Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 184 in the Quran · 231 in 20 texts of the library

بنيPer Ibn Fāris, a single sense: bināʾ, joining part of a thing to another — to build. (root bny)

الباء والنون والياء أصل واحد وهو بناء الشيء بضم بعضه إلى بعض تقول بنيت البناء أبنيه وتسمى مكة البنية ويقال قوس بانية …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

بني

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

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

24 words5 verbs1 verbal noun3 participles5 intensives and elatives9 other nouns1 plural

  • بَنَىhe built it
  • بُنْيَان—
  • بِنَاء—
  • بَنَّاءbuilder
  • اِبْتَنَىbuild; construct
The whole family6 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5بَنَى · اِبْتَنَى · بَنَّى

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: فَعَلَ يَفْعِلُ (a – i; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

  • بَنَىhe built itLaneForm IQurʾān ×11library ×6LaneIbn Fāris
  • اِبْتَنَىbuild; constructautoForm VIIIlibrary ×1Lane
  • بَنَّىLane: see Form IForm IILaneIbn Fāris
  • ابناhe made him to build, frame, or construct, a house, or tentLaneForm IVLane
  • تَبَنَّتَForm VLane
Verbal nouns1بِنَاء

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

Participles3مَبْنِيّ · مُبَنَّى · مُبْتَنَى

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

  • مَبْنِيّland built in or uponLanepassive, Form ILane
  • مُبَنَّىraised highLanepassive, Form IILane
  • مُبْتَنَىpassive, Form VIIILane
Intensives, qualities and the elative5بُنْيَان · بَنَّاء · أَبْنَى

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

  • بُنْيَانintensive (faʿlān)Qurʾān ×7Lane
  • بَنَّاءbuilderLaneintensive (faʿʿāl)Qurʾān ×1LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَبْنَىelative or colour adjective (afʿal)Lane
  • بَنَوِيّintensive (faʿūl)Lane
  • بَنُونintensive (faʿlān)Lane
Other nouns9بَانِيَة · بُنَى · بُنْيَة

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

Plurals1أَبْنِيَة

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

  • أَبْنِيَةbroken plural of بِنَاءLane

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 14 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.

مَفْعَلَةب ن يمَبْنَيَة

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.

The dictionaries

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Banā (بنى) [means] al-binā' (البناء) — 'the building.' Yabnī (يبني), banyan (بنيا) and binā' (بناء), and bunā (بنى) with the shortened [final].

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    Banā (بنى) [means] al-binā' (البناء) — 'the building.' Yabnī (يبني), banyan (بنيا) and binā' (بناء), and bunā (بنى) with the shortened [final]. Al-bunya (البنية) is the Kaʿba; one says: 'No, by the Lord of this bunya (البنية).' Al-mibnāh (المبناة) is like a covering (sitr), except that it is wide and is thrown over the front of the ṭirāf (a kind of tent). Al-mibnāh (المبناة) may also be like a dome (qubba) that covers a great tent-house, in which one shelters from the rain, and in which they wrap up their saddle-gear (riḥāl) and belongings (matāʿ); it is round, huge, and wide — if palm-leaves were thrown upon its top they would fall away all around it, and the rain slides off it smoothly. He said [in verse]: "Upon the back of a mibnāh (مبناة) whose straps are new, a seller circles round it in the midst of the perfume-caravan."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    بنى البناء البناء يبني بنيا وبناء، وبنى، مقصور. والبنية: الكعبة، يقال: لا ورب هذه البنية. والمبناة: كهيئة الستر غير أنه واسع يلقى على مقدم الطراف، وتكون المبناة كهيئة [القبة] «27» تجلل بيتا عظيما، ويسكن فيها من المطر، ويكنون رحالهم ومتاعهم، وهي مستديرة عظيمة واسعة لو ألقيت على ظهرها الخوص تساقط من حولها، ويزل المطر عنها زليلا، قال «28» : على ظهر مبناة جديد سيورها ... يطوف بها وسط اللطيمة بائع

    al-Khalīl · 170 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 8, p. 382) ↗
  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters bāʾ, nūn, and yāʾ form one root, which is the binā' (بناء) of a thing — joining part of it to another.

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

    The letters bāʾ, nūn, and yāʾ form one root, which is the binā' (بناء) of a thing — joining part of it to another. You say: banaytu al-binā' abnīhi (بنيت البناء أبنيه) — 'I built the building, I build it.' Mecca is called al-bunya (البنية). It is said 'a bow bāniya (بانية)' — one whose string has become so fastened to it that it almost snaps because of how tightly it clings to it. Ṭayyiʾ say 'place bāniya (بانية)' for bānāh (باناة), and that is [as in] the saying of Imruʾ al-Qays: "...not bānāh (باناة) upon its bowstring..." One also says bunya (بنية) and bunā (بنى), and binya (بنية) and binā (بنى) with kasra on the bāʾ, just as one says jizya (جزية)/jizā (جزى), and mishya (مشية)/mishā (مشى).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الباء والنون والياء أصل واحد وهو بناء الشيء بضم بعضه إلى بعض تقول بنيت البناء أبنيه وتسمى مكة البنية ويقال قوس بانية وهي التي بنت على وترها وذلك أن يكاد وترها ينقطع للصوقه بها وطيء تقول مكان بانية باناة وهو قول امرئ القيس : — غير باناة على وتره … ويقال بنية وبنى وبنية وبنى بكسر الباء كما يقال جزيه وجزى ومشية ومشى

    Ibn Fāris · 395 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 302) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502It is said: banaytu abnī binā' (بناء), bunya (بنية), and bunā (بنى).

