Quran Root Words > Root b-y-n
The Arabic root ب ي ن (b-y-n) occurs 523 times in the Quran, in 13 different words, and is number 10 of the Quran's 1,642 roots by frequency. The most frequent word is بَيْن (bayn), 266 times, followed by مُبِين (mubīn), 119 times.
What the root b-y-n means
The Quranic Arabic Corpus glosses the root's form II verb بَيَّنُ (bayyanu) as "to make clear". Its other verbs are glossed there as follows: تَبَيَّنَ (tabayyana), form V, "to become clear", تَسْتَبِينَ (tastabīna), form X, "to make clear" and يُبِينُ (yubīnu), form IV, "to explain". In the MASAQ word-by-word glosses, بَيْن (bayn) is most often rendered "between".
The middle letter of b-y-n is the weak letter ي. In a root like this, called hollow, the middle letter is often not written as a consonant and turns into a long vowel instead. Compare the root's words بَيْن (bayn) and مُبِين (mubīn).
Every word from the root b-y-n in the Quran
The Quran builds 13 different words on b-y-n. The table lists them from most to least frequent, with the spelling the corpus gives each one, its word type, its meaning and its number of occurrences. Verbs account for 55 of the 523 occurrences, in forms II, IV, V and X; the rest are nouns, adjectives and participles.
| Arabic | Transliteration | Word type | Meaning | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| بَيْن | bayn | Nominal | "between" | 266 |
| مُبِين | mubīn | Active participle (form IV) | "clear" | 119 |
| بَيِّنَة | bayyina | Nominal | "clear" | 71 |
| بَيَّنُ | bayyanu | Verb (form II) | to make clear | 35 |
| تَبَيَّنَ | tabayyana | Verb (form V) | to become clear | 18 |
| بَيَان | bayān | Noun | "a declaration" | 3 |
| مُبَيِّنَٰت | mubayyināt | Nominal | "clear" | 3 |
| مُبَيِّنَة | mubayyina | Active participle (form II) | "clear" | 3 |
| بَيِّن | bayyin | Adjective | "clear" | 1 |
| مُسْتَبِين | mustabīn | Active participle (form X) | "the clear" | 1 |
| تَسْتَبِينَ | tastabīna | Verb (form X) | to make clear | 1 |
| تِبْيَٰن | tibyān | Noun | "a clarification" | 1 |
| يُبِينُ | yubīnu | Verb (form IV) | to explain | 1 |
| ب ي ن | b-y-n | All words from b-y-n | 523 |
Meanings in quotation marks are MASAQ word-by-word glosses, the others the corpus dictionary's, and the word types follow the dictionary. The Arabic is the corpus's, in the Quran's own spelling, so مُبَيِّنَٰت (mubayyināt) keeps its small dagger alif. Every count on this page is a lemma count from the Quranic Arabic Corpus, version 0.4. We compared each of these 13 counts, and the root total of 523, with the corpus's own dictionary entry for b-y-n, and all of them match.
The root b-y-n in the verses of the Quran
Words from b-y-n appear in 454 verses spread over 71 of the Quran's 114 suras. Sura 2 has the most of them, 39 verses. Below are the shortest verses in which the root's most frequent words occur, with the word marked. The text is the Uthmani text of Tanzil, and each reference opens the verse on quran.com with translations.
بَيْن (bayn), 266 times
بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ
Quran 55:20; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "between both of them"
يَخْرُجُ مِنۢ بَيْنِ ٱلصُّلْبِ وَٱلتَّرَآئِبِ
Quran 86:7; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "between"
يَطُوفُونَ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ حَمِيمٍ ءَانٍ
Quran 55:44; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "between it"
مُبِين (mubīn), 119 times
وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْمُبِينِ
Quran 43:2; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "the clear"
بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِىٍّ مُّبِينٍ
Quran 26:195; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "clear"
بَيِّنَة (bayyina), 71 times
وَلَقَد تَّرَكْنَا مِنْهَآ ءَايَةًۢ بَيِّنَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ
Quran 29:35; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "(as) evidence"
وَكَذَٰلِكَ أَنزَلْنَٰهُ ءَايَٰتٍۭ بَيِّنَٰتٍ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَهْدِى مَن يُرِيدُ
Quran 22:16; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "(as) clear verses"
Learning the words of b-y-n
بَيْن (bayn), no. 44 with 266 and مُبِين (mubīn), no. 93 with 119, are on our list of the 100 most common Quran words, which counts them the same way. Its verbs follow the patterns of the Arabic verb forms (forms II, IV, V and X), and our Arabic verb conjugator conjugates any root in any form, so you can see how بَيَّنُ changes for person and tense. The root b-y-n is one of the 1,642 roots you can search in our Quran root word explorer; for the rest of the language, see our Arabic learning resources by level.
Frequently asked questions
How many times is the root b-y-n used in the Quran?
523 times, in 13 different words, according to the Quranic Arabic Corpus. The most frequent is بَيْن (bayn), which occurs 266 times.
What does the Arabic root ب ي ن (b-y-n) mean?
The Quranic Arabic Corpus glosses the root's form II verb بَيَّنُ (bayyanu) as "to make clear". The root gives the Quran 13 words in all.
Which verb forms of b-y-n are used in the Quran?
Form II, بَيَّنُ (bayyanu), 35 times, form V, تَبَيَّنَ (tabayyana), 18 times, form X, تَسْتَبِينَ (tastabīna), once and form IV, يُبِينُ (yubīnu), once. Together the verbs account for 55 of the root's 523 occurrences.