Discover the meaning of the word Ship / Boat (سفن) in the Quran, with 3 verses in which it appears, and a detailed explanation from Al-Raghib al-Asfahani's Mufradat fi gharib al-Qur'an.
سفن
Ship / Boat
Root: س - ف - ن
Quranic language 3 verses
Updated on 29 May 2026 at 7:00 AM
📖 1 min read
Definition of Ship / Boat
As-safan: planing the exterior of something, like planing wood and leather.
Wind that sweeps dust is called safan.
As-safina: the ship.
The Almighty says: 'the owner of the ship' (Al-Kahf 79), 'the ships that sail on the sea' (Al-Baqara 164).
So they set out, until when they had embarked on the ship, al-Khidh r tore it open. [Moses] said, "Have you torn it open to drown its people? You have certainly done a grave thing."
As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force.