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    It is said: banaytu abnī binā' (بناء), bunya (بنية), and bunā (بنى). God Almighty said: 'And We built above you seven strong [heavens]' (al-Naba', 78:12). Al-binā' (البناء) is a name for that which is constructed by binā'. God Almighty said: 'For them are chambers, above which are [other] chambers built [mabniyya]' (al-Zumar, 39:20). Al-bunya (البنية) is used to mean the House of God Almighty. God Almighty said: 'And the heaven We constructed with strength' (al-Dhāriyāt, 51:47), and 'By the heaven and Him who built it' (al-Shams, 91:5). Al-bunyān (البنيان) is a singular, not a plural, as shown by His saying: 'Their building which they built will not cease to be a [source of] doubt in their hearts' (al-Tawba, 9:110), and His saying: 'As though they were a bunyān (بنيان) closely compacted' (al-Ṣaff, 61:4); and 'They said: Build for him a bunyān (بنيان)' (al-Ṣāffāt, 37:97). Some said that bunyān is the plural of bunyāna (بنيانة), like shaʿīr (شعير)/shaʿīra (شعيرة) [barley], tamr (تمر)/tamra (تمرة) [dates], and nakhl (نخل)/nakhla (نخلة) [palm trees]; and this kind of plural may correctly be treated as either masculine or feminine. As for ibn (ابن) ['son'], its origin is banw (بنو), as shown by their saying, in the plural, abnā' (أبناء), and in the diminutive, bunayy (بني). God Almighty said: 'O my son (bunayya), do not relate your vision to your brothers' (Yūsuf, 12:5); 'O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I am sacrificing you' (al-Ṣāffāt, 37:102); 'O my son, do not associate [anything] with God' (Luqmān, 31:13); 'O my son, do not worship Satan.' He was named thus [ibn] because he is a binā' (بناء) for the father, for it is the father who built him, and God made him a construction in his coming into being. And it is said, of everything that comes about through something, or through its upbringing, or through one's care for it, or through much service to it, or through managing its affairs: 'he is its ibn (ابنه) [son],' as in: so-and-so, ibn al-ḥarb (ابن الحرب) — 'son of war'; ibn al-sabīl (ابن السبيل) — for the traveler; ibn al-layl (ابن الليل) — 'son of the night'; and ibn al-ʿilm (ابن العلم) — 'son of knowledge.' The poet said: [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    يقال: بنيت أبني بناء وبنية وبنى. قال عز وجل: وبنينا فوقكم سبعا شدادا [النبأ/ 12] . والبناء: اسم لما يبنى بناء، قال تعالى: لهم غرف من فوقها غرف مبنية [الزمر/ 20] ، والبنية يعبر بها عن بيت الله تعالى «2» . قال تعالى: والسماء بنيناها بأيد [الذاريات/ 47] ، والسماء وما بناها [الشمس/ 5] ، والبنيان واحد لا جمع، لقوله تعالى: لا يزال بنيانهم الذي بنوا ريبة في قلوبهم [التوبة/ 110] ، وقال: كأنهم بنيان مرصوص [الصف/ 4] ، قالوا: ابنوا له بنيانا [الصافات/ 97] ، وقال بعضهم: بنيان جمع بنيانة، فهو مثل: شعير وشعيرة، وتمر وتمرة، ونخل ونخلة، وهذا النحو من الجمع يصح تذكيره وتأنيثه. و (ابن) أصله: بنو، لقولهم في الجمع: أبناء، وفي التصغير: بني، قال تعالى: يا بني لا تقصص رؤياك على إخوتك [يوسف/ 5] ، يا بني إني أرى في المنام أني أذبحك [الصافات/ 102] ، يا بني لا تشرك بالله [لقمان/ 13] ، يا بني لا تعبد الشيطان، وسماه بذلك لكونه بناء للأب، فإن الأب هو الذي بناه وجعله الله بناء في إيجاده، ويقال لكل ما يحصل من جهة شيء أو من تربيته، أو بتفقده أو كثرة خدمته له أو قيامه بأمره: هو ابنه، نحو: فلان ابن الحرب، وابن السبيل للمسافر، وابن الليل، وابن العلم، قال الشاعر:

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 147) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Banā (بنا) in nobility/rank, yabnū (يبنو) [is the imperfect used];

