In Arabic, a root is a core set of three consonants (a trilateral root) from which many semantically related words are derived.
Root-based analysis helps group related words together, revealing patterns and deeper meanings in Quranic vocabulary.
Example:
Root:
ر ح م
(r-ḥ-m)
Derived words include:
-
الرَّحْمَـٰن
(Ar-Raḥmān) – The Most Merciful
-
الرَّحِيم
(Ar-Raḥīm) – Especially Merciful
-
رَحْمَة
(raḥmah) – Mercy
-
يَرْحَم
(yarḥam) – He has mercy
You can explore roots and see list of derived words etc by clicking on root in the Word Root preview section.
QUL exports root data as a SQLite database with two tables.
roots and
word_roots.
Table: roots
This table contains metadata for each trilateral root.
| Column |
Type |
Description |
| id |
INTEGER |
Unique identifier for the root |
| arabic_trilateral |
TEXT |
Arabic trilateral root letters |
| english_trilateral |
TEXT |
Transliteration of the root in English |
| words_count |
INTEGER |
Total occurrences of all derived words in the Quran |
| uniq_words_count |
INTEGER |
Count of unique word forms derived from this root |
Table: word_roots
This table maps each word in the Quran to its corresponding root.
| Column |
Type |
Description |
| root_id |
INTEGER |
Foreign key to the roots.id field |
| word_location |
TEXT |
Word reference (e.g. 2:3:5 for Surah 2, Ayah 3, Word 5) |
⚠️ You need the Word-by-Word Quran script to fetch the Word text based on their location. Word script can be downloaded from the
Quran script resource page