Root · 18 in the Quran · 21 in 5 texts of the library
نوب (root nwb)
النون والواو والباء كلمة واحدة تدل على اعتياد مكان ورجوع إليه وناب ينوب وانتاب ينتاب ويقال إن النوب النحل قالوا وسميت …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ن و ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
24 words6 verbs6 verbal nouns4 participles2 places and instruments2 other nouns4 plurals
- أَنَابَdeputize; authorize
- مُنِيبrepenting
- نابَrepresent; substitute
- مُنِيبِينplural of repenting
- نُوبَةmishaps
The whole family6 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6نابَ · أَنَابَ · ناوبَ
The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →
- نابَrepresent; substituteautoForm Ilibrary ×5LaneIbn Fāris
- أَنَابَdeputize; authorizeautoForm IVQurʾān ×11library ×1Lane
- ناوبَhe did or tock a thing with him, each taking his turnLaneForm IIILane
- تَنَاوَبْنَاwe performed the affair, or business, by turnsLaneForm VILane
Verbal nouns6نَوْب · اِنْتِيَاب · مَنَاب
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles4مُنِيب · نَائِب · مُنَاب
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Place, time and instrument2مَنَاب · مَنُوب
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
Other nouns2نُوبَة · نِيَابَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
- نُوبَةmishapsautonounlibrary ×1Lane
- نِيَابَةnounLane
Plurals4مُنِيبِين · نُوَب · نَوَائِب
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 15 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
This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.
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 والواو والباء كلمة واحدة تدل على اعتياد مكان ورجوع إليه وناب ينوب وانتاب ينتاب ويقال إن النوب النحل قالوا وسميت به لرعيها ونوبها إلى مكانها وقد قيل إنه جمع نائب وقول أبي ذؤيب — أرقت لذكره من غير نوب … كما يهتاج موش
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 و ب
النون والواو والباء كلمة واحدة تدل على اعتياد مكان ورجوع إليه وناب ينوب وانتاب ينتاب ويقال إن النوب النحل قالوا وسميت به لرعيها ونوبها إلى مكانها وقد قيل إنه جمع نائب وقول أبي ذؤيب أرقت لذكره من غير نوب كما يهتاج موشي قش …
The letters n-w-b are a single word indicating becoming accustomed to a place and returning to it. 'Naba yanubu' and 'intaba yantabu'. It is said that al-nawb are bees, said to be named thus for their grazing and their returning (nawb) to their place. It has also been said that it is the plural of na'ib. And the saying of Abu Dhu'ayb: 'I was kept sleepless by the memory of him, without nawb, just as…' 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
- وwāwbetween the lips · 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
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 ↗
و
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 ↗
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
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 2580و
Level of existence: تعيين الرتب والمقامات والمنازل · the determination of ranks, stations and waystations
Divine Name: رفيع الدرجات · Rafīʿ al-Darajāt, Exalted in Degrees
Lunar mansion: الرشا · al-Rashāʾ
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62121Spheres 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 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.
و
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي الأشياء المشتبكة في الإنسان مثل العروق والأصابع وما أشبه ذلك.
It is the intertwined things in the human being, such as veins, fingers and the like.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي الأشياء المباينة لبني آدم مثل الأفلاك والجبال وما أشبه ذلك
It is things distinct from the children of Adam, such as the celestial spheres, mountains and the like.
With kasra ـِ
فهي الأشياء المشتبكة المستقذرة أو المبغوضة كالأمعاء ونحوها.
It is intertwined things that are filthy or detested, such as the intestines and the like.