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Banā (بنا) in nobility/rank, yabnū (يبنو) [is the imperfect used]; and accordingly is interpreted the saying of al-Ḥuṭayʾa: "Those are a people who, when they build (banaw), do well in the building (al-banā)." Ibn Sīda said: They said that it [al-banā] is the plural of bunuwwa (بنوة) or bunūwa (بنوة). Al-Aṣmaʿī said: I recited this verse to a Bedouin — 'aḥsanū al-banā' — and he said: 'That is, banā means aḥsanū al-bunā (they did well [in making] the buildings),' meaning by the first word 'buildings' [in a plural sense]. Al-ibn (الابن) means 'the child' (al-walad); its final radical was, according to some, originally changed from a wāw, as though it were from this [root]. And he [the author] said, in the chapter on weak-yāʾ words: al-ibn ('the son') is [of the pattern] fiʿl with the final radical elided, to which the connecting alif (alif al-waṣl) has been added. He said: it was judged to be from yāʾ because banā yabnī (بنى يبني) is more common in their speech than yabnū (يبنو); and the plural is abnā' (أبناء). Al-Liḥyānī related: abnā' abnā'ihim (أبناء أبنائهم) — 'the sons of their sons.' Ibn Sīda said: The feminine is ibna (ابنة) and bint (بنت); the latter does not follow the pattern of its masculine, and the final radical of bint is a wāw, the tāʾ being a substitute for it. Abū Ḥanīfa said: its origin is bunwa (بنوة), on the pattern of faʿl (فعل); the tāʾ, substituted for its final radical, was attached to it as with the pattern of ḥils (حلس), so they said bint (بنت). The tāʾ in it is not a feminine marker, as someone unfamiliar with this tongue might suppose, because of the quiescence of what precedes it — this is the doctrine of Sībawayh, and it is correct; he stated it explicitly in the chapter on diptotes (mā lā yanṣarif), saying: 'If you named a man with it, you would fully decline it while definite; and if it were [truly] for feminization, the noun would not be fully declinable.' Yet Sībawayh was somewhat loose in some expressions in the Kitāb, saying of bint: 'It is a feminine marker' — but this is merely a loose usage on his part, since he stated it there without qualification, whereas he qualified and explained it [properly] in the chapter on diptotes; and adopting his qualified, explained statement is stronger than adopting his unqualified, loose one. The reason for his looseness is that, since the tāʾ is substituted for the wāw in it only with the feminine, it came to seem as though it were a feminine marker itself. He said: What I mean by 'the pattern' in it is its being built on faʿl (فعل) — its origin being faʿl (فعل) — as shown by their pluralizing it as afʿāl (أفعال); and the substitution of wāw in it is obligatory, being an operation peculiar to the feminine. This is also shown by their placing it in the position of the explicit marker [tāʾ marbūṭa] and their interchanging it with that marker for the same word, namely ibna (ابنة) and bint (بنت): the pattern of bint stands in place of the hāʾ in ibna; so just as the hāʾ is a feminine marker, so too the pattern of bint is its feminine marker. And bint is not related to ibna as ṣaʿb (صعب) is to ṣaʿba (صعبة); rather, the analogy of ṣaʿba to ṣaʿb is [the analogy] of ibna to ibn. You have no evidence in bunuwwa (بنوة) that the lost letter in bint is a wāw; but the substitution of tāʾ for a weak letter [in general] indicates that it is a wāw, because the substitution of tāʾ for wāw is weaker/rarer than its substitution for yāʾ. And Ibn Sīda said elsewhere: Sībawayh said: 'They attached the hāʾ to ibn, and said ibna; as for bint, [entry continues]'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    بنا في الشرف يبنو؛ وعلى هذا تؤول قول الحطيئة: أولئك قوم إن بنوا أحسنوا البنا قال ابن سيده: قالوا إنه جمع بنوة أو بنوة؛ قال الأصمعي: أنشدت أعرابيا هذا البيت أحسنوا