Root · 12 in the Quran · 1 in 1 text of the library
رهب (root rhb)
الراء والهاء والباء أصلان أحدهما يدل على خوف والآخر على دقة وخفة
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ر ه ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
29 words5 verbs4 verbal nouns3 participles2 intensives and elatives13 other nouns1 plural1 relative or abstract
- رَهِبَhe feared
- رُهْبَان—
- رَهْبَةfear; alarm
- أَرْهَبَhe, or it, frightened him, or caused him to fear
- اِسْتَرْهَبَhe called forth fear of him, so that men feared him
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5رَهِبَ · أَرْهَبَ · اِسْتَرْهَبَ
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 يَفْعَلُ (i – a; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
Verbal nouns4رَهْبَة · رَهَب · إِرْهَاب
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles3رَاهِب · مَرْهُوب · مُرَهِّب
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative2رُهْبَان · رَهْبَان
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns13رَهْب · أَرْهَاب · رَهَاب
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals1رِهَاب
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
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.
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 AI
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)' AI
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 AI
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
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
Ibn Fāris · 395الراء والهاء والباء أصلان أحدهما يدل على خوف والآخر على دقة وخفة فالأول الرهبة تقول رهبت الشيء رهبا ورهبا ورهبة والترهب التعبد ومن الباب الإرهاب وهو قدع الإبل من الحوض وذيادها والأصل الآخر الرهب الناقة المهزولة والرهاب ا
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
Letters & sound
- رrāʾtip of the tongue, near the nūn · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- هhāʾdeep in the throat · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- بbāʾbetween the lips · voiced, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
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)
Reference
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ر
ومن مخرج النون غير أنه أدخل في ظهر اللسان قليلا لانحرافه إلى اللام مخرج الراء
From the place of the nūn, except that it goes a little further onto the back of the tongue, because it leans towards the lām, is the place of the rāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26557–26558 ↗
ومن مخرج النون غير أنه أدخل في ظهر اللسان قليلا، لانحرافه إلى اللام، مخرج الراء
From the place of the nūn, except that it goes a little further onto the back of the tongue, because it leans towards the lām, is the place of the rāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, lines 980–981 ↗
ه
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 ↗
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 ↗
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 AI
ر
Level of existence: السماء الخامسة · the fifth heaven
Divine Name: المصور · the Form-Giver (al-Muṣawwir)
Lunar mansion: الغفر · al-Ghafr
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64675Spheres 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 2582ه
Level of existence: أبتداء العالم · the beginning of the world
Divine Name: البديع · the Originator (who creates without prior model)
Lunar mansion: الشرطين · al-Sharaṭān (the Two Signs), first of daily time, when the sun is in Aries
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 66017Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
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 2583ب
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 62118Spheres 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 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ر
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى جميع الخيرات الظاهرة والباطنة.
It is an indication of all goods, outward and inward.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الواحد في نفسه وهو ظاهر.
It is an indication of the one in itself, and it is manifest.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي فيه الروح وليس من بني آدم، أو إشارة إلى الروح نفسها.
It is an indication of a thing that has spirit in it but is not of the children of Adam, or an indication of the spirit itself.
ه
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي الرحمة الطاهرة التي لا نهاية لها.
It is pure mercy that has no end.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي اسم من أسمائه تعالى.
It is one of the names of God, Exalted is He.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الخير الذي يخرج من ذوات المخلوقات.
It is an indication of the good that issues from the selves of created beings.
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.
Two-letter nucleus12 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterر ه
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 12039 ↗
- رهوالراء والهاء والحرف المعتل أصلان يدل أحدهما على دعة وخفض وسكون والآخر على مكان قد ينخفض ويرتفعQ 1 · L12040
- رهأالراء والهاء والهمزة لا تكون إلا بدخيل وهي الرهيأة وذلك يدل على قلة اعتدال في الشيء فالرهيأة أن يكون أحد عدلى الحمل أثقل من الآخر رهيأت حملك ورهيأت أمL12057
- رهبالراء والهاء والباء أصلان أحدهما يدل على خوف والآخر على دقة وخفةQ 12 · L12062
- رهجالراء والهاء والجيم أصيل يدل على إثارة غبار وشبهه فالرهج الغبارL12067
- رهدالراء والهاء والدال أصيل يدل على نعمة وهي الرهادة ويقال هي رهيدة أي رخصة فأما ابن دريد فقد ذكر ما يقارب هذا القياسL12068
- رهزالراء والهاء والزاء كلمة تدل على الرهز وهو التحركL12071
- رهسالراء والهاء والسين أصلان أحدهما الامتلاء والكثرة والآخر الوطءL12072
- رهشالراء والهاء والشين أصل يدل على اضطراب وتحرك فالارتهاش أن تصطدم يد الدابة في مشيه فتعقر رواهشه وهي عصب باطن الذراعL12075
- رهصالراء والهاء والصاد أصل يدل على ضغط وعصر وثبات فالرهص فيما رواه الخليل شدة العصر والرهص أن يصيب حجر حافرا أو منسما فيدوى باطنهL12082
- رهقالراء والهاء والقاف أصلان متقاربان فأحدهما غشيان الشيء الشيء والآخر العجلة والتأخير فأما الأول فقولهم رهقه الأمر غشيه والرهوق من النوق الجواد الوساع اQ 10 · L12105
- رهلالراء والهاء واللام كلمة تدل على استرخاء فالرهل الاسترخاء من سمنL12115
- رهنالراء والهاء والنون أصل يدل على ثبات شيء يمسك بحق أو غيرهQ 3 · L12122
In the sister scriptsHebrew ר ה בSyriac ܪ ܗ ܒ
| Arabic | ر ه ب |
| Hebrew | ר ה ב |
| Syriac | ܪ ܗ ܒ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩧 𐩠 𐩨 |
| Phoenician | 𐤓 𐤄 𐤁 |
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.
Reference