Quran Root Words > Root k-l-l
The Arabic root ك ل ل (k-l-l) occurs 377 times in the Quran, in 4 different words, and is number 17 of the Quran's 1,642 roots by frequency. The most frequent word is كُلّ (kull), 359 times, followed by كُلَّمَا (kullamā), 15 times.
What the root k-l-l means
The corpus dictionary gives no gloss for this root's words, so the meaning here comes from the word-by-word glosses of the MASAQ dataset, which most often render كُلّ (kull) as "every".
The second and third letters of k-l-l are the same letter, ل. In many words the two are written as one letter with a shadda, the mark that doubles a consonant, as in كُلّ (kull).
Every word from the root k-l-l in the Quran
The Quran builds 4 different words on k-l-l. 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. The Quran uses no verb from k-l-l: all 377 occurrences are nouns, adjectives or participles.
| Arabic | Transliteration | Word type | Meaning | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| كُلّ | kull | Nominal | "every" | 359 |
| كُلَّمَا | kullamā | Time adverb | "every time" | 15 |
| كَلَٰلَة | kalāla | Noun | "no parent or child" | 2 |
| كَلّ | kall | Noun | "a burden" | 1 |
| ك ل ل | k-l-l | All words from k-l-l | 377 |
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 كَلَٰلَة (kalāla) 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 4 counts, and the root total of 377, with the corpus's own dictionary entry for k-l-l, and all of them match.
The root k-l-l in the verses of the Quran
Words from k-l-l appear in 355 verses spread over 74 of the Quran's 114 suras. Sura 2 has the most of them, 23 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.
كُلّ (kull), 359 times
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ
Quran 55:26; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "everyone"
وَيْلٌ لِّكُلِّ أَفَّاكٍ أَثِيمٍ
Quran 45:7; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "to every"
يَأْتُوكَ بِكُلِّ سَٰحِرٍ عَلِيمٍ
Quran 7:112; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "[with] every"
كُلَّمَا (kullamā), 15 times
أَوَكُلَّمَا عَٰهَدُوا۟ عَهْدًا نَّبَذَهُۥ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Quran 2:100; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "and is (it not that) whenever"
كُلَّمَآ أَرَادُوٓا۟ أَن يَخْرُجُوا۟ مِنْهَا مِنْ غَمٍّ أُعِيدُوا۟ فِيهَا وَذُوقُوا۟ عَذَابَ ٱلْحَرِيقِ
Quran 22:22; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "every time"
كَلَٰلَة (kalāla), 2 times
يَسْتَفْتُونَكَ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِى ٱلْكَلَٰلَةِ ۚ إِنِ ٱمْرُؤٌا۟ هَلَكَ لَيْسَ لَهُۥ وَلَدٌ وَلَهُۥٓ أُخْتٌ فَلَهَا نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ ۚ وَهُوَ يَرِثُهَآ إِن لَّمْ يَكُن لَّهَا وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِن كَانَتَا ٱثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُمَا ٱلثُّلُثَانِ مِمَّا تَرَكَ ۚ وَإِن كَانُوٓا۟ إِخْوَةً رِّجَالًا وَنِسَآءً فَلِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ ٱلْأُنثَيَيْنِ ۗ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ أَن تَضِلُّوا۟ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌۢ
Quran 4:176; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "the"
۞ وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ أَزْوَٰجُكُمْ إِن لَّمْ يَكُن لَّهُنَّ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِن كَانَ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَلَكُمُ ٱلرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْنَ ۚ مِنۢ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِينَ بِهَآ أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۚ وَلَهُنَّ ٱلرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِن لَّمْ يَكُن لَّكُمْ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِن كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ ٱلثُّمُنُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُم ۚ مِّنۢ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ تُوصُونَ بِهَآ أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۗ وَإِن كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلَٰلَةً أَوِ ٱمْرَأَةٌ وَلَهُۥٓ أَخٌ أَوْ أُخْتٌ فَلِكُلِّ وَٰحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا ٱلسُّدُسُ ۚ فَإِن كَانُوٓا۟ أَكْثَرَ مِن ذَٰلِكَ فَهُمْ شُرَكَآءُ فِى ٱلثُّلُثِ ۚ مِنۢ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَىٰ بِهَآ أَوْ دَيْنٍ غَيْرَ مُضَآرٍّ ۚ وَصِيَّةً مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ
Quran 4:12; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "(has) no parent or child"
Learning the words of k-l-l
كُلّ (kull), no. 28 with 359, is on our list of the 100 most common Quran words, which counts it the same way. The root k-l-l 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 k-l-l used in the Quran?
377 times, in 4 different words, according to the Quranic Arabic Corpus. The most frequent is كُلّ (kull), which occurs 359 times.
What does the Arabic root ك ل ل (k-l-l) mean?
The corpus dictionary gives no gloss for this root's words, so the meaning here comes from the word-by-word glosses of the MASAQ dataset, which most often render كُلّ (kull) as "every". The root gives the Quran 4 words in all.
Does the Quran use a verb from the root k-l-l?
No. All 377 occurrences of k-l-l in the Quran are nouns, adjectives or participles; the most frequent is كُلّ (kull).