Root · 3 in the Quran · 6 in 5 texts of the library
نكس (root nks)
النون والكاف والسين اصل يدل على قلب الشيء منه النكس قلبك شيئا على رأسه والولاد المنكوس أن يخرج رجلاه قبل رأسه والنكس …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ن ك س that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
15 words4 verbs4 verbal nouns4 participles2 other nouns1 plural
- نَكَّسَinvert; reverse
- نَكَسَhe turned it over, or upside down
- اِنْتَكَسَbe inverted; be reversed
- اِنْتِكاسrelapse
- نَاكِسُو—
The whole family5 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs4نَكَسَ · نَكَّسَ · اِنْتَكَسَ
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: فَعَلَ يَفْعُلُ (a – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- نَكَسَhe turned it over, or upside downLaneForm IQurʾān ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- نَكَّسَinvert; reverseauto · Lane: see Form IForm IIQurʾān ×1library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- اِنْتَكَسَbe inverted; be reversedautoForm VIIIlibrary ×2Lane
- تَنَكَّسَLane: see Form IForm VLane
Verbal nouns4اِنْتِكاس · نَكْس · نُكْس
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles4مَنْكُوس · مُنَكِّس · نَاكِسُو
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Other nouns2نُكَس · نِكْس
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 11 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 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 أعلاه أسفله ويقال للمائق إنه لنكس تشبيها بذلك والمنكس من الخيل الذي إذا جرى
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.
ن ك س
النون 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 أعلاه أسفله ويقال للمائق إنه لنكس تشبيها بذلك والمنكس من الخيل الذي إذا جرى …
N-k-s is a root indicating the inverting of a thing, from which comes al-naks, your turning something upside down on its head; and al-walad al-mankūs is a birth in which the legs come out before the head; and al-naks is an arrow whose top is broken, so its upper end is made its lower end; and a dull person is called a naks, by comparison to that; and al-munakkas, applied to horses, is one which, when it runs … 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
- نnūntip of the tongue · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- كkāfback of the tongue · voiceless, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- سsīntongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · 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 ↗
س
ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد
From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗
ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين
From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗
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 2582س
Level of existence: ما ظهر في الماء · what appears in water
Divine Name: المحيي · al-Muḥyī, the Life-Giver
Lunar mansion: النعائم · al-Naʿāʾim
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62110Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة
Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581Meaning 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.
س
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء المليح الذي من طبعه الرقة.
It is an indication of the comely thing whose nature is delicacy.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القبيح الخشن، أو إشارة إلى سواد حسا ومعنى.
It is an indication of the ugly, rough thing, or of blackness, sensible and figurative.
With kasra ـِ
وبالكسر إشارة إلى الشيء الطابع وتكون الإشارة منه.
With kasra it is an indication of the impressing/stamping thing, and the indication proceeds from 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 ס/שSyriac ܢ ܟ ܣ/ܫ
| Arabic | ن ك س |
| Hebrew | נ כ ס/ש |
| Syriac | ܢ ܟ ܣ/ܫ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩬 𐩫 𐩯/𐩦 |
| Phoenician | 𐤍 𐤊 𐤎/𐤔 |
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