Root · 6 in the Quran · 11 in 3 texts of the library
كلب (root klb)
الكاف واللام والباء أصل واحد صحيح يدل على تعلق الشيء بالشيء في شدة وشدة جذب
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ك ل ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
31 words6 verbs4 verbal nouns4 participles2 intensives and elatives11 other nouns3 plurals1 relative or abstract
- كَلْبwoman like a bitch
- كَلْبِيّcanine
- مُكَلِّبِين—
- تَكَالَبَpounce; assail
- كَلِبَhe was seized with madness, in consequence of eating human flesh
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6كَلِبَ · تَكَالَبَ · كَالَبَ
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 nouns4كَلْب · كَلَب · مَكْلَبَة
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles4مُكَلَّب · مُكَلِّب · كَالِب
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative2كَلَّاب · كَلِيب
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns11كلّب · كَلَاب · كَلِب
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals3كُلَّاب · مُكَلِّبِين · كَلَالِيب
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
Relative and abstract1كَلْبِيّ
-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →
- كَلْبِيّcanineautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×2Ibn Fāris
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 17 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: مَكْلَبَة, verbal noun, Form I (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
Ibn Fāris · 395الكاف واللام والباء أصل واحد صحيح يدل على تعلق الشيء بالشيء في شدة وشدة جذب من ذلك الكلب وهو معروف والجمع كلاب وكليب والكلاب والمكلب الذي يعلم الكلب الصيد والكلب الكلب الذي يكلب بلحوم الناس يأخذه شبه جنون فإذا عقر إنسانا
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ك ل ب
الكاف واللام والباء أصل واحد صحيح يدل على تعلق الشيء بالشيء في شدة وشدة جذب
k-l-b is one sound root that denotes the attachment of one thing to another with intensity and strong pulling. AI
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:
- 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
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. 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
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 ↗
ل
ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان، من بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى، مما فويق الضاحك والناب والرباعية والثنية، مخرج اللام
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, just above the premolar, the canine, the lateral and the central incisor, is the place of the lām. Ibn Jinnī, lines 977–978 ↗
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
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 2582ل
Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven
Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)
Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
منها دون الألف فطبعها الحرارة واليبوسة
[Zāy and lām] of it, excluding alif: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2577ب
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
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.
ل
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي حصول المتكلم على شيء عظيم، وتكون إشارة إلى شيء عظيم.
It is the speaker's attaining of something great, and it serves as an indication of something great.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.
It is an indication of the thing that has no end.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة من المتكلم إلى وجود ذاته أو إلى ذاته.
It is an indication by the speaker of the existence of his self, or of his self.
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 nucleus25 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterك ل
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 27148 ↗
- كلمالكاف واللام والميم أصلان أحدهما يدل على نطق مفهم والآخر على جراحQ 75 · L27150
- كلبالكاف واللام والباء أصل واحد صحيح يدل على تعلق الشيء بالشيء في شدة وشدة جذبQ 6 · L27177
- كلتالكاف واللام والتاء ليس بأصل أصيل لكنهم يقولون الكلت الجمعL27192
- كلثالكاف واللام والثاء ليس بأصل أصيل لكنهم يقولون إلى بشيء وربماL27195
- كلحالكاف واللام والحاء أصل يدل على عبوس وشتامة في الوجهQ 1 · L27198
- كلدالكاف واللام والدال كلمة تدل على الصلابة في الشيء فالكلدة القطعة من الأرض الغليظة ومنه الحارث بن كلدةL27203
- كلزالكاف واللام والزاء يقولون إنه صحيح وإن الكلز الجمعL27207
- كلسالكاف واللام والسين يدل على امتلاء في الشيء يقولون تكلس تكلسا إذا روىL27211
- كلعالكاف واللام والعين كلمات تدل على درن ووسخ يقولون للشقاق والوسخ بالقدم كلع وقد كلعت رجله تكلع كلعا وإناء كلع إذا التبد عليه الوسخ وسقاء كلع إذا تراكب L27216
- كلفالكاف واللام والفاء أصل صحيح يدل على إيلاع بالشيء وتعلق بهQ 8 · L27222
- ملهالميم واللام والهاء يقولون هو ممتله العقل ذاهبهL30497
- ملثالميم واللام والثاء كلمةL30499
- ملجالميم واللام والجيم كلمةL30502
- ملحالميم واللام والحاء أصل صحيح له فروع تتقارب في المعنى وإن كان في ظاهرها بعض التفاوت فالأصل البياض منه الملح المعروف وسمي لبياضهQ 2 · L30506
- ملخالميم واللام والخاء أصل صحيح يدل على إخراج شيء من وعائه أو من غيره وامتلخت العقاب عينه أخرجتها وامتلخت اللجام من رأس الدابة والمليخ اللحم لا طعم له و L30530
- ملدالميم واللام والدال كلمة تدل على نعمة ولين وملاسة وشاب املد ناعم والملد المصدر وامرأة ملداء معتدلة الخلق حسنة وغصن أملود ناعم وملدت الأديم مرنته والإمL30536
- ملذالميم واللام والذال ذكروا فيه كلمتين أيضا الملذ أن يكون يمد الفرس ضبعيه في عدوه حتى لا يجد مزيدا وملذه بالرمح طعنه بهL30540
- ملسالميم واللام والسين أصل صحيح يدل على تجرد في شيء وألا يعلق به شيء فهو أملس ويقال للرجل الذي لا يلصق به ذم هو أملس الجلدL30544
- ملصالميم واللام والصاد قريب من ملس وهو يدل على إفلات الشيء بسرعة وأملص الشيء من يدي أفلت إملاصا وملص الرشاء من اليد يملصL30552
- ملطالميم واللام والطاء أصيل يدل على تسوية شيء وتسطيحه وملطت الحائط بالملاط أملطه تمليطا طينته وسويته والملاطان الجنبان كأنهما ملطا ملطا وابنا ملط العضدانL30557
- ملعالميم واللام والعين أصيل يدل على سرعة وخفة وملعت الناقة في سيرها وناقة ميلع فيعل منه والملع السرعة في المرور والاختطاف ومن الباب المليع الأرض لا نبات L30563
- ملغالميم واللام والغين كلمة يقولون الملغ الأحمق والتملغ التحمقL30567
- ملقالميم واللام والقاف أصل صحيح يدل على تجرد في الشيء ولينQ 2 · L30569
- ملكالميم واللام والكاف أصل صحيح يدل على قوة في الشيء وصحةQ 206 · L30577
- ملوالميم واللام والحرف المعتل أصل صحيح يدل على امتداد في شيء زمان أو غيره وأمليت القيد للبعير إملاء إذا وسعته وتمليت عمري إذا استمتعت به والملوان الليل وQ 10 · L30587
In the sister scriptsHebrew כ ל בSyriac ܟ ܠ ܒ
| Arabic | ك ل ب |
| Hebrew | כ ל ב |
| Syriac | ܟ ܠ ܒ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩫 𐩡 𐩨 |
| Phoenician | 𐤊 𐤋 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