نقص

Core meaning

To diminish: to take away from an expected quantity or measure, so that it falls short.

Uses

1. نَقَصَ, يَنقُصُ → "diminish" : to make a thing lose part of its measure: the balance, the earth, what is due.

   • «وَلَا تَنقُصُوا۟ ٱلْمِكْيَالَ وَٱلْمِيزَانَ» — "and do not diminish the measure nor the balance" (11:84)
   • «نَأْتِى ٱلْأَرْضَ نَنقُصُهَا مِنْ أَطْرَافِهَآ» — "We come to the earth, diminishing it from its extremities" (21:44)

2. نَقْص → "diminution" : the noun: what comes to be lacking, given as a trial.

   • «وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ» — "a diminution of fruits" (7:130)

3. يُنقَصُ, مَنقُوص → "shortened" : the passive and the participle: what is diminished, or not.

   • «وَلَا يُنقَصُ مِنْ عُمُرِهِۦٓ» — "nor is his life shortened" (35:11)

Evidence from the text

Diminution is always measured against an expected measure. In 2:155 and 7:130, it is a trial: God tests by a diminution of goods, Self, and fruits, and seizes the clan of Fir'awn with years and a diminution of fruits. In 11:84, it is fraud: Shu'ayb forbids diminishing the measure and the balance. In 9:4, its absence marks fidelity kept: those who have diminished nothing of the pact see theirs completed.

The negation guarantees what is due: God will repay each his portion without deduction (11:109), and no life is extended or shortened without its being in a record (35:11). The earth too diminishes bodies, and God knows what it takes of them (50:4); He comes to the earth, diminishing it from its extremities (13:41, 21:44).

Distinctions

• بخس — to shortchange what is owed to another; نقص says the diminution itself, whatever its agent.
• جرم — to sever, to cut off; نقص takes away a part without cutting.
• نفد — to be exhausted to the end; نقص leaves a lesser quantity.