Word
qur'an
Phoneticsquran
Definitions
01the Islamic holy book
n. the holy book of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the word of God.
n. the central religious text of Islam, considered by Muslims to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
“Many people learn to read the Qur'an in its original Arabic language.”
“The Qur'an serves as the primary source of Islamic law and provides moral guidance for millions of people worldwide.”
Usage
Usually written with a capital letter and often preceded by 'the'.
Teaching tip
The spelling 'Qur'an' is currently the most common in academic and respectful contexts, though 'Koran' is still found in older texts.
Synonyms
02a physical copy or translation
n. a specific copy or a translated version of the Islamic holy book.
n. a physical volume, specific edition, or translation of the Islamic scripture.
“He kept a small Qur'an on the shelf next to his bed.”
“The library houses several historical Qur'ans, including some with beautiful hand-painted decorations from the fourteenth century.”
Usage
In this sense, the word is countable and can be used with 'a' or in the plural.
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic الْقُرْآن (al-qurʔān), definite form of قُرْآن (qurʔān, “act of reciting”), verbal noun of قَرَأَ (qaraʔa, “to recite; to read (aloud)”). (The obsolete alternative spellings with "al-", like the Alcoran, redundantly retained the Arabic definite article.) Compare Classical Syriac ܩܪܝܢܐ (qeryānā, “reading; scripture”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/quran