الكف

Root entry · 32 derived lemmas

The root 'Kaf' (كف) primarily relates to the hand and its actions, encompassing concepts of stopping, preventing, and covering. It extends to meanings of sufficiency, sustenance, and the edge or boundary of things. Figuratively, it can denote collective action or a group.

Derived headwords

الكُفّnoun

1.
handboth
The hand, or the part of the arm extending to the elbow.
2.
small plantclassical
A type of plant, specifically the 'foolish herb' (بقلة الحمقاء).
3.
blessingclassical
A blessing or favor.
4.
prosody termclassical
In prosody, the omission of the seventh letter if it is silent, such as in 'fa'ilātun' and 'mafā'īlun', resulting in 'fa'ilāt' and 'mafā'īl'.

أكُفّnoun

1.
hands (plural)both
Plural of 'kuff' (hand).

كُفُوفnoun

1.
hands (plural)both
Another plural form of 'kuff' (hand).
2.
maturityclassical
A camel's maturity, causing its teeth to shorten and nearly disappear.

ذو الكُفَّينname

1.
idol nameclassical
An idol belonging to the tribe of Daws.
2.
sword nameclassical
The name of a sword belonging to Anmar bin Half, and also a sword of Abdullah bin Asram.

ذو الكُفّname

1.
sword nameclassical
The name of a sword belonging to Malik bin Abi bin Ka'b Al-Ansari, and also a sword of Khalid bin Al-Muhajir bin Khalid bin Al-Walid.

ذو الكفّ الأشلّname

1.
person's epithetclassical
An epithet for Amr bin Abdullah, a knight from the Bakr bin Wa'il tribe.

كفّ الكلبnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'dog's paw'.

كفّ السبعnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'beast's paw' (possibly hyena or wild dog).

كفّ الضبعnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'hyena's paw'.

كفّ الهرّnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'cat's paw'.

كفّ الأسدnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'lion's paw'.

كفّ الذئبnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'wolf's paw'.

كفّ الأجذمnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'leper's paw'.

كفّ الجذماءnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'leper's paw'.

كفّ آدمnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'Adam's paw'.

كفّ مريمnoun

1.
plant nameclassical
A type of plant, also known as 'Mary's paw'.

كِفَاحًاadverb

1.
face to faceboth
In direct confrontation or combat; face to face.

كافّةnoun

1.
allboth
All of them; the entirety. It is used as a collective noun and does not take the definite article 'al'.

كَفَّتverb

1.
to mature (camel)classical
A camel matured, its teeth shortening.
2.
to hemclassical
To hem the edge of a garment; the second stitch after the 'shalla'.
3.
to overfillclassical
An container was overfilled to the brim.
4.
to bandageclassical
To bandage a leg with a cloth.

مَكْفُوفَةadjective

1.
tied shutboth
A bag or container that is tied shut or sealed.
2.
protectedclassical
Figuratively, a protected covenant or a contained evil.

كَفَّverb

1.
to stopboth
To stop, cease, refrain from doing something.
2.
to preventboth
To prevent someone from doing something or to ward off.
3.
to become blindboth
To become blind (used with 'basar').

كَفَّفْتُهُverb

1.
to ward offboth
To ward off or turn away from someone or something.

تَكَفْكَفَverb

1.
to ward offclassical
Intensive form of 'kafafa', to ward off or repel.

كَفَافnoun

1.
sufficiencyboth
Enough sustenance that suffices and enriches, preventing need.
2.
edgeboth
The boundary or edge of something.
3.
sword edgeclassical
The sharp edge of a sword.

الكِفَافnoun

1.
boundaryboth
The boundary or surrounding edge of something.

كَفَافٌadverb

1.
enoughclassical
Sufficiently; enough. Used as an imperative, meaning 'stop for me'.