البنا، فقال: أي بنا أحسنوا البنا، أراد بالأول أي بني. والابن: الولد، ولامه في الأصل منقلبة عن واو عند بعضهم كأنه من هذا. وقال في معتل الياء: الابن الولد، فعل محذوفة اللام مجتلب لها ألف الوصل، قال: وإنما قضى أنه من الياء لأن بنى يبني أكثر في كلامهم من يبنو، والجمع أبناء. وحكى اللحياني: أبناء أبنائهم. قال ابن سيده: والأنثى ابنة وبنت؛ الأخيرة على غير بناء مذكرها، ولام بنت واو، والتاء بدل منها؛ قال أبو حنيفة؛ أصله بنوة ووزنها فعل، فألحقتها التاء المبدلة من لامها بوزن حلس فقالوا بنت، وليست التاء فيها بعلامة تأنيث كما ظن من لا خبرة له بهذا اللسان، وذلك لسكون ما قبلها، هذا مذهب سيبويه وهو الصحيح، وقد نص عليه في باب ما لا ينصرف فقال: لو سميت بها رجلا لصرفتها معرفة، ولو كانت للتأنيث لما انصرف الاسم، على أن سيبويه قد تسمح في بعض ألفاظه في الكتاب فقال في بنت: هي علامة تأنيث، وإنما ذلك تجوز منه في اللفظ لأنه أرسله غفلا، وقد قيده وعلله في باب ما لا ينصرف، والأخذ بقوله المعلل أقوى من القول بقوله المغفل المرسل، ووجه تجوزه أنه لما كانت التاء لا تبدل من الواو فيها إلا مع المؤنث صارت كأنها علامة تأنيث، قال: وأعني بالصيغة فيها بناءها على فعل وأصلها فعل بدلالة تكسيرهم إياها على أفعال، وإبدال الواو فيها لازم لأنه عمل اختص به المؤنث، ويدل أيضا على ذلك إقامتهم إياه مقام العلامة الصريحة وتعاقبها فيها على الكلمة الواحدة، وذلك نحو ابنة وبنت، فالصيغة في بنت قائمة مقام الهاء في ابنة، فكما أن الهاء علامة تأنيث فكذلك صيغة بنت علامة تأنيثها، وليست بنت من ابنة كصعب من صعبة، إنما نظير صعبة من صعب ابنة من ابن، ولا دلالة لك في البنوة على أن الذاهب من بنت واو، لكن إبدال التاء من حرف العلة يدل على أنه من الواو، لأن إبدال التاء من الواو أضعف من إبدالها من الياء. وقال ابن سيده في موضع آخر: قال سيبويه وألحقوا ابنا الهاء فقالوا ابنة، قال: وأما بنت فليس على ابن، وإنما هي صيغة على حدة، ألحقوها الياء للإلحاق ثم أبدلوا التاء منها، وقيل: إنها مبدلة من واو، قال سيبويه: وإنما بنت كعدل، والنسب إلى بنت بنوي، وقال يونس: بنتي وأختي؛ قال ابن سيده: وهو مردود عند سيبويه. وقال ثعلب: العرب تقول هذه بنت فلان وهذه ابنة فلان، بتاء ثابتة في الوقف والوصل، وهما لغتان جيدتان، قال: ومن قال إبنة فهو خطأ ولحن. قال الجوهري: لا تقل إبنة لأن الألف إنما اجتلبت لسكون الباء، فإذا حركتها سقطت، والجمع بنات لا غير. قال الزجاج: ابن كان في الأصل بنو أو بنو، والألف ألف وصل في الابن، يقال ابن بين البنوة، قال: ويحتمل أن يكون أصله بنيا، قال: والذين قالوا بنون كأنهم جمعوا بنيا بنون، وأبناء جمع فعل أو فعل، قال: وبنت تدل على أنه يستقيم أن يكون فعلا، ويجوز أن يكون فعلا، نقلت إلى فعل كما نقلت أخت من فعل إلى فعل، فأما بنات فليس بجمع بنت على لفظها، إنما ردت إلى أصلها فجمعت بنات، على أن أصل بنت فعلة مما حذفت لامه. قال: والأخفش يختار أن يكون المحذوف من ابن الواو، قال: لأنه أكثر ما يحذف لثقله والياء تحذف أيضا لأنها تثقل، قال: والدليل على ذلك أن يدا قد أجمعوا على أن المحذوف منه الياء، ولهم دليل قاطع مع الإجماع يقال يديت إليه يدا، ودم محذوف منه الياء، والبنوة ليس بشاهد قاطع للواو لأنهم يقولون الفتوة والتثنية فتيان، فابن يجوز أن يكون المحذوف منه الواو أو الياء، وهما عندنا متساويان. قال الجوهري: والابن أصله بنو، والذاهب منه واو كما ذهب من أب وأخ لأنك تقول في مؤنثه بنت وأخت، ولم نر هذه الهاء تلحق مؤنثا إلا ومذكره محذوف الواو، يدلك على ذلك أخوات وهنوات فيمن رد، وتقديره من الفعل فعل، بالتحريك، لأن جمعه أبناء مثل جمل وأجمال، ولا يجوز أن يكون فعلا أو فعلا اللذين جمعهما أيضا أفعال مثل جذع وقفل، لأنك تقول في جمعه بنون، بفتح الباء، ولا يجوز أيضا أن يكون فعلا، ساكنة العين، لأن الباب في جمعه إنما هو أفعل مثل كلب وأكلب أو فعول مثل فلس وفلوس. وحكى الفراء عن العرب: هذا من ابناوات الشعب، وهم حي من كلب. وفي التنزيل العزيز: هؤلاء بناتي هن أطهر لكم ؛ كنى ببناته عن نسائهم، ونساء أمة كل نبي بمنزلة بناته وأزواجه بمنزلة أمهاتهم؛ قال ابن سيده: هذا قول الزجاج. قال سيبويه: وقالوا ابنم، فزادوا الميم كما زيدت في فسحم ودلقم، وكأنها في ابنم أمثل قليلا لأن الاسم محذوف اللام، فكأنها عوض منها، وليس في فسحم ونحوه حذف؛ فأما قول رؤبة: بكاء ثكلى فقدت حميما، ... فهي ترنى بأبا وابناما فإنما أراد: وابنيما، لكن حكى ندبتها، واحتمل الجمع بين الياء والألف هاهنا لأنه أراد الحكاية، كأن النادبة آثرت وا اب …

