In this article, I have put together my study notes, course material and other online resources to help give you a better understanding of what are root words as pertaining to the Arabic language and the study of Quran.
What are root words
Root words are the Arabic letters that form the main part of a word. These root letters provide the basic meaning of a word. The root letters are joined together with other letters to form different words which have related meanings.
Example: the root of a plant will determine the type of plant, or the genes of a person determine the characteristics of a person, so similarly the root word will determine the meaning of the word.
Example: the root letters ر ح م joins together to form the original word رَحِّم (Rahim: womb).
Mercy springs from the womb, meaning if we understand the mercy of a mother, then we can understand the concept of mercy that is related to this root. The root gives the characteristic of mercy.
How many letters in a root
Most Arabic words have three-letter roots, very rarely it will have four or five letters.
Root letters always maintain a specific order.
Example: Changing the order will give a completely different meaning.
ع ل م = knowledge
ع م ل = action
What comes out of a root
From one set of root letters come multiple stem words (مصدر ) and from these stem words, many other words emerge. Like a root of a plant, the stems then produce many branches.
Example:
The root ع ل م gives the stem words: عِلم (ilm) and عَلمْ (alam)
From the stem word عِلم (ilm)
you get branch words يعْلمُ (ya’lamu), عَليْم (aleem), عَالِم (aalim)
From the stem word عَلمْ (alam)
you get branch words عَالميْن (aalameen)
What can affect the root meaning
A word can have the root letters and other letters that share the basic root meaning.
Example:
In English there are stem words, letters are sometimes before, between and also after the root letters. From the root word: eat
- eating
- eats
- ate
- eaten
- eatery
- eatable
In Arabic from the root word: ر ح م
- رَّحِيْم (Raheem) an extra ي is added near the end: meaning — always all merciful
- رَّحْمَن (Rahmaan) an extra ن is added at the end: meaning — most merciful
From the root word: ك ت ب
| كتب |
kataba |
to write |
| كاتب |
kaatib |
writer |
| مكتوب |
maktoob |
written |
| كتاب |
kitaab |
book |
| كتابة |
kitaaba |
writing |
| مكتب |
maktab |
office |
| مكتبة |
maktaba |
bookstore library |
| استكتاب |
istiktaab |
dictation |
Why are root words important
- To know the translation of the word
- To understand the meaning of the word
- To analyze the word
- To know how to use the Arabic dictionary
Match the roots
To test your understanding match and write the roots for the following words:
Match the word to the root Write the root of these words
I personally found learning and understanding the Arabic root words difficult at the beginning of my studies, but as time passed and with patience and practice I began to understand. Once you understand it will become easier and you will recognize the deeper meanings and just how rich and beautiful the Arabic language is.
If you speak a European language, the root system of Arabic may be an unfamiliar concept. Arabic words are made from a few component letters, commonly called a «root». A root usually consists of three letters (sometimes 2 or 4), which convey a basic idea. By adding various vowels (i.e. changing pronunciation) as affixes*, associated meanings can be derived.
Root words are the Arabic letters that form the main part of a word. These root letters provide the basic meaning of a word. The root letters are joined together with other letters to form different words which have related meanings.
Example: the root of a plant will determine the type of plant, or the genes of a person determine the characteristics of a person, so similarly the root word will determine the meaning of the word.
Example: the root letters ر ح م joins together to form the original word رَحِّم (Rahim: womb).
Mercy springs from the womb, meaning if we understand the mercy of a mother, then we can understand the concept of mercy that is related to this root. The root gives the characteristic of mercy.
How many letters in a root
Most Arabic words have three-letter roots, very rarely it will have four or five letters.
Root letters always maintain a specific order.
Example: Changing the order will give a completely different meaning.
ع ل م = knowledge
ع م ل = action
What comes out of a root
From one set of the root letters come multiple stem words (مصدر ) and from these stem words, many other words emerge. Like the root of a plant, the stems then produce many branches.
Example:
-
The root ع ل م gives the stem words: عِلم (ilm) and عَلمْ (alam)
-
From the stem word عِلم (ilm)
-
you get branch words يعْلمُ (ya’lamu), عَليْم (aleem), عَالِم (aalim)
-
From the stem word عَلمْ (alam)
-
you get branch words عَالميْن (aalameen)
What can affect the root meaning
A word can have the root letters and other letters that share the basic root meaning.
Example:
In English there are stem words, letters are sometimes before, between and after the root letters. From the root word: eat
-
eating
-
eats
-
ate
-
eaten
-
eatery
-
eatable
In Arabic from the root word: ر ح م
· رَّحِيْم (Raheem) an extra ي is added near the end: meaning — always all-merciful
· رَّحْمَن (Rahmaan) an extra ن is added at the end: meaning — most merciful
From the root word: ك ت ب
Why are root words important?
-
To know the translation of the word
-
To understand the meaning of the word
-
To analyse the word
-
To know how to use the Arabic dictionary
Download the Quran Root Dictionary (From StudyQuran.org)
Quranic_Root_Dictionary
Download PDF • 5.11MB
Download the Word Pattern Concordance (From StudyQuran.org)
quran-concordance-pattern-wise
Download PDF • 6.47MB
Peace and Respect!