الكُفَّةnoun

1.
hemboth
The part that encircles the hem of a garment, or anything elongated like a hem or sand dune.
2.
upper edgeclassical
The upper edge of a garment without fringe.
3.
edgeboth
The edge or boundary of anything.
4.
scale panboth
A pan of a scale (can be pronounced with 'kasr' or 'fath').
5.
snareclassical
A snare or trap used by a hunter (can be pronounced with 'kasr' or 'damm').
6.
drumstickclassical
The stick used for a drum (can be pronounced with 'damm').
7.
round objectboth
Anything round.
8.
water basinboth
A hollow where water collects.
9.
gum lineclassical
The part of the gum that hangs down (can be pronounced with 'kasr' or 'damm').
10.
end of treeclassical
The end or top of a tree where it stops growing.
11.
crowdclassical
A dense gathering or crowd of people, or the nearest part of a crowd.
12.
cloud edgeclassical
The edge or fringe of a cloud.
13.
cheese cooking potclassical
A container made of dung and mud in which cheese is cooked.
14.
twilightclassical
The time when night meets day, either at sunrise or sunset.
15.
antelope trapclassical
A device used to hunt antelopes.
16.
lower part of armorclassical
The lower part of a coat of mail or armor.
17.
elongated sandclassical
An elongated stretch of sand.

الكُفَفnoun

1.
circular patternsclassical
Circular patterns in tattooing.
2.
poolsclassical
Pools or depressions containing water.

استَكْفَأَverb

1.
to surroundboth
To surround something or someone, looking at it.
2.
to coil (snake)classical
A snake coiled up.
3.
to gather (hair)classical
Hair gathered together.
4.
to give charityclassical
To extend one's hand in giving charity.
5.
to begboth
A beggar extending his hand to ask.
6.
to seek clarityclassical
To seek clarification by shielding one's eyes with a hand.

المُسْتَكْفَاتnoun

1.
eyesclassical
Eyes, because they are in depressions (kufuf).
2.
gathered camelsclassical
Camels gathered together.

تَكَفْكَفَverb

1.
to turn backclassical
To turn back or retreat.

انْكَفَّverb

1.
to turn awayboth
To turn away from a place or thing.

Parallel reading

الكف: اليد، أو إلى الكوع

The hand: the hand, or up to the elbow.

وفي العروض: إسقاط الحرف السابع إذا كان ساكنا، كنون فاعلاتن ومفاعيلن، فيصير: فاعلات ومفاعيل.

And in prosody: omitting the seventh letter if it is silent, like the 'nun' in 'fa'ilātun' and 'mafā'īlun', so it becomes: 'fa'ilāt' and 'mafā'īl'.

وذو الكفين: صنم كان لدوس، وسيف أنمار بن حلف، وسيف عبد الله بن أصرم، وفد على كسرى، فسلحه بسيفين، والآخر: أسطام.

And Dhu al-Kaffayn: an idol belonging to Daws, and the sword of Anmar bin Half, and the sword of Abdullah bin Asram; he visited Kisra, who presented him with two swords, the other being Astam.

ولقيته كفة كفة، كخمسة عشر، وكفة لكفة، وكفة عن كفة، على فك التركيب، أي: كفاحا، كأن كفك مست كفه، أو ذلك إذا لقيته فمنعته من النهوض ومنعك.

And I met him kaffatan kaffah, like fifteen, and kaffatan li-kaffah, and kaffatan 'an kaffah, breaking the compound, meaning: face to face, as if your hand touched his hand, or that is when you meet him and prevent him from rising and he prevents you.

وجاء الناس كافة، أي: كلهم، ولا يقال: جاءت الكافة، لأنه لا يدخلها أل، ووهم الجوهري، ولا تضاف.

And the people came, all of them, meaning: all of them. It is not said: 'the kaffah came', because it does not take the definite article 'al', and Al-Jawhari was mistaken, and it is not used in a possessive construction.

وكفت الناقة كفوفا: كبرت فقصرت أسنانها، حتى تكاد تذهب، فهي كاف وكفوف.

And the she-camel 'kaffat' kufuufan: she matured and her teeth shortened, until they almost disappeared, so she is 'kaff' and 'kufuf'.