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 14, p. 89) ↗
  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    بَنَاهُ

    1. بَنَاهُ, (T, S, M, &c.,) aor. بَنِىَ , (M, Msb,) and بَنُىَ , but the former is the more common, (M,) [or rather the only form commonly known,] inf. n. بِنَآءٌ (T, S, M, Mgh, K) and بِنًا (T, and TA as from the M [but it is not in the transcript of the M in the TT]) and بَنْىٌ and بُنْيَانٌ and بِنْيَةٌ and بنَايَةٌ, (M, K,) He built it; framed it; constructed it; contr. of هَدَمَهُ; (M, K;) namely, a house, (S, Mgh, Msb,) or tent, (S, * Msb,) &c.; (Msb;) as also ابتناه, (S, M, Msb, K,) and بنّاهُ; (M, K;) or the last has teshdeed given to it to denote muchness, or frequency, or repetition, of the action, or its application to many objects; and hence you say, بنّى قُصُورًا [He built palaces, or pavilions: or he raised them high: see the pass. part. n. below]. (S, TA.) AHn speaks of a kind of plank as being used فِى بِنَآءِ السُّفُنِ [in the construction of ships]: but بِنَآءٌ is originally used only in relation to that which does not grow; as stone, and clay, and the like. (M.) You say also, بَنَى أَرْضًا, for بَنَى فِى أَرْضٍ [He built in, or upon, land]. (Mgh.) [Hence,] بَنَى عَلَى أَهْلِهِ, (T, S, M, Msb, K,) or عَلَى ٱمْرَأَتِهِ, (Mgh,) and بَنَى بِهَا also, (M, Mgh, Msb, K,) accord. to IDrd (Mgh, Msb) and IJ, (M,) and occurring in traditions and elsewhere, though said in the S to be vulgar, (IAth, MF,) and said to be so by ISk, (T, Msb,) and by some said to be not allowable, (M,) but the former is the more chaste, (Msb,) inf. n. بِنَآءٌ; (S, TA;) as also ابتنى, (K,) i. e. ابتنى عليها, (ISk, Msb,) or ابتنى بِهَا, (IJ, M,) He had his wife conducted to him on the occasion of the marriage: (ISk, T, S, Msb, K:) or he went in to his wife [for the first time]: (Mgh, Msb:) originating from the fact that the bridegroom used, on that occasion, to pitch a tent for her, (ISk, T, S, Mgh, Msb,) a new tent, (Mgh, Msb,) and furnish it with what was requisite, (Msb,) or a new tent was set up for him, (Mgh, Msb,) in honour of him. (Msb.) [See also بَيْتٌ.] بِنَايَةٌ is sometimes used in relation to nobility: (M, K:) and the verb thus used is بَنَى, as above, (T, M,) having [also] بِنًى for its inf. n., (IAar, T,) and بِنَآءٌ; held by many to be tropical, but by some to be proper. (MF.) Lebeed says, (M) And He (namely, God,) hath built for us a house of nobility of lofty pitch, and its (the tribe's) middle-aged and its youth have risen to it: i. e., all of them have attained to high degrees. (EM, p. 180.) بَنَى بَدَنَهُ It (food) fattened his body, (K,) and made it large: (TA:) and بَنَى لَحْمَهُ, (T, M, K,) aor. بَنِىَ , (TA,) inf. n. بِنَآءٌ, (M,) or بَنْىٌ, (TA,) It (food) made his flesh to grow, (T, M, K,) and to become large. (T, TA.) بَنَى الرَّجُلَ He reared, brought up, or educated, the man; (M, K;) as also ابتناهُ. (M.) [بَنَى كَلِمَةً, inf. n. بِنَآءٌ, He formed a word. And He made a word indeclinable, so as to end invariably with a quiescent letter or with a particular vowel.] بِنَآءُ كَلِمَةٍ [when the former word is considered as the inf. n. of the pass. form بُنِىَ, generally] signifies A word's keeping always the same mode of termination, ending with a quiescent letter or with a particular vowel, not by reason of any governing word: (M, K:) as though the word resembled a fixed, immoveable building. (M.) [You say, بُنِيَتْ عَلَى السُّكُونِ It was made indeclinable, with a quiescent letter for its termination; and عَلَى الفَتْحِ with fet-h for its termination; &c. And in like manner you say, بَنَى القَصِيدَةَ عَلَى البَآءِ, &c., He made the قصيدة to have ب, &c., for its rhyme-letter, or its chief rhyme-letter.] بَنَتِ القَوْسُ عَلَى وَتَرِهَا The bow clave to its string (T, S, K) so that it (the latter) almost broke. (T, S.) [See the part. n. below.]

    بَنَّىَ

    2: see 1, first sentence.

    ابناهُ

    4. ابناهُ He made him to build, frame, or construct, a house, or tent: (S:) or he gave him a building: or he gave him that wherewith to build a house: (M, K:) and ابناهُ بَيْتًا he gave him a house, or tent, to build or frame or construct. (T.) It is said in a prov., المِعْزَي تُبْهِى وَلَا تُبْنِى [Goats rend, or make holes, and render vacant, and do not afford materials for fabricating tents]; i. e., they do not yield hair of which a tent is fabricated; (T, S; *) for the tents of the Arabs [of the desert] are of the kind called طِرَاف, made of skin, and أَخْبِيَة, made of wool or of camels' fur, and not of شَعَر [by which is especially meant goats' hair], (S,) or, as is found in the handwriting of Aboo-Sahl, of wool or of skin: (TA:) or the meaning is, goats rend tents, or pierce them with holes, by their leaping upon them, (T and S in art. بهو,) so that they cannot be inhabited, (S in that art.,) and do not aid in the fabrication of tents; for the goats of the Arabs of the desert have short hair, not long enough to be spun; whereas the goats of the cold countries, and of the people of the fertile regions, have abundant hair, and of this the Akrád [or Kurdees] fabricate their tents. (T.) [Hence,] He introduced him to his wife [on the occasion of his marriage]: whence the saying of 'Alee, مَتَى تُبْنيِنِى, accord. to IAth properly meaning مَتَى تَجْعَلُنِى أَبْنِى بِزَوْجَتِى [When wilt thou make me to have my wife conducted to me? or, to go in to my wife?]. (TA.)