References:
1. studyquran.org
2. https://studentsofquran.com
What is a Word Root?
A word root is a group of letters (usually three) that has a general meaning. Variations of this root are created by applying patterns to create actual words that are related to the meaning of the root.
As an example the root (d r s):
د ر س
has the general meaning of learning. Here are some words derived from this 3-Letter Root:
Note that letters can appear between the root letters but that all three of them always appear in the same order.
The letters of the root are called the original letters of a wordالأَحْرُف الأَصْلِيَّةُ
The variable letters that appear between the root letters in different words are called the additional letters الأَحْرُفُ الزائِدَةُ
Why should we learn root letters?
1. When you learn a new word that has the same root as another word you already know, it makes it easier to remember the other.
2. When you are reading and come across a new word that you don’t know but which shares a root that you do know, it can help you guess the meaning.
Weak Letters: When used as a root letter, the three long vowels ا ، و، ي are considered “weak” in that depending on the pattern used, they may or may not be present.
Root Length:
- Three-Letter: The vast majority of words in Arabic have 3 root letters.
- Four-Letter: A small number of words have have 4 root letters. Many of these are actually the same two letters repeated twice.
- Five-Letter: There is a very small number of nouns which have 5 root letters. However no verbs have 5 root letters.
- Two-Letter: Officially there are no words with a two-letter root. But this is awkward for words with only two letters like أَب (father) and أَخ (brother). Many linguists believe that originally the Semitic languages (Arabic and Hebrew) made strong use of Two-Letter roots but that over time most of them become Three-Letter roots. The traces remain in a small number of two letter words as well as in groups of three-letter words with a similar meaning and the same first two letters for their root.
What letters can form the root?
- Short vowels and the taa’ marbuuTa NEVER form part of the root
- Weak letters can form part of the root but are often missing or altered
- In addition the following 10 letters are sometimes part of a pattern and not part of the root: The 3 weak letters ( ا و ي ), the hamza ( ء ), and these 6 letters ( ت ,س ,ل ,م ,ن, هـ )
The letters that can serve as additional letters are ten: أ ا ت س ل م ن هـ و ي
These letters are rounded up in the word: سَأَلْتُمُوْنِيْهَاْ = “you asked me for/about it.”
Once you’ve figured out how this system works, you will be able to construct a lots of words from the same root, saving you valuable time in memorizing vocabulary.
The Arabic root or مصدر refers to a three or four consonant base-word which represents a core meaning or concept. Most roots in Arabic are made up of three consonants. A large number of words can be derived from each root.
For example, the root k-t-b كَتَبَ carries the meaning ‘writing’.
Various words are derived from this root, all associated with the idea ‘writing’ literally or abstractly.
Words are formed from these roots by addition of vowels (short and double) and consonants (like hamza, t, s, y, m, n, w).
| He wrote | kataba | كَتَبَ |
| writer | kātib | كَاتِب |
| He corresponded | kātaba | كَاتَبَ |
| book | kitāb | كِتَاب |
| office;desk | maktab | مَكْتَب |
| library | maktaba | مَكْتَبَة |
| writing | kitāba | كِتَابَة |
| Write! | uktubu | اُكْتُبْ |
| I write | aktubu | أَكْتُبُ |
The root system is a unique and amazing concept in the Arabic language which allows you to rapidly expand your vocabulary. Once you start recognising these patterns, it will be very easy for you to remember the meanings of new words.
Practice
Let’s try to identify the roots of some frequent words in the Qur’ān.
The Root R-S-L
| ر-س-ل | r-s-l | sending |
| رَسُول | rasūl | messenger |
| أَرْسَلَ | arsala | He sent |
| رِسَالَة | risāla | message |
| مُرْسَل | mursal | That which was sent |
The Root Kh-L-Q
| خ – ل – ق | kh-l-q | creation |
| خَلَقَ | khalaqa | He created |
| خَلْق | khalq | creation |
| خَالِق | khāliq | creator |
| مَخْلُوق | makhlūq | creation |
| خَلَّاق | khallāq | One who creates repeatedly |
| اِخْتِلَاق | ikhtilāq | Fabrication (lies that are made up) |
| خُلُق | khuluq | Character (what a person is made of) |
As we are getting more familiar with the Arabic, here is a useful article on the Arabic root word system. InshaAllah you will find it useful.
Inshaallah next class onward we’ll start distributing a page a class on the common words in the Quran booklet.
Arabic words are generally based on a root that uses three consonants to define the underlying meaning of the word. Various vowels, prefixes and suffixes are used with the root letters to create the desired inflection of meaning.
Each set of root letters can lead to a vast number of words, all predictable in form and all related to the basic meaning of the three root letters.
For example, the root k-t-b has the basic meaning of marking, inscribing or writing. The root may be conjugated in simple past tense (perfect) verb forms such as:
Similarly, there are simple and predictable rules for present (imperfect) and imperative forms of the basic root, such as:
And then the vastness really begins to be seen as additional forms such as verbal nouns are created from the same simple root k-t-b to describe things such as:
…. and on and on. This is only a limited sample of the immense variety of words that can be formed by simple and predictable usage of the basic root which was only the three consonants k-t-b.