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 nucleus18 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterن و
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 30798 ↗
- نوبالنون والواو والباء كلمة واحدة تدل على اعتياد مكان ورجوع إليه وناب ينوب وانتاب ينتاب ويقال إن النوب النحلQ 18 · L30816
- نوتالنون والواو والتاء ليس عندي أصلا على أنهم يقولون نات ينوت وينيت إذا تمايل من ضعف فإن صح هذا فلعل النوتي وهو الملاح منهL30821
- نوحالنون والواو والحاء أصل يدل على مقابلة الشيء للشيء منه تناوح الجبلان إذا تقابلا وتناوحت الريحان تقابلتا في المهب وهذه الريح نيحة لتلك أي مقابلتها ومنهL30824
- نوخالنون والواو والخاء كلمة واحدة وهي أنخت الجمل فاما فعل المطاوعة منه فقالوا أنخته فبرك وقال آخرون استناخ وجاء في الحديث وإن أنيخ على صخرة استناخ وقال اL30829
- نورالنون والواو والراء أصل صحيح يدل على إضاءة واضطراب وقلة ثبات منه النور والنار سميا بذلك من طريقة الإضاءة ولأن ذلك يكون مضطربا سريع الحركة وتنورت النارQ 194 · L30833
- نوسالنون والواو والسين أصل يدل على اضطراب وتذبذب وناس الشىء تذبذب ينوس وسمي أبو نواس لذؤابتين له كانتا تنوسان ويقولون نست الإبل سقتهاQ 241 · L30845
- نوشالنون والواو والشين أصل صحيح يدل على تناول الشيء ونشته نوشا وتناوشت تناولتQ 1 · L30848
- نوصالنون والواو والصاد أصل صحيح يدل على تردد ومجىء وذهاب وناص عن قرنه ينوص نوصا والمناص المصدر والملجا أيضاQ 1 · L30853
- نوضالنون والواو والضاد فيه كلمات متباينة الأولى النوض وصلة ما بين العجز والمتن والثانية قولهم ناض في البلاد ذهب والثالثة الأنواض الأودية واحدها نوضL30858
- نوطالنون والواو والطاء أصل صحيح يدل على تعليق شيء بشيء ونطته به علقته به والنوط ما يتعلق به أيضا والجمع أنواط وفي المثل عاط بغير أنواط أي أنه يعطو يتناولL30862
- نوعالنون والواو والعين كلمتان إحداهما تدل على طائفة من الشيء مماثلة له والثانية ضرب من الحركة الأول النوع من الشيء الضرب منه وليس هذا من نوع ذاك والثاني L30873
- نوفالنون والواو والفاء أصل صحيح يدل على علو وارتفاع وناف ينوف طال وارتفع والنوف السنام وجمعه أنواف وممكن أن يكون قولهم مائة ونيف من هذا وقد ذكرناه في نيفL30879
- نوقالنون والواو والقاف أصل يدل على سمو وارتفاع وأرفع موضع في الجبل نيق والأصل الواو وحولت ياء للكسرة التي قبلها وممكن أن يكون الناقة من هذا القياس لارتفاQ 7 · L30883
- نوكالنون والواو والكاف كلمة واحدة هي النواكه والنوك وهي الحمق ورجل أنوك ومستنوك وهم نوكيL30892
- نولالنون والواو واللام أصل صحيح يدل على إعطاء ونولته أعطيته والنوال العطاء ونلته نولا مثل أنلته وقولك ما نولك أن تفعل كذا فمنه أيضا أي ليس ينبغي أن يكون L30895
- نومالنون والواو والميم أصل صحيح يدل على جمود وسكون حركة منه النوم نام ينام نوما ومناما وهو نؤوم ونومة كثير النوم ورجل نومة خامل لا يؤبه له ومنه استنام ليQ 9 · L30904
- نونالنون والواو والنون كلمة واحدة والنون الحوت و ذو النون سيف لبعض العرب كأنه شبه بالنونQ 1 · L30910
- نوهالنون والواو والهاء كلمة تدل على سمو وارتفاع وناه النبات ارتفع وناهت الناقة رفعت رأسها وصاحت ومنه نهت بالشيء ونوهت رفعت ذكره ويقولون ناهت نفسه قويتL30913
In the sister scriptsHebrew נ ו בSyriac ܢ ܘ ܒ
| Arabic | ن و ب |
| Hebrew | נ ו ב |
| Syriac | ܢ ܘ ܒ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩬 𐩥 𐩨 |
| Phoenician | 𐤍 𐤅 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