    تَبَنَّتْ

    5. تَبَنَّتْ, said of a woman sitting, (T, TA,) She became like a tent (T, IAth, K, * TA) of the kind called مِبْنَاةٌ, (T, TA,) i. e., a قُبَّة of skin; by reason of her fatness, (T, IAth, TA,) and largeness, (T, TA,) or fleshiness: (IAth, TA:) or she parted her legs; as though from مِبْنَاة, i. e. a قُبَّة of skin, which, when pitched, is spread out by the ropes: so this woman, sitting cross-legged, spread apart her legs. (T, TA.) And تبنّى, said of a camel's hump, It became fat. (M.) تبنّاهُ He adopted him as a son: (S, K:) or he asserted him to be, or claimed him as, a son: (M:) and تبنّى بِهِ signifies the same. (Zj, TA.)

    ابتنى

    8. ابتنى: see 1, in three places. Also It became built, framed, or constructed. (Msb.)

    بِنْتٌ

    بِنْتٌ; pl. بَنَاتٌ: fem. of اِبْنٌ, which see, in three places.

    بُنًى

    بُنًى: see بِنَآءٌ.

    بِنًى

    بِنًى: see بِنَآءٌ.

    بَنَاةُ اللَّحْمِ

    بَنَاةُ اللَّحْمِ, (IB, TA,) the former of which words is incorrectly written in the K بنات, (TA,) A girl whose flesh has been made to grow and become large: (IB, K, TA: [in the CK, مَبْنِيَّةٌ is erroneously put for مَبْنِيَّتُهُ:]) or, accord. to a learned scholiast, this is a mistake of IB, and the meaning is sweet in odour; i. e. sweet in the odour of the flesh. (TA.)

    بَنَاتٌ

    بَنَاتٌ: pl. of بِنْتٌ; and sometimes of اِبْنٌ: see اِبْنٌ.

    بَنُونَ

    بَنُونَ: pl. of اِبْنٌ, which see below.

    بُنْيَةٌ

    بُنْيَةٌ: see بِنَآءٌ.

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Look this root up elsewhere:Doha Historical Dictionary ↗Quranic Arabic Corpus ↗Arabic Almanac ↗Hawramani Arabic Lexicon ↗

The same letters, turned

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

ب ن ي

الباء والنون والياء أصل واحد وهو بناء الشيء بضم بعضه إلى بعض تقول بنيت البناء أبنيه وتسمى مكة البنية ويقال قوس بانية وهي التي بنت على وترها وذلك أن يكاد وترها ينقطع للصوقه بها وطيء تقول مكان بانية باناة وهو قول امرئ القي …

b-n-y has one root, which is building something by joining part of it to another. You say banaytu al-binā abnīhi, and Mecca is called al-baniyya, and it is said qaws bāniya, which is a bow that has set firm on its string, such that its string is almost cut off from clinging to it; and Ṭayy say makān bāniya bānāt, and it is the saying of Imru' al-Qay…

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×184

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

Reference

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.

Letters & sound

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

Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)

16 more

Reference

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ب

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗

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 ↗

ي

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26553 ↗

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى، مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 974 ↗

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

ب

Level of existence: الجن · the jinn

Divine Name: اللطيف · al-Laṭīf, the Subtle

Lunar mansion: الفرع المقدم · al-Farʿ al-Muqaddam

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62118

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

Nature (ch. 2)

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582

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 ↗

Nature (ch. 2)

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

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

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

ي

Level of existence: السماء الأولى · The First Heaven

Divine Name: الرب · The Lord (al-Rabb)

Lunar mansion: الخرتان · al-Kharatān

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64500

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

Nature (ch. 2)

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

ب

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي هو في غاية العز أو في غاية الذل.

It is an indication of the thing that is at the utmost of might or at the utmost of abasement.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة معها قبض.

It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى ما دخل أو هو داخل على الذات.

It is an indication of what has entered, or is entering, upon the self.

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

ن

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي الخير الساكن في الذات الشاعل فيها.

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

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى الخير الكامل أو النور الساطع.

It is an indication of perfect good or radiant light.

With kasra ـِ

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

ي

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي للنداء، وقد يؤكد بها.

It is for the vocative (calling), and it may be used for emphasis.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا يثبت كالبرق ونحوه.

It is an indication of the thing that does not remain fixed, like lightning and the like.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي يستحيا به أو يستحيا منه كالعورة.

