Quran Root Words > Root n-z-l
The Arabic root ن ز ل (n-z-l) occurs 293 times in the Quran, in 12 different words, and is number 28 of the Quran's 1,642 roots by frequency. The most frequent word is أَنزَلَ (anzala), 183 times, followed by نَزَّلَ (nazzala), 62 times.
What the root n-z-l means
The Quranic Arabic Corpus glosses the root's form I verb نَزَلَ (nazala) as "to descend, to bring down". Its other verbs are glossed there as follows: أَنزَلَ (anzala), form IV, "to send down, to reveal", نَزَّلَ (nazzala), form II, "to send down, to reveal" and تَنَزَّلَتْ (tanazzalat), form V, "to descend, to bring down".
All three letters of n-z-l, ن ز ل, are consonants with no weak letter among them, and every word the Quran builds on the root keeps all three in the same order. In أَنزَلَ (anzala) and نَزَّلَ (nazzala) only the vowels and the added letters differ.
Every word from the root n-z-l in the Quran
The Quran builds 12 different words on n-z-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. Verbs make up 258 of the root's 293 occurrences, in forms I, II, IV and V.
| Arabic | Transliteration | Word type | Meaning | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَنزَلَ | anzala | Verb (form IV) | to send down, to reveal | 183 |
| نَزَّلَ | nazzala | Verb (form II) | to send down, to reveal | 62 |
| تَنزِيل | tanzīl | Verbal noun (form II) | "a revelation" | 15 |
| نُزُل | nuzul | Noun | "a lodging" | 8 |
| تَنَزَّلَتْ | tanazzalat | Verb (form V) | to descend, to bring down | 7 |
| نَزَلَ | nazala | Verb (form I) | to descend, to bring down | 6 |
| مُنزِلِين | munzilīn | Active participle (form IV) | "bring down" | 5 |
| مَنَازِل | manāzil | Noun | "phases" | 2 |
| مُنزَل | munzal | Passive participle (form IV) | "[the ones] sent down" | 2 |
| مُنَزَّل | munazzal | Passive participle (form II) | "sent down" | 1 |
| مُنَزِّل | munazzil | Active participle (form II) | "send it down" | 1 |
| نَزْلَة | nazla | Noun | "descent" | 1 |
| ن ز ل | n-z-l | All words from n-z-l | 293 |
Meanings in quotation marks are MASAQ word-by-word glosses, the others the corpus dictionary's, and the word types follow the dictionary. Every count on this page is a lemma count from the Quranic Arabic Corpus, version 0.4. We compared each of these 12 counts, and the root total of 293, with the corpus's own dictionary entry for n-z-l, and all of them match.
The root n-z-l in the verses of the Quran
Words from n-z-l appear in 257 verses spread over 60 of the Quran's 114 suras. Sura 2 has the most of them, 22 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.
أَنزَلَ (anzala), 183 times
كَمَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَى ٱلْمُقْتَسِمِينَ
Quran 15:90; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "we sent down"
مَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِتَشْقَىٰٓ
Quran 20:2; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "we (have) sent down"
وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ ٱلْمُعْصِرَٰتِ مَآءً ثَجَّاجًا
Quran 78:14; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "and we sent down"
نَزَّلَ (nazzala), 62 times
وَلَوْ نَزَّلْنَٰهُ عَلَىٰ بَعْضِ ٱلْأَعْجَمِينَ
Quran 26:198; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "we (had) revealed it"
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا ٱلذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُۥ لَحَٰفِظُونَ
Quran 15:9; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "have sent down"
تَنزِيل (tanzīl), 15 times
تَنزِيلَ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Quran 36:5; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "a revelation"
تَنزِيلٌ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Quran 56:80; word-by-word gloss of the marked word: "a revelation"
Learning the words of n-z-l
أَنزَلَ (anzala), no. 57 with 183, is on our list of the 100 most common Quran words, which counts it the same way. Its verbs follow the patterns of the Arabic verb forms (forms I, II, IV and V), and our Arabic verb conjugator conjugates any root in any form, so you can see how أَنزَلَ changes for person and tense. The root n-z-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 n-z-l used in the Quran?
293 times, in 12 different words, according to the Quranic Arabic Corpus. The most frequent is أَنزَلَ (anzala), which occurs 183 times.
What does the Arabic root ن ز ل (n-z-l) mean?
The Quranic Arabic Corpus glosses the root's form I verb نَزَلَ (nazala) as "to descend, to bring down". The root gives the Quran 12 words in all.
Which verb forms of n-z-l are used in the Quran?
Form IV, أَنزَلَ (anzala), 183 times, form II, نَزَّلَ (nazzala), 62 times, form V, تَنَزَّلَتْ (tanazzalat), 7 times and form I, نَزَلَ (nazala), 6 times. Together the verbs account for 258 of the root's 293 occurrences.