Root · 1 in the Quran · 1 in 1 text of the library
نكد (root nkd)
النون والكاف والدال أصيل يدل على خروج الشيء إلى طالبه بشدة وهذا مطلب نكد ورجل نكد ونكد ويقال نكد الغراب استقصى في شحيجه …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ن ك د that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
17 words6 verbs2 verbal nouns4 participles1 intensive or elative4 other nouns
- نَكِدhard, strait, or difficult
- نَاكَدَhe treated him, or behaved towards him, with hardness, harshness, or ill-nature
- نَكِدَit was, or became, hard, or strait, and difficult
- نَكَّدَhe impaired his gift by reproach
- أَنْكَدَhe asked of him, and found him hard, or difficult, and mean, or niggardly
The whole family5 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6نَكِدَ · نَاكَدَ · نَكَّدَ
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.”)
- نَكِدَit was, or became, hard, or strait, and difficultLaneForm ILaneIbn Fāris
- نَاكَدَhe treated him, or behaved towards him, with hardness, harshness, or ill-natureLaneForm IIIlibrary ×1Lane
- نَكَّدَhe impaired his gift by reproachLaneForm IILaneIbn Fāris
- أَنْكَدَhe asked of him, and found him hard, or difficult, and mean, or niggardlyLaneForm IVLane
Verbal nouns2نَكَد · نَكْد
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles4مَنْكُود · مُنَكَّد · مُنْكِد
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative1أَنْكَد
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- أَنْكَدelative or colour adjective (afʿal)Lane
Other nouns4نَكِد · نُكْد · نَكَاد
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 13 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 · 395النون والكاف والدال أصيل يدل على خروج الشيء إلى طالبه بشدة وهذا مطلب نكد ورجل نكد ونكد ويقال نكد الغراب استقصى في شحيجه كأنه يقىء وناقة نكداء لا لبن فيها
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
Letters & sound
- نnūntip of the tongue · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- كkāfback of the tongue · voiceless, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- دdāltongue-tip, roots of the teeth · 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
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 ↗
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 ↗
د
ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا مخرج الطاء، والدال، والتاء
From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26559 ↗
ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا، مخرج الطاء والدال والتاء
From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 982 ↗
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
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 2580ك
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 2582د
Level of existence: السماء الدنيا · the lowest heaven (al-samāʾ al-dunyā)
Divine Name: المبين · the Clarifier (al-Mubīn)
Lunar mansion: الأكليل · al-Iklīl
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64682Spheres 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
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.
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.
د
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى خارج عن الذات.
It is an indication of something external to the self.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى ما هو قليل أو قبيح ومعه غضب فيهما.
It is an indication of what is small or ugly, accompanied by anger in both cases.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى ما في الذات أو إلى ما هو داخل عليها أو إلى ما هو قريب منها.
It is an indication of what is in the self, or what is entering upon it, or what is near to it.
Two-letter nucleus14 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterن ك
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 32477 ↗
- نكهالنون والكاف والهاء كلمة واحدة وهي نكه الإنسان واستنكهته تشممت ريح فمه ويقولون وما أدري كيف هو إن النكة من الإبل التي ذهبت أصواتها من الضعفL32491
- نكبالنون والكاف والباء أصل صحيح يدل على ميل أو ميل في الشيء ونكب عن الشيء ينكبQ 2 · L32496
- نكتالنون والكاف والتاء أصل واحد يدل على تأثير يسير في الشيء كالنكتة ونحوها ونكت في الأرض بقضيبه ينكت إذا أثر فيها وكل نقطة نكتة ومن الباب رطبة منكتة بدأ L32504
- نكثالنون والكاف والثاء أصل صحيح يدل على نقض شيء ونكث العهد ينكثه نكثا وانتكث الشيء انتقض وقال قولا لا نكيثة فيه أي لا خلف ومنه طلب حاجة ثم انتكث لأخرى كأQ 7 · L32510
- نكحالنون والكاف والحاء أصل واحد وهو البضاع ونكح ينكح وامرأة ناكح في بني فلان أي ذات زوج منهم والنكاح يكون العقد دون الوطءQ 23 · L32516
- نكدالنون والكاف والدال أصيل يدل على خروج الشيء إلى طالبه بشدة وهذا مطلب نكد ورجل نكد ونكد ويقال نكد الغراب استقصى في شحيجه كأنه يقىء وناقة نكداء لا لبن فQ 1 · L32520
- نكرالنون والكاف والراء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف المعرفة التي يسكن إليها القلب ونكر الشيء وأنكره لم يقبله قلبه ولم يعترف به لسانهQ 37 · L32524
- نكزالنون والكاف والزاء أصيل يدل على غرز شيء ممدد في شيءL32531
- نكسالنون والكاف والسين اصل يدل على قلب الشيء منه النكس قلبك شيئا على رأسه والولاد المنكوس أن يخرج رجلاه قبل رأسه والنكس السهم الذي ينكسر فوقه فيجعل أعلاهQ 3 · L32538
- نكشالنون والكاف والشين كلمة تدل على الأتى على الشيءL32543
- نكصالنون والكاف والصاد كلمةQ 2 · L32546
- نكظالنون والكاف والظاء كلمة واحدةL32550
- نكعالنون والكاف والعين أصلان أحدهما يدل على لون من الألوان والآخر على حبس وردL32555
- نكفالنون والكاف والفاء أصلان أحدهما يدل على قطع شيء وتنحيته والآخر على عضو من الأعضاء ثم يقاس عليهQ 3 · L32564
In the sister scriptsHebrew נ כ דSyriac ܢ ܟ ܕ
| Arabic | ن ك د |
| Hebrew | נ כ ד |
| Syriac | ܢ ܟ ܕ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩬 𐩫 𐩵 |
| Phoenician | 𐤍 𐤊 𐤃 |
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