298 times in the Quran · 4 word forms · rank 27

The Quran root ن ف س n-f-s

Words built from the root ن ف س ([n-f-s]) appear 298 times in the Quran. The most common is نَفْس, “soul”, which comes 295 times. Learn the root once and you can recognise every word made from it.

Words from this root

Word	Say it	Meaning	Times
نَفْس	nafs	soul · themselves	295
تَنَفَّسَ	tanaffasa	it breathes	1
يَتَنافَسِ	yatanaafasi	let aspire	1
مُتَنافِس	mutanaafis	aspirers	1

Examples from the Quran

يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّا أَنفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ ٩

أَنفُسَهُمْ anfusahum · themselves

They [think to] deceive Allāh and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not. (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:9)

أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ ٤٤

أَنفُسَكُمْ anfusakum · yourselves

Do you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture? Then will you not reason? (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:44)

وَالصُّبْحِ إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ ١٨

تَنَفَّسَ tanaffasa · it breathes

And by the dawn when it breathes [i.e., stirs] (Surah At-Takwir, 81:18)

خِتَامُهُ مِسْكٌ وَفِي ذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ الْمُتَنَافِسُونَ ٢٦

فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ falyatanāfasi · let aspire

The last of it is musk. So for this let the competitors compete. (Surah Al-Mutaffifin, 83:26)

Surahs where it comes most

Each meaning is taken from the word-by-word translation of the verses, so a word can show two meanings from different contexts. Root and base-word data come from the Quranic Arabic Corpus.