Mashrabaمشربة

أنف (root nf)

الهمزة والنون والفاء أصلان منهما يتفرع مسائل الباب كلها أحدهما أخذ الشيء من أوله والثاني أنف كل ذي أنف وقياسه التحديد …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha

أنف
Patterns computed · our data

The words of أ ن ف that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

34 words6 verbs4 verbal nouns8 participles1 place or instrument3 intensives and elatives9 other nouns1 plural2 relatives and abstracts

  • أَنفthe nose
  • ءَانِف—
  • أَنِفَhe struck, or hit, or hurt, his nose
  • اِسْتَأْنَفَhe made him a promise in anticipation
  • أَنَفَةdisdain
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6أَنِفَ · اِسْتَأْنَفَ · اَنَّفَ

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

Form I vowels: فَعِلَ يَفْعِلُ (i – i; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

  • أَنِفَhe struck, or hit, or hurt, his noseLaneForm Ilibrary ×1LaneIbn Fāris
  • اِسْتَأْنَفَhe made him a promise in anticipationLaneForm Xlibrary ×1Lane
  • اَنَّفَLane: see Form IVForm IILaneIbn Fāris
  • آنفَhe, or it, made him to have a complaint of, or to suffer pain in, his noseLaneForm IVLaneIbn Fāris
Verbal nouns4أَنف · أَنَف · تَأْنِيف

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

Participles8ءَانِف · مَإْنُوف · مُؤَنَّف

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • ءَانِفactive, Form IQurʾān ×1
  • مَإْنُوفcamel that is urged on by means of the rein attached to his noseLanepassive, Form ILaneIbn Fāris
  • مُؤَنَّفsharpened at its extremityLanepassive, Form IILaneIbn Fāris
  • مُؤْتَنَفplace from which nothing has been eatenLanepassive, Form VIIILaneIbn Fāris
Place, time and instrument1مِئْنَاف

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مِئْنَافman who begins to make use of the places of pasturing and alightingLanenoun of instrumentLaneIbn Fāris
Intensives, qualities and the elative3أَنُوف · أَنِيف · أَنْفَان

The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →

  • أَنُوفman very disdainful, scornful, or indignantLaneintensive (faʿūl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَنِيفmountain which produces vegetation before other regionsLanequality (faʿīl)Lane
  • أَنْفَانintensive (faʿlān)Lane
Other nouns9آنَف · آنِف · أَنَفَة

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

Plurals1أُنُف

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

Relative and abstract2أَنْفِيَّة · أُنَافِيّ

-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →

  • أَنْفِيَّةsnuff, for the noseLaneabstract noun (-iyya)Lane
  • أُنَافِيّhaving a large noseLanerelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 20 patterns does

What each pattern does. The pattern gives a tendency, not a rule: many words have drifted into meanings of their own.

The pattern machinePour the root into a pattern; see whether the word exists

Choose a pattern; the root's letters pour into it. Then see whether the word exists in our sources. The machine makes shapes; only usage makes words.

مَفْعَلَةأ ن فمَأْنَفَة

Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.

The grammarians on this pattern (4)
  • ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة

    Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)'

    Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس

    and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule

    Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
  • “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain

This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.

About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395الهمزة والنون والفاء أصلان منهما يتفرع مسائل الباب كلها أحدهما أخذ الشيء من أوله والثاني أنف كل ذي أنف وقياسه التحديد فأما الأصل الأول فقال الخليل استأنفت كذا أي رجعت إلى أوله وائتنفت ائتنافا ومؤتنف الأمر ما يبتدأ فيه وم

    Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).

    الهمزة والنون والفاء أصلان منهما يتفرع مسائل الباب كلها أحدهما أخذ الشيء من أوله والثاني أنف كل ذي أنف وقياسه التحديد فأما الأصل الأول فقال الخليل استأنفت كذا أي رجعت إلى أوله وائتنفت ائتنافا ومؤتنف الأمر ما يبتدأ فيه ومن هذا الباب قولهم فعل كذا آنفا كأنه ابتداؤه وقال الله تعالى ( قالوا ماذا قال آنفا ) والأصل الثاني الأنف معروف والعدد آنف والجمع أنوف وبعير مأنوف يساق بأنفه لأنه إذا عقره الخشاش انقاد وبعير أنف وآنف مقصور ممدود ومنه الحديث ( المسلمون هينون لينون كالجمل الأنف إن قيد انقاد وإن أنيخ استناخ ورجل أنافى عظيم الأنف وأنفت الرجل ضربت أنفه وامرأة أنوف طيبة ريح الأنف فأما قولهم أنف من كذا فهو من الأنف أيضا وهو كقولهم للمتكبر ورم أنفه ذكر الأنف دون سائر الجسد لأنه يقال شمخ بأنفه يريد رفع رأسه كبرا وهذا يكون من الغضب قال — ولا يهاج إذا ما أنفه ورما … أي لا يكلم عند الغضب ويقال وجعه حيث لا يضع الراقي أنفه يضرب لما لا دواء له قال أبو عبيدة بنو أنف الناقة بنو جعفر بن قريع بن عوف ابن كعب بن سعد يقال إنهم نحروا جزورا كانوا غنموها في بعض غزواتهم وقد تخلف جعفر بن قريع فجاء ولم يبق من الناقة إلا الأنف فذهب به فسموه به هذا قول أبي عبيدة وقال الكلبي سموا بذلك لأن قريع بن عوف نحر جزورا وكان له أربع نسوة فبعث إليهن بلحم خلا أم جعفر فقالت أم جعفر اذهب واطلب من أبيك لحما فجاء ولم يبق إلا الأنف فأخذه فلزمه وهجى به ولم يزالوا يسبون بذلك إلى أن قال الحطيئة — قوم هم الأنف والأذناب غيرهم … ومن يسوي بأنف الناقة الذنبا … فصار بذلك مدحا لهم وتقول العرب فلان أنفى أي عزى ومفخري قال شاعر — وأنفي في المقامة وافتخاري … قال الخليل أنف اللحية طرفها وأنف كل شيء أوله قال — وقد أخذت من أنف لحيتك اليد … وأنف الجبل أوله وما بدا لك منه قال — خذا أنف هرشي أوقفاها فإنه … كلا جانبي هرشي لهن طريق … قال يعقوب أنف البرد أشده وجاء يعدو أنف الشد أي أشده وأنف الأرض ما استقبل الأرض من الجلد والضواحي ورجل مئناف يسير في أنف النهار وخمرة أنف أول ما يخرج منها قال — أنف كلون دم الغزال معتق … من خمر عانة أو كروم شبام … وجارية أنف مؤتنفة الشباب قال ابن الأعرابي أنفت السراج إذا أحددت طرفه وسويته ومنه يقال في مدح الفرس أنف تأنيف السير أي قد وسوى كما يسوي السير قال الأصمعي سنان مؤنف أي محدد قال — بكل هتوف عجسها رضوية … وسهم كسيف الحميري المؤنف … والتأنيف في العرقوب التحديد ويستحب ذلك من الفرس

