Root · 161 in the Quran · 90 in 21 texts of the library
كبرthe opposite of smallness — Ibn Fāris (root kbr)
الكاف والباء والراء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف الصغر
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ك ب ر that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
48 words7 verbs8 verbal nouns5 participles2 places and instruments2 intensives and elatives18 other nouns6 plurals
- كَبِيرgreat
- اِسْتَكْبَرَ—
- أَكْبَرgreater, and greatest, in body, or corporeal substance, and in estimation or …
- كُبْرَىgreat; major
- كَبُرَhe, or it, was, or became, great, big, or large in body, or corporeal substance
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs7كَبُرَ · اِسْتَكْبَرَ · كَبَّرَ
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: فَعُلَ يَفْعُلُ (u – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- كَبُرَhe, or it, was, or became, great, big, or large in body, or corporeal substanceLaneForm IQurʾān ×8library ×3LaneIbn Fāris
- اِسْتَكْبَرَLane: see Form IVForm XQurʾān ×40Lane
- كَبَّرَhe made a thing greatLaneForm IIQurʾān ×4LaneIbn Fāris
- أَكْبَرَhe deemed it great it was great in his estimationLaneForm IVQurʾān ×1library ×5LaneIbn Fāris
Verbal nouns8كِبَر · اسْتِكْبَار · تَكْبِير
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles5مُتَكَبِّر · مُسْتَكْبِر · كَابِر
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- مُتَكَبِّرarrogantautoactive, Form VQurʾān ×7library ×1Lane
- مُسْتَكْبِرactive, Form XQurʾān ×6
- كَابِرactive, Form ILaneIbn Fāris
- مُكَابَرpassive, Form IIILane
- مُكَبِّرamplifier; magnifyingautoactive, Form IVlibrary ×1
Place, time and instrument2مَكْبَرَة · مَكْبِر
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative2كَبِير · أَكْبَر
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- كَبِيرgreatLanequality (faʿīl)Qurʾān ×40library ×26LaneIbn Fāris
- أَكْبَرgreater, and greatest, in body, or corporeal substance, and in estimation or …Laneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)Qurʾān ×24library ×15LaneIbn Fāris
Other nouns18كُبْرَى · كِبْرِيَاء · كَبِيرَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
- كُبْرَىgreat; majorautonounQurʾān ×7library ×7
- كِبْرِيَاءarroganceautonounQurʾān ×2library ×10LaneIbn Fāris
- كَبِيرَةfoul, or an abominable, sin, or crime, or offence, forbidden by the law, of …LanenounQurʾān ×7Lane
- كِبْرgreatness in corporeal substance, and in estimation or rank or dignityLanenounQurʾān ×2library ×3LaneIbn Fāris
Plurals6مُتَكَبِّرِين · كَبَائِر · كِبَار
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 19 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.
- Attested: مَكْبَرَة, noun of place (with -a) (Lane)
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
English: AI translation AIal-Khalīl · 170Al-kubr (الكبر): a drum with one face, in the dialect of the people of Kufa.
al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Jawharī · 393Al-kibar (الكبر) in age: 'kabira al-rajul yakburu kibaran,' i.e., he grew old;
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395Kāf, bāʾ, rāʾ is a sound root indicating the opposite of smallness (al-ṣighar).
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-kabīr (الكبير) and al-ṣaghīr (الصغير) are relative/correlative terms used when things are compared with one another;
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLisān · 711Al-Kabīr (الكبير) as a description of God Almighty: the Great, the Majestic;
Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions2 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
الكبيرة
هي ما كان حراما محضا، شرعت عليه عقوبة محضة بنص قاطع في الدنيا والآخرة.
المكابرة
هي المنازعة في المسألة العلمية، لا لإظهار الصواب بل لإلزام الخصم. وقيل المكابرة هي موافقة الحق بعد العلم به.
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ك ب ر
الكاف والباء والراء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف الصغر
k-b-r: a sound root indicating the opposite of smallness. AI
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:
- 1 of 6319
- 2 of 6218
- 3 of 6164
- 4 of 6155
- 5 of 6107
- 6 of 658
- 1 of 6148
- 2 of 6108
- 3 of 6157
- 4 of 6179
- 5 of 6111
- 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.
