Quranic root
زيت
z · y · t
The root centers on the olive and its expressed oil, with related lexical uses for applying, preparing, supplying, and seeking oil.
The concrete noun زيت denotes olive oil, while the related terms زيتون and زيتونة denote the olive tree or its fruit and the individual tree; derived verbs extend the root to anointing, seasoning, provisioning, self-anointing, and requesting oil.
- Maqāyīs · row 2326
- Mufradāt · row 637
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 7
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
زَيْت
zayt
- 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.
Olive oil, the expressed juice of the olive.
In the Quranic occurrence, the noun appears possessively in reference to the oil belonging to the olive tree.
- Lane · entry 31954
- Mufradāt · row 637
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:35word 27
“its oil”
زَيْتُونَة
zaytūnah
- Part of speech
- Noun · singulative
- 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.
An individual olive tree.
The singulative counterpart of the collective زيتون; the Quranic occurrence is in the lamp parable of 24:35.
- Lane · entry 31955
- Mufradāt · row 637
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:35word 21
“an olive”
زَيْتُون
zaytūn
- Part of speech
- Collective noun
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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 olive, as a collective term for the olive tree and its fruit.
The collective noun has the singulative زيتونة. In Quranic usage, the referent may be the tree or its fruit according to context; the supplied English gloss does not by itself resolve that distinction.
- Lane · entry 31955
- Mufradāt · row 637
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 6:99وَٱلزَّيْتُونَand the olives
- 6:141وَٱلزَّيْتُونَand the olives
- 16:11وَٱلزَّيْتُونَand the olives
- 24:35زَيْتُونَةٍۢan olive
- 24:35زَيْتُهَاits oil
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 14 Classical meanings
زَاتَ
To anoint someone or something with olive oil.
Transitive Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 31949
زَاتَ
To put olive oil into food, or to prepare, moisten, or mix food with it.
Reported of food, bread, or crumbled bread.
- Lane · entry 31949
زَاتَ
To feed people with oil, or to use oil as the seasoning of their food.
A food-provisioning use of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 31949
زَيَّتَ
To furnish someone with oil as travelling provision.
Form II verb; the oil is supplied as provisions for a journey.
- Lane · entry 31950
أَزَاتَ
To have much oil, or for one's oil to become abundant.
Form IV verb describing abundance or increase of oil.
- Lane · entry 31951
اِزْدَاتَ
To anoint oneself with olive oil.
Form VIII reflexive use.
- Lane · entry 31952
اِسْتَزَاتَ
To seek or demand oil, including by requesting it as a gift.
Form X verb of seeking or requesting oil.
- Lane · entry 31953
زَيْت
By extension, any oil; also the choicest or essential part of a thing, figuratively its “marrow.”
The general-oil application is noted as current usage, while the choicest-constituent value is a rare lexical extension.
- Lane · entry 31954
زَيْتُونُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ
A technical name for Lapis Judaicus, a stone resembling an olive and found in Judaea.
Fixed technical expression.
- Lane · entry 31955
زَيْتُونِيّ
Of or relating to the olive; olive-coloured.
Adjectival use.
- Lane · entry 31956
زَيَّات
A seller or presser of oil.
Agent noun; the oil may be olive oil or, in colloquial usage, any oil.
- Lane · entry 31957
زَيَّات
A conventional expression for someone arriving in dirty clothes.
Occurs in the idiom جَاءَ فُلَانٌ فِي ثِيَابِ زَيَّاتٍ, literally referring to the clothes of an oil seller or presser.
- Lane · entry 31957
مَزِيت
Food into which oil has been put or with which it has been prepared.
Describes food made or treated with oil.
- Lane · entry 31958
مُزْدَات
One who anoints themself with oil.
Nominal descriptor for a person characterized by self-anointing with oil; the wording does not impose a gender restriction.
- Lane · entry 31960
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
زَيْتُون is a collective noun whose referent may be the olive tree or its fruit; زيتونة is its individually specified form. The Quranic contextual glosses do not always resolve that distinction.