It is an indication of the thing that causes shame, or of which one is ashamed, like the private parts.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus30 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterب ن

Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 3707 ↗

  • بنىالباء والنون والياء أصل واحد وهو بناء الشيء بضم بعضه إلى بعض تقول بنيت البناء أبنيه وتسمى مكة البنية ويقال قوس بانية وهي التي بنت على وترها وذلك أن يكQ 184 · L3708
  • بنوالباء والنون والواو كلمة واحدة وهو الشيء يتولد عن الشيء كابن الإنسان وغيره وأصل بنائه بنو والنسبة إليه بنوي وكذلك النسبة إلى بنت وإلى بنيات الطريق فأصL3713
  • بنجالباء والنون والجيم كلمة واحدة ليست عندي أصلا وما أدري كيف هي في قياس اللغة لكنها قد ذكرتL3743
  • بندالباء والنون والدال أصل فارسي لا وجه لذكرهL3745
  • بنقالباء والنون والقاف كلمة واحدة وأراها من الحواشي غير واسطة وهي البنيقة وهو جربان القميص ويقال البنيقة كل رقعة في الثوب كاللبنة ونحوها على انها قد جاءتL3747
  • بهوالباء والهاء الواو أصل واحد وهو البيت وما أشبهه فالبهو البيت المقدم أمام البيوت والبهو كناس الثور ويقال البهو مقيل الولد بين الوركين من الحامل ويقال لL3754
  • بهىالباء والهاء والياء أصل واحد وهو خلو الشيء وتعطلهL3756
  • بهأالباء والهاء والهمزة أصل واحد وهو الأنس تقول العرب بهأت بالرجل إذا أنست بهL3760
  • بهثالباء والهاء والثاء ليس بأصل وقد سمي الرجل بهثةL3766
  • بهجالباء والهاء والجيم أصل واحد وهو السرور والنضرةQ 3 · L3767
  • بهرالباء والهاء والراء أصلان أحدهما الغلبة والعلو والآخر وسط الشيء فأما الأول فقال أهل اللغة البهر الغلبةL3769
  • بهزالباء والهاء والزاء أصل واحد وهو الغلبة والدفع بعنفL3789
  • بهسالباء والهاء والسين كلمة واحدةL3790
  • بهشالباء والهاء والشين شيئان أحدهما شبة الفرح والآخر جنس من الشجرL3791
  • بهظالباء والهاء والظاء كلمة واحدة وهو قولهم بهظه الأمر إذا ثقل عليه وذا أمر باهظL3798
  • بهقالباء والهاء والقاف كلمة واحدة وهو سواد يعتري الجلد أو لون يخالف لونهL3799
  • بهمالباء والهاء والميم أن يبقى الشيء لا يعرف المأتي إليهQ 3 · L3810
  • بهنالباء والهاء والنون كلمة واحدة وفيها أيضا ردةL3817
  • بوأالباء والواو والهمزة أصلان أحدهما الرجوع إلى الشيء والآخر تساوي الشيئينQ 17 · L3822
  • بوجالباء الواو واليم أصل حسن وهو من اللمعان يقول العرب تبوج البرق تبوجا إذا لمعL3858
  • بوحالباء والواو والحاء أصل واحد وهو سعة الشيء وبروزه وظهوره فالبوح جمع باحة وهي عرصة الدار وفي الحديث ( نظفوا أفنيتكم ولا تدعوها كباحة اليهود ) ويقولون فL3859
  • بوخالباء والواو والخاء كلمة فصيحة وهو السكونL3868
  • بورالباء والواو والراء أصلان أحدهما هلاك الشيء وما يشبهه من تعطله وخلوه والآخر ابتلاء الشيء وامتحانه فأما الأول فقال الخليل البوار الهلاك تقول باروا وهم Q 5 · L3870
  • بوشالباء والواو والشين أصل واحد وهو التجمع من أصناف مختلفينL3892
  • بوصالباء والواو والصاد أصلان أحدهما شيء من الآراب والآخر من السبقL3894
  • بوعالباء والواو والعين أصل واحد وهو امتداد الشيء فالبوع من قولك بعت الحبل بوعا إذا مددت باعك بهL3899
  • بوقالباء والواو والقاف ليس بأصل معول عليه ولا فيه عندي كلمة صحيحة وقد ذكروا أن البوق الكذب والباطل وذكروا بيتا لحسان — إلا الذي نطقوا بوقا ولم يكن … وهذاL3924
  • بوكالباء والواو والكاف ليس أصلا وهو كناية عن الفعلL3929
  • بومالباء والواو والميم كلمة واحدة لا يقاس عليها فالبوم ذكر الهام وهو جمع بومةL3949
  • بوهالباء والواو والهاء ليس بأصل عندي وهو كلام كالتهكم والهزء يقولون للرجل الذي لا خير فيه ولا غناء عنده بوهةL3966
In the sister scriptsHebrew ב נ יSyriac ܒ ܢ ܝ
Arabicب ن ي
Hebrewב נ י
Syriacܒ ܢ ܝ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩨 𐩬 𐩺
Phoenician𐤁 𐤍 𐤉

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.