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
- كkāfback of the tongue · voiceless, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- بbāʾbetween the lips · voiced, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- رrāʾtip of the tongue, near the nūn · voiced, in betweenSīb. · 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
ك
ومن أسفل من موضع القاف من اللسان قليلا ومما يليه من الحنك الأعلى مخرج الكاف
From a little lower on the tongue than the qāf's place, and the upper palate next to it, is the place of the kāf. Sībawayh, lines 26551–26552 ↗
ومن أسفل من ذلك وأدنى إلى مقدم الفم مخرج الكاف
From lower than that and nearer the front of the mouth is the place of the kāf. Ibn Jinnī, line 973 ↗
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 ↗
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 ↗
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
ك
Level of existence: الكرسي والقدمين · the Footstool and the two Feet
Divine Name: الشكور · al-Shakūr, the Grateful
Lunar mansion: النثرة · al-Nathra
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62083Spheres 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 2582ب
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 2582ر
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 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ك
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى حقيقة العبودية الكاملة.
It is an indication of the reality of perfect servanthood.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي العبد الأسود أو القبيح.
It is the black or ugly slave/servant.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى إضافة العبودية إليك، وقال مرة أخرى: فهي إشارة منك إليك بالعبودية.
It is an indication of attributing servanthood to you. On another occasion he said: it is an indication from you to yourself of servanthood.
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.
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.
Two-letter nucleus8 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterك ب
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 27498 ↗
- كبحالكاف والباء والحاء كلمةL27506
- كبدالكاف والباء والدال أصل صحيح يدل على شدة في شيء وقوةQ 1 · L27508
- كبرالكاف والباء والراء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف الصغرQ 161 · L27517
- كبسالكاف والباء والسين أصل صحيح وهو من الشيء يعلى بالشيء الرزين ثم يقاس على هذا ما يكون في معناهL27526
- كبشالكاف والباء والشين كلمة واحدة وهي الكبش وهو معروف وكبش الكتيبة عظيمها ورئيسهاL27534
- كبعالكاف والباء والعينL27538
- كبلالكاف والباء واللام أصل صحيح يدل على حبس ومنعL27542
- كبنالكاف والباء والنون أصل صحيح يدل على قبض وتقبضL27548
In the sister scriptsHebrew כ ב רSyriac ܟ ܒ ܪ
| Arabic | ك ب ر |
| Hebrew | כ ב ר |
| Syriac | ܟ ܒ ܪ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩫 𐩨 𐩧 |
| Phoenician | 𐤊 𐤁 𐤓 |
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
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl already registers the semantic spread: kibr as the major sin (echoing kabīra), kubr as a man's eldest son (pl.well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl already registers the semantic spread: kibr as the major sin (echoing kabīra), kubr as a man's eldest son (pl. akābir), and kibr as elevation in rank/nobility. Al-Jawharī separates kibar fī l-sinn (advancement in age, kabura yakburu) from kibr bi-l-kasr (ʿaẓama, pride/haughtiness, hence kibriyāʾ), and notes kabr as 'the greater part' of a matter, citing 24:11 wa-lladhī tawallā kibrahu. Ibn Fāris's root sense (khilāf al-ṣighar) already covers this range: kabr = the chief part of an affair, kibr (ḍamm) = qaʿdad/nearness to the eldest ancestor in lineage, kibr = old age, and kibr = ʿaẓama. Al-Rāghib treats kabīr/ṣaghīr as strictly relational terms (mutaḍāyifa) — a thing is small relative to one thing, great relative to another — originally used of physical bodies (aʿyān) then extended metaphorically to meanings (maʿānī), as in 18:49's ṣaghīra/kabīra. Ibn Manẓūr completes the arc into theology: al-Kabīr as divine attribute means the Mighty and Majestic, al-Mutakabbir the One above wronging His servants, and kibriyāʾ (on the pattern fiʿliyāʾ) as the perfection of Essence and Existence, ascribable to God alone.