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

أ ن ف

الهمزة والنون والفاء أصلان منهما يتفرع مسائل الباب كلها أحدهما أخذ الشيء من أوله والثاني أنف كل ذي أنف وقياسه التحديد

a-n-f has two roots from which all the issues of the chapter branch: one is taking a thing from its beginning, and the second is the nose of every creature that has a nose, its pattern being sharpness.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×3

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary

al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).

A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).

Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).

Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.

Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.

The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).

The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.

Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 6 of 643

Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فأقصاها مخرجا: الهمزة والهاء والألف

The furthest of them [the three in the throat] in place: the hamza, the hāʾ and the alif. Sībawayh, line 26548 ↗

فأولها من أسفله وأقصاه، مخرج الهمزة والألف والهاء، هكذا يقول سيبويه

The first of them [in the throat], from its lowest and furthest part, is the place of the hamza, the alif and the hāʾ: so Sībawayh says. Ibn Jinnī, line 965 ↗

ن

ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان ما بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى وما فويق الثنايا مخرج النون

From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Sībawayh, lines 26555–26556 ↗

ومن طرف اللسان بينه وبين ما فويق الثنايا، مخرج النون

From the tip of the tongue, between it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Ibn Jinnī, line 979 ↗

ف

ومن باطن الشفة السفلى وأطراف الثنايا العلى مخرج الفاء

From the inside of the lower lip and the edges of the upper front teeth is the place of the fāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26562 ↗

ومن باطن الشفة السفلى وأطراف الثنايا العلى، مخرج الفاء

From the inside of the lower lip and the edges of the upper front teeth is the place of the fāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 985 ↗

Sībawayh, al-Kitāb (ed. Hārūn) and Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb; OpenITI digital texts (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Full credits on each letter's page.

In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

وإلا الهاء والهمزة فإنهما باردتان رطبتان

And except hāʾ and hamza, for these two are cold and moist.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2583

ن

Level of existence: السماء الرابعة · the fourth heaven

Divine Name: النور · the Light (al-Nūr)

Lunar mansion: السماك · al-Simāk

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64663

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580

ف

Level of existence: الملائكة · the angels

Divine Name: القوى · the Strong (al-Qawī)

Lunar mansion: سعد الأخبية · Saʿd al-Akhbiya

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 65823

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فهي إشارة إلى جميع الأشياء قلت أو كثرت، وتكون الإشارة في بعض الأحيان من المتكلم إلى ذاته ونفسه، وهذه الإشارة سالمة من القبض.

It is an indication of all things, whether few or many. At times the indication is from the speaker to his own essence and self, and this indication is free of contraction (qabḍ).

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب القليل.

It is an indication of the near, small thing.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب المناسب.

It is an indication of the near, fitting (congruent) thing.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ن

فهي الخير الساكن في الذات الشاعل فيها.

It is the good that dwells in the self, kindling [al-shāʿil, as written] within it.

فهي إشارة إلى الخير الكامل أو النور الساطع.

It is an indication of perfect good or radiant light.

فهي إشارة إلى شيء يدركه المتكلم أو هو له.

It is an indication of something that the speaker perceives or that belongs to him.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ف

فهي لنفي الخبث بعد ما كان جنسه معلوما بالخبث، فهي إشارة إلى أنه طاهر وجنسه خبيث، والخبث مثل المعاصي وما أشبهها.

It is for negating foulness in something whose genus is known for foulness. It thus indicates that the thing is pure while its genus is foul; foulness being like sins and the like.

فهي لتزويل الخبث.

It is for removing foulness.

فهي إشارة إلى الذات وما احتوت عليه، وفي بعض الأحيان قد يكون معها التقليل.

It is an indication of the self and what it contains; at times it may carry a sense of diminution.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
In the sister scriptsHebrew א נ פSyriac ܐ ܢ ܦ
Arabicأ ن ف
Hebrewא נ פ
Syriacܐ ܢ ܦ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩬 𐩰
Phoenician𐤀 𐤍 𐤐

Letter for letter, by the regular sound correspondences of the Semitic languages (Arabic keeps several sounds the others merged). This shows how the root would be spelled; whether a related word exists is a separate question, answered in the Semitic lens. Where an Arabic sibilant (s, sh) continues two older sounds, both spellings are shown.

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out