والثوب كفا: خاط حاشيته، وهو الخياطة الثانية بعد الشل.

And the garment was hemmed: its edge was sewn, and it is the second stitch after the 'shalla'.

والإناء: ملأه ملأ مفرطا.

And the vessel: it was overfilled to an extreme.

وعيبة مكفوفة: مشرجة مشدودة.

And a 'aybah makfufah': a tied-shut, fastened bag.

وفي الحديث: "وإن بينهم عيبة مكفوفة"، مثل بها الذمة المحفوظة التي لا تنكث، أو معناه أن الشر يكون مكفوفا بينهم، كما تكف العياب إذا أشرجت على ما فيها من المتاع، كذلك الذحول التي كانت بينهم، قد اصطلحوا على أن لا ينشروها، بل يتكافون عنها، كأنهم جعلوها في وعاء وأشرجوا عليها.

And in the hadith: 'And between them is a tied-shut bag', it is an example for a protected covenant that is not broken, or its meaning is that evil is contained among them, just as bags are tied shut when they are fastened over their contents, so too are the grudges that were between them; they agreed not to reveal them, but rather to refrain from them, as if they put them in a container and fastened it.

وكف بصره، بالفتح والضم: عمي.

And his sight was 'kuffa' (with fath or damm): he became blind.

وكففته عنه: دفعته وصرفته، ككفكفته، فكف هو، لازم متعد.

And I 'kafaf-tuhu' (prevented) him from it: I pushed him away and turned him aside, like 'kaf-kaf-tuhu', and he 'kaffa' (ceased), it is intransitive and transitive.

وكفاف الشيء، كسحاب: مثله، ومن الرزق: ما كف عن الناس، وأغنى، كالكفف، مقصورا.

And the 'kafaf' of a thing, like 'sahab': its equivalent. And from sustenance: what suffices people and enriches them, like 'al-kufuf', shortened.

ودعني كفاف، كقطام، أي: كف عني، وأكف عنك.

And leave me 'kafaf', like 'qattam', meaning: cease from me, and I will cease from you.

وكفة القميص، بالضم: ما استدار حول الذيل، أو كل ما استطال، كحاشية الثوب والرمل، وحرف الشيء، لأن الشيء إذا انتهى إلى ذلك كف عن الزيادة.

And the 'kuffah' of a shirt, with damm: what encircles the hem, or anything elongated, like the hem of a garment and a sand dune, and the edge of a thing, because when a thing reaches that point, it stops increasing.

وكفاف الشيء، بالكسر: حتاره، ومن السيف: غراره.

And the 'kifaf' of a thing, with kasr: its surrounding edge, and of a sword: its sharp edge.

والكفة، بالكسر من الميزان: م، ويفتح.

And the 'kaffah', with kasr, of a scale: is 'm', and it can be pronounced with 'fath'.

والكفة، بالضم، من الشجر: منتهاه، حيث ينقطع.

And the 'kuffah', with damm, of a tree: its end, where it stops.

واستكفوا حوله: أحاطوا به ينظرون إليه.

And they 'istakfu' around him: they surrounded him, looking at him.

والحية: ترحت.

And the snake: it coiled.

والشعر: اجتمع.

And the hair: it gathered.

وبالصدقة: مد يده بها.

And with charity: he extended his hand with it.

والسائل: طلب بكفه، كتكفف.

And the beggar: he asked with his palm, like 'takaf-faf'.

واستكففته: استوضحته، بأن تضع يدك على حاجبك، كمن يستظل من الشمس.

And I 'istak-faff-tuhu': I sought clarification from him, by placing your hand on your brow, like one seeking shade from the sun.

والمستكفات: العيون، لأنها في كفف، أي: نقر.

And the 'mustakfiyāt': the eyes, because they are in depressions, meaning: hollows.

وانكفوا عن الموضع: تركوه.

And they 'inkaffu' from the place: they left it.