Draws on: al-ʿAyn · al-Ṣiḥāḥ · Maqāyīs · al-Mufradāt · Lisān al-ʿArab
- al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, s.v. kbr
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, s.v. kbr
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, s.v. kbr
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, s.v. kbr
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. kbr
Letters & soundOn the correspondences given for the letters of the Breath, kāf marks the Footstool and the two Feet, bāʾ marks the jinn, and rāʾ marks the fifth heaven — a movement from a station of servanthood and support (kāf), through an intermediate, unseen order (bāʾ), to an elevated heaven (rāʾ), which a reader inclined to sound-symbolism could map loosely onto kabr's own movement from smallness toward elevation and majesty.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
On the correspondences given for the letters of the Breath, kāf marks the Footstool and the two Feet, bāʾ marks the jinn, and rāʾ marks the fifth heaven — a movement from a station of servanthood and support (kāf), through an intermediate, unseen order (bāʾ), to an elevated heaven (rāʾ), which a reader inclined to sound-symbolism could map loosely onto kabr's own movement from smallness toward elevation and majesty. Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values reinforce this: kāf indicates the reality of perfect servanthood, bāʾ the extremity of might or the extremity of abasement, and rāʾ all goods outward and inward — again a plausible but not demonstrable resonance with the root's sense of magnitude and its opposite extremes (majesty versus abased pride). This kind of reading belongs to a theosophical tradition of letter-symbolism (Ibn ʿArabī, al-Dabbāgh) and is not something mainstream historical linguistics would treat as evidence for the word's actual etymology or development; it is offered here strictly as a juxtaposition of traditions.
Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī, letters of the Breath (akbari198) · al-Dabbāgh, letter meanings at fatḥa
- Ibn ʿArabī, letters of the Breath (as given, akbari198)
- al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings at fatḥa (as given)
Root structureThe two-letter nucleus k-b keeps company, in Ibn Fāris's own arrangement, with kbd ('intensity and strength in a thing'), kbs ('to weigh something heavy upon something'), and kbsh (whose figurative sense, kabsh al-katība, is 'chief of the army') — a cluster suggesting weight, dominance and headship before kbr's own gloss of 'the opposite of smallness' is reached.plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
The two-letter nucleus k-b keeps company, in Ibn Fāris's own arrangement, with kbd ('intensity and strength in a thing'), kbs ('to weigh something heavy upon something'), and kbsh (whose figurative sense, kabsh al-katība, is 'chief of the army') — a cluster suggesting weight, dominance and headship before kbr's own gloss of 'the opposite of smallness' is reached. Among the permutations, kbr itself dominates the Quranic corpus (161 occurrences) against krb ('severity and strength', 4), bkr ('one root branching into two derivatives', 12), brk ('fixity', source of both the kneeling camel and baraka, 32), and rkb ('elevating one thing upon another', 15); rbk ('mixing, confusion') is unattested in the Quran. Ibn Jinnī's greater-derivation method would juxtapose these transpositions — kbr/krb/bkr/brk/rkb — as circling a shared field of weight, elevation, and firm largeness, though this is offered as juxtaposition, not as an asserted etymology.
Draws on: Maqāyīs nucleus siblings · permutation table · Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, kāf-bāʾ nucleus and siblings
- Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, bāb al-ishtiqāq al-akbar (link not verified)
Semitic kin & loanwordsCognates are found across Semitic: Hebrew kabbīr (כביר) 'much, mighty', Aramaic/Syriac kabbīr 'great, numerous', and Akkadian kabāru 'to become thick, fat, strong' all share the k-b-r consonantism and a core sense of physical/qualitative magnitude, pointing to a genuinely Common Semitic root rather than a borrowing.plausible
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
Cognates are found across Semitic: Hebrew kabbīr (כביר) 'much, mighty', Aramaic/Syriac kabbīr 'great, numerous', and Akkadian kabāru 'to become thick, fat, strong' all share the k-b-r consonantism and a core sense of physical/qualitative magnitude, pointing to a genuinely Common Semitic root rather than a borrowing. There is no indication that Arabic kbr entered via any particular neighboring language; the semantic range (size, seniority, strength) is stable across the family, and Arabic's extension into 'pride' and the divine epithet al-Kabīr looks like an Arabic-internal theological development on inherited material.
