← Back to Lisan al-Arab

نكه

Root entry · 8 derived lemmas

This root primarily concerns the sense of smell, specifically related to breath and mouth odor. It extends to the act of smelling, detecting odors, and by extension, the state of one's breath or mouth.

Derived headwords

النَّكْهَةnoun
  1. 1.
    mouth odorboth

    The smell emanating from the mouth.

  2. 2.
    scentclassical

    A specific smell or odor, often associated with the mouth.

نَكِهَverb
  1. 1.
    to smell breathclassical

    To breathe upon someone's nose, or to smell the breath of someone.

  2. 2.
    to exhaleclassical

    To exhale one's breath towards someone's nose.

نَكِهَverb
  1. 1.
    to smellclassical

    To smell the odor of someone's mouth.

اِسْتَنْكَهَverb
  1. 1.
    to smell someone's breathboth

    To smell someone's mouth to ascertain if they have been drinking.

  2. 2.
    to seek to smellclassical

    To ask or command someone to smell, in order to determine something.

نَكِهَverb
  1. 1.
    to exhale towards noseclassical

    To exhale one's breath towards the nose.

نَكِهَverb
  1. 1.
    to smell its scentclassical

    To smell the scent or odor of something.

نَكِهَverb
  1. 1.
    to have changed odorclassical

    To have one's mouth odor change, often due to overeating or indigestion.

النَّكِهadjective
  1. 1.
    mute (from weakness)classical

    Describing a camel that has lost its voice due to weakness.

Parallel reading

النَّكْهَة: ريح الفم.
The nakha: the smell of the mouth.
نكه له وعليه ينكه وينكه نكها: تنفس على أنفه.
He nakeh to him and upon him, yankehu and nakeha: he breathed upon his nose.
ونكهه نكها ونكهه واستنكهه: شم رائحة فمه، والاسم النكهة؛
And he nakehuhu nakhhan and nakehuhu and istankhahuhu: he smelled the odor of his mouth, and the noun is al-nakha.
نكهت مجالدا فوجدت منه ... كريح الكلب مات حديث عهد
I smelled Mujalid and found from him... like the smell of a dog that died recently.
ونكه هو ينكه وينكه: أخرج نفسه إلى أنفي.
And he nakehuhu yankehu and nakehuhu: he exhaled his breath towards my nose.
ونكهته: شممت ريحه.
And I nakehtuhu: I smelled its scent.
واستنكهت الرجل فنكه في وجهي ينكه وينكه نكها إذا أمره بأن ينكه ليعلم أشارب هو أم غير شارب؛
And I asked the man to smell, and he nakeh in my face, yankehu and nakeh nakhhan, if he ordered him to smell to know if he had drunk or not.
يقولون لي: انكه قد شربت مدامة ... فقلت لهم: لا بل أكلت سفرجلا
They say to me: Smell, I have drunk wine... So I said to them: No, rather I ate a quince.
وفي حديث شارب الخمر: استنكهوه أي شموا نكهته ورائحة فمه هل شرب الخمر أم لا.
And in the hadith of the wine drinker: 'Istankhuhu', meaning, smell his nakha and the odor of his mouth, whether he drank wine or not.
ونكه الرجل: تغيرت نكهته من التخمة.
And the man nakeh: his mouth odor changed from indigestion.
ويقال في الدعاء للإنسان: هنيت ولا تنكه أي أصبت خيرا ولا أصابك الضر.
And it is said in a prayer for a person: May you be blessed and not nakeh, meaning, may you attain good and not be afflicted by harm.
والنكه من الإبل: التي ذهبت أصواتها من الضعف، وهي لغة تميم في النقه؛
And al-nakaḥ from camels: those whose voices are gone from weakness, and it is a dialect of Tamim for al-naqaḥ.
بعد اهتضام الراغيات النكه
After the exhaustion of the complaining ones, the mute (camels).