lane · entry 31909
  • زَوَال

    Motion, commotion, or agitation.

    This nominal use emphasizes movement or disturbance rather than disappearance.

    • Lane · entry 31910
  • زَوَال

    In fixed expressions, a wish that someone’s motion cease, ranging from a prayer for continued stability to an imprecation of destruction, death, or perdition.

    The interpretation depends on the particular phrase and its syntactic reading; these expressions are not treated as ordinary uses of the Quranic noun.

    • Lane · entry 31910
  • زَوِيلٌ

    The side or flank.

    In the expression زَوِيلُهُ, the side is described as becoming agitated or quivering because of fright.

    • Lane · entry 31911
  • زَوِيلٌ

    The heart.

    In a conventional expression, the heart is described as being displaced from its place by fear or disquiet caused by an alarming event.

    • Lane · entry 31911
  • زَوَّال

    One who or that which is much in motion.

    A derived intensive adjective referring to frequent movement.

    • Lane · entry 31912
  • زُوَّيْلَى

    A ladle-like implement used by sailors.

    A specialized nautical noun.

    • Lane · entry 31913
  • زَائِل

    In the expression زَائِلُ النُّجُومِ, a night whose stars are absent, conventionally understood as a long night.

    A figurative expression based on the disappearance of the stars.

    • Lane · entry 31914
  • زَائِلَة

    A moving thing or animal; particularly, an animal of the chase.

    The feminine form is substantivized for anything that moves or does not remain fixed; its plural زَوَائِلُ can specifically mean game animals.

    • Lane · entry 31915
  • زَائِلَة

    In a figurative plural use, women.

    The plural زَوَائِلُ occurs in an idiom concerning knowledge of women’s ailments or skill in making women incline toward a man.

    • Lane · entry 31915
  • زَائِلَة

    In a figurative plural use, the stars.

    The application is explained by their movement from east to west in their revolutions.

    • Lane · entry 31915
  • أَزْوَل

    A great wonder or an overwhelming extraordinary event.

    The intensive form may describe an event so startling that it prevents a person from fleeing.

    • Lane · entry 31916
  • مِزْوَلَة

    A sundial or related astronomical instrument used to determine the sun’s decline from the meridian.

    A technical instrument noun derived from the sun-decline application.

    • Lane · entry 31917
  • مُزَاوَل

    A person frightened by a night apparition or other frightening figure.

    A substantivized passive participle use associated with زَوْل as a frightening form.

    • Lane · entry 31918

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • The Mufradat discussion of ما زال and لا يزال explicitly traces that continuing-auxiliary construction to the yāʾ-based زيل branch; it is not counted as a direct Quranic meaning of this زول entry.

  • Lane’s Quran references embedded in broader classical examples are not converted into modern verse locations unless the corresponding location is independently supplied by QAC.

Unassigned or ambiguous evidence

  • The Mufradat discussion of ما زال، لا يزال and related Quran citations concerns a continuing construction that the passage itself derives from زيل rather than the present زول root; because those locations are not QAC occurrences for this packet, that material is not assigned to either displayed Quranic form.