Draws on: comparative Semitic lexicography
- Brown–Driver–Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, s.v. kabbīr
- Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. kbr (V/A)
- CAD, s.v. kabāru
Quranic exegesisThe exegetes treat istikbār as the culpable refusal to submit out of pride — paradigmatically Iblīs's istakbara wa-kāna mina l-kāfirīn at 2:34, made the model for every later refusal of truth (e.g.well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
The exegetes treat istikbār as the culpable refusal to submit out of pride — paradigmatically Iblīs's istakbara wa-kāna mina l-kāfirīn at 2:34, made the model for every later refusal of truth (e.g. 40:40's mustakbirūn). Al-Mutakabbir as a divine name (59:23) is read as denoting that greatness belongs to God alone by right, so that human istikbār is a wrongful arrogation of an attribute proper only to Him — a reading shared by al-Ṭabarī and al-Rāzī. The disputed kibrahu of 24:11 (wa-lladhī tawallā kibrahu) is read, following the variant readings noted already by al-Jawharī and Ibn Fāris, either as 'its greater/chief part' (kibr) or 'its sin' (kubr), with exegetes debating which reading better fits the reference to the slander against ʿĀʾisha. Al-Rāghib's discussion of kabīr as a relational term (opposite of ṣaghīr, sometimes interchangeable with kathīr) frames the exegetical treatment of 2:219's ithm kabīr/kathīr and 18:49's ṣaghīra wa-lā kabīra, where 'small' and 'great' sins are read as together exhausting the record of deeds.
Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib
- Quran 2:34 ↗
- Quran 24:11 ↗
- Quran 59:23 ↗
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, s.v. kbr
Philosophy & kalāmAl-Kabīr and kibriyāʾ function in kalām as terms for God's attribute of majesty (ʿaẓama): per the Lisān, kibriyāʾ (on the pattern fiʿliyāʾ) is glossed as 'the perfection of the Essence and the perfection of Existence,' an attribute the mutakallimūn restrict to God alone, since no created existence can be perfect in this sense.plausible
The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.
Al-Kabīr and kibriyāʾ function in kalām as terms for God's attribute of majesty (ʿaẓama): per the Lisān, kibriyāʾ (on the pattern fiʿliyāʾ) is glossed as 'the perfection of the Essence and the perfection of Existence,' an attribute the mutakallimūn restrict to God alone, since no created existence can be perfect in this sense. This underwrites the standard theological move whereby human istikbār — claiming for oneself a majesty or self-sufficiency that belongs only to necessary Being — is treated as a category error as much as a moral fault. The discussion stays within kalām's attribute-theory rather than becoming a term of art in falsafa proper (unlike wujūd or ʿayn).
Draws on: Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab · kalām discussions of divine attributes
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. kbr
Akbarian readingIn the Faṣṣ Ādam material given, Ibn ʿArabī names the cosmos 'the form that is the form of the world, termed in the technical language of the folk al-insān al-kabīr' (the Greater Man), with the angels standing to it as the spiritual and sensory faculties stand to the human constitution (al-nashʾa) — the macrocosm-microcosm pairing built directly on the akbar/ṣaghīr contrast the lexicographers already flag as relational (al-Rāghib's mutaḍāyifa).plausible
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
In the Faṣṣ Ādam material given, Ibn ʿArabī names the cosmos 'the form that is the form of the world, termed in the technical language of the folk al-insān al-kabīr' (the Greater Man), with the angels standing to it as the spiritual and sensory faculties stand to the human constitution (al-nashʾa) — the macrocosm-microcosm pairing built directly on the akbar/ṣaghīr contrast the lexicographers already flag as relational (al-Rāghib's mutaḍāyifa). A second passage uses akbar honorifically, of 'this greater father-imam' (hādhā l-imām al-wālid al-akbar) into whom God has deposited what Ibn ʿArabī records only partially, by what has been determined for him rather than by what he has fully grasped — kibar here marking primacy and comprehensiveness of station rather than mere seniority in age.
Draws on: Faṣṣ Ādam excerpts as given
- Ibn ʿArabī, Faṣṣ Ḥikma Ilāhiyya fī Kalima Ādamiyya (as given)
Reference