Qur'an

//kəˈɹɑn// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A specific version, edition, translation, or copy of one of the above-mentioned book.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The Islamic holy book, considered by Muslims to be the word of God as revealed to Muhammad.

    "In the summer of 2002, responding to the 9/11 atrocity, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made a selection of verses from the Qur'an a mandatory text for new students."

Example

More examples

"The holy book of Muslims is the Qur'an."

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”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.