The following list of roots is sorted according to the English alphabet, ignoring any diacritical marks.
Examples of typical usage of the root are shown in parenthesis.
(ab, abû)
(‘abd, ‘ibâda, ma’bûd)
(‘adl, a’dâla, ta’dîl)
(‘adam, ‘adîm)
(al-‘afûw, ‘afwîya, ‘afâ’, isit’fâ’, ‘âfin, mu’fan)
(al-ahad, ahadîya, uhâdî)
(al-âkhir, âkhar, ukhrâ, ta’khîr, mu’akhkhara)
(ilâh, ilâhî)
(al-‘alîm, ‘ilm, ‘ilmiya, ‘allam, u’lûma)
(amal, âmâl, âmil, muta’ammil)
(uns, insî, ins, anîs)
(‘aqd, ‘aqîda)
(‘aql, ‘aqlî)
(‘arîf, ‘irfân, ma’rîfa, ta’rîf, ma’rûf)
( ‘asama, ‘isâmî)
(a’zam, al-‘azîm, ‘izâmî, ‘azîma)
(‘îd ul adhâ, mu’âyada)
(al-‘azîz, ‘izz, ta’zîz, ma’azza)
(al mubdi’, bdi’, badî’a, abda’, ibtidâ’)
( al- baqî’, baqâ’, abqâ, bâqin)
(du’â, da’wa)
(dhikr, tadhkâr, dhâkira)
(dîwân)
(dîn, diyâna)
(falq, falaq)
(fanâ’, fânin)
(fiqh)
( fattâh, mifatâh, miftâhî, al-fâtiha)
(Fâtima)
(al-ghafûr, ‘astaghfirullâh)
(ghanâ’, istighnâ’ )
(ghusl)
(hâla, tahwîl, ihâla)
(ihâta, muhît)
(hubb, habîb, mahbûb)
(habîl, habila, hublâ)
(hafîz, tahfîz)
(hamîd, mahmûd, muhammad, al-hamdulillâh)
(hamîla, haml)
(hamâs, tahammus)
(al-haqq, haqîq, tahqîq)
( hâsid)
(husnâ, hasan)
(ihsân hasâna)
(al-hayy, tahîya, ihyâ’, hayâh, hayya)
(jai’a, majî’, jâ’iât)
(jûd, tajwîd, jayyid)
(jawwâl, tajwâl, majâl)
(jihâd, majhûd, ijtihâd)
(janna, junna, junûn, jinn, jinnî)
(jûd, jayyid, jawâd, tajwîd)
(kabîr, ‘akbar, takbîr)
(kifâya, iktifâ’, mukâfâh)
(kalima, kalâm)
(kamâl, kâmil, kamâla, takmîl, ikmâ, istikmâll)
(kâsib, iktisâb)
(yakûn, kiyân, kaun)
(khalîfa)
(ikhlâs, takhlîs)
(khulq, khulqî, khalîq, al-khâliq, akhlâqî)
(iltihb, lahab)
(latîf)
(mâlik, malîk)
(imra’, marî’)
(masîhî)
(mâl, amwâl)
(nadîr, indâr, mandûr)
(nafk, manfûk)
(nasîr, mansûr)
(nasy, mansîy)
(nârî, nûr, munîr, munawwar)
(tanzîl, nazîl)
(nizâm, munazzam)
(al-qayyûm, qiyâm, maqâm, qâ’im)
(irâda, murîd)
(rabb)
(al-rahmân, al-rahîm)
(murshid, irshâd, rashâd, rashîd)
(al-razzâq, rizq, marzûq, murtazak)
(subhan allâh, tasbîh)
(al-sabûr, sabbâr, asbar, musâbara, istibâr)
(al-salâm, islâm, salîm, muslim)
(salât, musallâ, salawâtun)
(al-samad)
(al-samî’, samâ’)
(saum, sâ’im, siyâm)
(al-shakûr)
(shirk)
(sharq)
(sharr, sharîr)
(tabban lahâ)
(al-tawwâb)
(wabâl)
(wahîd, wâhid)
(wakil, tawakkul)
(walid, maulûd)
(walîy, wâlî, maulânâ)
(waswâs)
(yad)
(yaqan, yaqîn, mûqin)
(al-zâhir)
(zulm, zalâm)
An Arabic-English Lexicon, Edward W. Lane… an eight volume masterpiece of classical Arabic which includes plentiful examples of classical usage and the meanings of the words during the time period that the Qur’ân was revealed. Indexed by Arabic roots, with definitions in English.
Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, edited by J.M. Cowan.
Dictionary of the Holy Qur’ân, Abdul Mannân Omar… truly a precious gift to those who speak English, this magnificent dictionary translates every Arabic word used used in the Qur’ân into English, giving the Arabic root word followed by English translations of every form of that root which appears in the Qur’ân. This dictionary is easy to use, is relatively inexpensive and is based on classical Arabic as used in the Qur’ân.