Root · 11 in the Quran · 3 in 2 texts of the library
عنب (root nb)
العين والنون والباء أصيل يدل على ثمر معروف وكلمة غير ذلك فالثمر العنب واحدته عنبة ويقولون ليس في كلامهم فعلة إلا عنبة …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ع ن ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
18 words1 verb1 verbal noun2 participles3 intensives and elatives6 other nouns3 plurals2 relatives and abstracts
- عِنَبgrapes
- أَعْنَاب—
- عُنَابlarge in the nose
- عُنَّابcertain fruit and tree, well known
- عُنْبُبthe foremost portion of a torrent, and of a company of men
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs1عَنَّبَ
The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →
Verbal nouns1تَعْنِيب
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- تَعْنِيبForm II · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles2عَانِب · مُعَنَّب
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative3عَنَبَان · أَعْنَب · عَنَّاب
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns6عِنَب · عِنَبَاء · عِنَبَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
- عِنَبgrapesautonounQurʾān ×11library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- عِنَبَاءnounLaneIbn Fāris
- عِنَبَةnounLaneIbn Fāris
- عُنَابlarge in the noseLanenounLane
Plurals3أَعْنَاب · عُنْب · عُنْبَان
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 10 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 · 395العين والنون والباء أصيل يدل على ثمر معروف وكلمة غير ذلك فالثمر العنب واحدته عنبة ويقولون ليس في كلامهم فعلة إلا عنبة وربما قالوا للعنب العنباء قال : — العنباء المتنقى والتين … وربما جمعوا العنب على الأعناب ويقال رجل عان
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
Letters & sound
- عʿaynmiddle of the throat · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- نnūntip of the tongue · voiced, in betweenSīb. · 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
ع
ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء
From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗
ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء
From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗
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 ↗
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
ع
Level of existence: الطبيعة · Nature
Divine Name: الباطن · The Inward (al-Bāṭin)
Lunar mansion: الثريا · al-Thurayyā (the Pleiades)
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 63825Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
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 64663Spheres 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 2580ب
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
ع
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي اسم لقدوم أو رحيل.
It is a name for arrival or departure.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي اسم للساكن في الذات التي تقوم به.
It is a name for that which dwells in the self and by which the self subsists.
With kasra ـِ
فهي اسم لخبث الذات.
It is a name for the foulness of the self.
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.
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 nucleus11 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterع 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 20616 ↗
- عنىالعين والنون والحرف المعتل أصول ثلاثة الأول القصد للشيء بانكماش فيه وحرص عليه والثاني دال على خضوع وذل والثالث ظهور شيء وبروزهL20617
- عنبالعين والنون والباء أصيل يدل على ثمر معروف وكلمة غير ذلك فالثمر العنب واحدته عنبة ويقولون ليس في كلامهم فعلة إلا عنبة وربماQ 11 · L20665
- عنتالعين والنون والتاء أصل صحيح يدل على مشقة وما أشبه ذلك ولا يدل على صحة ولا سهولةQ 5 · L20672
- عنجالعين والنون والجيم أصل صحيح واحد يدل على جذب شيء بشيء يمتد كحبل وما أشبههL20682
- عندالعين والنون والدال أصل صحيح واحد يدل على مجاوزة وترك طريق الاستقامةQ 201 · L20709
- عنشالعين والنون والشين أصيل لعله أن يكون صحيحا وإن صح فهو يدل على تمرس بشيء يقولون فلان يعانش الناس أي يقاتلهم ويتمرس بهم ويعانش يظالم وينشدون : — إذا لأL20763
- عنصالعين والنون والصاد أصيل صحيح على شيء من الشعرL20771
- عنطالعين والنون والطاء أصيل صحيح يدل على طول جسم وحسن قوامL20779
- عنقالعين والنون والقاف أصل واحد صحيح يدل على امتداد في شيء إما في ارتفاع وإما في انسياحQ 9 · L20793
- عنكالعين والنون والكاف أصلان أحدهما لون من الألوان والآخر ارتباك في الأمر واستغلاق في الشىءL20875
- عنمالعين والنون والميم ليس بأصل يقاس عليه وإنما هو نبت أو شيء يشبه بهL20894
In the sister scriptsHebrew ע נ בSyriac ܥ ܢ ܒ
| Arabic | ع ن ب |
| Hebrew | ע נ ב |
| Syriac | ܥ ܢ ܒ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩲 𐩬 𐩨 |
| Phoenician | 𐤏 𐤍 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