← Back to Lisan al-Arab

كرف

Root entry · 16 derived lemmas

The root كرف primarily relates to the act of smelling, particularly in animals like donkeys and stallions when detecting scents like urine or dung. It extends to describe specific behaviors associated with this smelling, such as lifting the head and curling the lip. The root also encompasses related nouns for objects or phenomena associated with this action or appearance.

Derived headwords

كَرَفَverb
  1. 1.
    to smellboth

    To sniff or smell something, especially a scent.

كَرَفَverb
  1. 1.
    to sniff urine/dungclassical

    Specifically used for a donkey or horse smelling dung or urine, then lifting its head.

يَكْرِفُverb
  1. 1.
    to smell (present)both

    Present tense of the verb 'to smell', particularly referring to the action of smelling dung or urine.

يُكْرِفُverb
  1. 1.
    to smell (present)both

    Present tense of the verb 'to smell', particularly referring to the action of smelling dung or urine.

كَرْفًاnoun
  1. 1.
    a smellingclassical

    The act or instance of smelling, as performed by an animal.

كَرَافًاnoun
  1. 1.
    a smellingclassical

    The act or instance of smelling, as performed by an animal.

كَرْفnoun
  1. 1.
    a smellingclassical

    The act or instance of smelling, as performed by an animal.

حِمَارٌ مُكْرَافٌadjective
  1. 1.
    smelling urineclassical

    An adjective describing a donkey that habitually smells urine.

الكِرَافnoun
  1. 1.
    brothelclassical

    A place where prostitutes gather; a brothel.

  2. 2.
    voyeurclassical

    One who steals glances at women; a voyeur.

الكِرْفnoun
  1. 1.
    waterskinclassical

    A waterskin made entirely from a single piece of leather.

كِرْفَتَيْنnoun
  1. 1.
    two waterskinsclassical

    The dual form of 'kirf', referring to two waterskins made from a single piece of leather.

الكِرْفَئnoun
  1. 1.
    cloud fragmentsclassical

    Small, accumulated fragments or pieces of cloud.

كِرْفَئَةnoun
  1. 1.
    cloud fragmentclassical

    A single piece or fragment of cloud.

تَكَرْفَأَverb
  1. 1.
    to accumulateclassical

    To pile up or accumulate, used to describe clouds.

الكِرْفَئnoun
  1. 1.
    egg shellclassical

    The hard, outer shell of an egg, also called 'qaiḍ'.

الكَرْثَئnoun
  1. 1.
    cloud fragmentsclassical

    Small, accumulated fragments or pieces of cloud (variant spelling).

Parallel reading

كرف الشيء: شمه.
Kharrafa the thing: he smelled it.
وكرف الحمار إذا شم بول الأتان ثم رفع رأسه وقلب شفته
And the donkey karrifa when it smelled the she-donkey's urine then lifted its head and curled its lip.
وكرف الحمار والبرذون يكرف ويكرف كرفا وكرافا وكرف: شم الروث أو البول أو غيرهما ثم رفع رأسه
And the donkey and the mule karrifa and yakrifu and yukrifu karfan, karāfan, and karfa: smelling dung or urine or other things then lifting its head.
وكذلك الفحل إذا شم طروقته ثم رفع رأسه نحو السماء وكشر حتى تقلص شفتاه
And likewise the stallion when it smells its mate then lifts its head towards the sky and bares its teeth until its lips retract.
مشاخصا طورا، وطورا كارفا
Looking intently at times, and at other times smelling.
وحمار مكراف: يكرف الأبوال.
And a makraf donkey: it smells urine.
والكراف: مجمش القحاب.
And al-kirāf: the gathering place of prostitutes.
والكرف: الدلو «2» من جلد واحد كما هو
And al-kuruf: the waterskin made from a single piece of leather as it is.
بكرفتين يتواهقان؟
With two waterskins they compete?
والكرفئ: قطع من السحاب متراكمة صغار، واحدتها كرفئة
And al-kurfa'u: small, accumulated pieces of cloud, its singular is kurfa'ah.
ككرفئة الغيث ذات الصبير، ... ترمي السحاب ويرمى لها
Like a fragment of rain-cloud with its mass, ... it throws clouds and clouds are thrown at it.
وتكرفأ السحاب: تراكب
And the clouds takarfa'a: they piled up.
والكرفئ: قشرة البيضة العليا اليابسة التي يقال لها القيض.
And al-kurfa'u: the dry upper eggshell which is called al-qaiḍ.