Lenses

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl gives banā l-binā, yabnī binyan wa-bināʾ and notes al-bunya as a name for the Kaʿba, sworn by as 'rabb hādhihi l-bunya,' alongside al-mabnāh, a tent-like awning.well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    Al-Khalīl gives banā l-binā, yabnī binyan wa-bināʾ and notes al-bunya as a name for the Kaʿba, sworn by as 'rabb hādhihi l-bunya,' alongside al-mabnāh, a tent-like awning. Ibn Fāris confirms a single root-sense, 'joining part of a thing to another' (ḍamm baʿḍihi ilā baʿḍ), citing the same Kaʿba-naming and qaws bāniya for a bow built taut on its string. Al-Rāghib extends bināʾ to divine cosmogony (78:12, 51:47, 91:5) and treats bunyān in 9:110 and 61:4 as a singular rather than a broken plural, though noting others analyse it as plural of bunyāna. Ibn Manẓūr adds the metaphorical banā fī l-sharaf, 'to build up in nobility,' and situates ibn (son) within the same root. Lane consolidates the verb's core sense: 'he built, framed, constructed it, contrary of hadamahu,' recording the full range of maṣdar forms (bināʾ, binā, banī, bunyān, binya, bināya).

    Draws on: cayn · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan · Lane

    • Lane, Lexicon, s.v. بنى
  • Letters & soundAl-Dabbāgh reads fatḥa-ب as marking a thing at the utmost extreme of might or of abasement, ن as the latent good kindling within the self, and ي as the vocative particle, sometimes bearing emphasis.speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    Al-Dabbāgh reads fatḥa-ب as marking a thing at the utmost extreme of might or of abasement, ن as the latent good kindling within the self, and ي as the vocative particle, sometimes bearing emphasis. Ibn ʿArabī's cosmological letter-table assigns ب to the jinn, ن to the fourth heaven, ي to the first heaven, a scheme belonging to his own hierarchy of creation rather than to lexical semantics of bināʾ. As with all such letter-symbolism, this remains speculative; mainstream linguistics recognizes no systematic phonosemantic law connecting individual Arabic letters to fixed meanings.

    Draws on: dabbagh · akbari198

  • Root structureIbn Fāris presents ب ن ي and ب ن و as a single root under one entry, both glossed identically.plausible

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    Ibn Fāris presents ب ن ي and ب ن و as a single root under one entry, both glossed identically. Its near neighbours in ب ن show a sharp split: بند is dismissed outright as a Persian loan with 'no reason even to mention it,' بنج is likewise judged not a genuine Arabic root, and بنق is admitted only marginally, for a garment-patch. A striking permutational fact, noted only as juxtaposition: the same three letters rearranged give بين (bayn), attested 523 times and glossed by Ibn Fāris as 'distance and disclosure of a thing, whence separation' — the near-opposite of bny's sense of joining, a pairing of interest to Ibn Jinnī's theory of greater derivation without being asserted by Ibn Fāris as a real connection. نبي ('to rise above, recoil from') is a distinct, unrelated root; نيب, يبن, ينب are unattested.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris · nucleusSiblings · permutations

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsArabic banā/yabnī is securely cognate with Hebrew bānāh ('to build'), Aramaic/Syriac bnā, and Akkadian banû ('to build, fashion, create'), reflecting a common Semitic root b-n-y/w.well attested

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    Arabic banā/yabnī is securely cognate with Hebrew bānāh ('to build'), Aramaic/Syriac bnā, and Akkadian banû ('to build, fashion, create'), reflecting a common Semitic root b-n-y/w. This is among the best-attested roots across the Semitic family, already present in Akkadian with an extended sense of divine 'creating/fashioning.' It is not a loanword but inherited common Semitic vocabulary; the noun ibn ('son') belongs to the same family via the extended sense of 'building up' a lineage, though Hebrew ben and Aramaic bar reflect different formation histories within the same broader kinship terminology.

    Draws on: comparative

    • CAL, bnh (V) (link not verified)
  • Quranic exegesisAt 51:47 and 91:5 al-Ṭabarī reads banā of the heavens in its literal architectural sense, God's creative act figured as construction;well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At 51:47 and 91:5 al-Ṭabarī reads banā of the heavens in its literal architectural sense, God's creative act figured as construction; al-Rāghib treats this as an established istiʿāra extending human bināʾ to cosmogony, comparable to 2:22's 'al-samāʾa bināʾan.' At 9:110, on the masjid al-ḍirār, al-Ṭabarī and al-Rāzī read bunyānuhum alladhī banaw as the hypocrites' structure that continues to breed rība (doubt) in their hearts, a moral reading of bunyān as an edifice of hypocrisy. At 61:4, 'ka-annahum bunyānun marṣūṣ,' exegetes read the simile through Ibn Fāris's core sense of parts tightly joined, applied to the discipline of believers ranked for battle.

    Draws on: tabari · razi · mufradat

  • Akbarian readingIn the Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī writes that God 'placed that in His two grasps: in the one grasp the world, in the other grasp Adam and his banūhu,' distinguishing their ranks within it.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In the Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī writes that God 'placed that in His two grasps: in the one grasp the world, in the other grasp Adam and his banūhu,' distinguishing their ranks within it. Here banūhu uses the root in its derived sense of lineage (ibn) rather than physical construction, the sense Ibn Manẓūr traces to banā fī l-sharaf, 'to build up in nobility' — human descent from Adam figured, at root level, as an ongoing 'building' set against the single grasp containing the cosmos. No separate Iṣṭilāḥ definition of bināʾ or ibn is given in the supplied material.

    Draws on: fassAdam

    • Faṣṣ Ādam, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam

Reference

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