Arabic root

ن-ف-س

Nun-Fa-Sin

3 words from this root family

About this root

Nun-Fa-Sin (ن-ف-س) has 3 words in the Fahm dictionary: nafs (soul / self), tanaffus (breathing / respiration), nafsiyy (psychological / mental).

In the Quran, words built on this root occur 298 times in 270 verses, across 63 of the 114 suras. The first is in 2:9. The form نَفْسٌ (soul / self) accounts for 295 of them.

Themes: Quranic, Health, Symptoms, Science Medicine

Words from this root

Word	Meaning	Type	In the Quran	Taught in
نَفْسٌ nafs	soul / self	noun, A1	295×	The Most Frequent Words (Part 3)
تَنَفُّس tanaffus	breathing / respiration	noun, A2		Staying Healthy
نَفْسِيّ nafsiyy	psychological / mental	adjective, B2		Chemistry & Physics

“In the Quran” counts every occurrence of that dictionary form, in any of its senses.

In the Quran

يُخَـٰدِعُونَ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّآ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ

They think to beguile Allah and those who believe, and they beguile none save themselves; but they perceive not.

Quran 2:9

۞ أَتَأْمُرُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ بِٱلْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَتْلُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

Enjoin ye righteousness upon mankind while ye yourselves forget (to practise it)? And ye are readers of the Scripture! Have ye then no sense?

Quran 2:44

خِتَـٰمُهُۥ مِسْكٌ ۚ وَفِى ذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ ٱلْمُتَنَـٰفِسُونَ

Whose seal is musk - for this let (all) those strive who strive for bliss -

Quran 83:26

Arabic text: Tanzil Quran Text (Uthmani 1.1), CC BY 3.0, tanzil.net. English: Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain, via Project Gutenberg. Counts and verse choice: Quranic Arabic Corpus morphology data (corpus.quran.com).

Word cards with examples

A1noun

نَفْسٌ

nafs

soul / self

Example

يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ

yā ayyatuhā an-nafsu al-muṭmaʾinnatu irjiʿī ilā rabbik

O tranquil soul, return to your Lord (89:27-28)

Root: ن-ف-س Quranic

Grammar

Feminine noun. Plural: أَنْفُسٌ (anfus) or نُفُوسٌ (nufūs). Can mean 'soul,' 'self,' or 'person.' Used reflexively: نَفْسَهُ (himself).

Culture

The Quran describes three states of the soul: the commanding soul (an-nafs al-ammārah), the self-reproaching soul (al-lawwāmah), and the tranquil soul (al-muṭmaʾinnah).

A2noun

تَنَفُّس

tanaffus