K-P-R is a
Semitic root, in Arabic and Hebrew rendered as K-F-R (
Arabic: ك-ف-ر;
Hebrew: כ-פ-ר).
The basic meaning of the root is "to cover", but it is used in the sense "to conceal" and hence "to deny", and its notability derives from its use for religious
heresy or
apostasy (as it were describing the "concealment" of religious truth) in both
Islam and
Judaism.
Etymology
Georges Bohas and Mihai Dat, in a study of
triconsonantal Semitic roots, noted a connection of X-p-r, p-r-X and p-X-r roots (where X is another consonant) with meanings like "break off", "part," "cut", "shut off", "remove", "break up", "hide", "expel", suggesting a
Proto-Semitic biconsontal root pr meaning "cut, divide."[1] It is first attested in the
Akkadian verb kaparu ("wipe, smear"), with
D-stemkupparu.[2]
Kāfir (
Arabic: كافِر), pl. Kuffār (كُفّار) and Kāfirīn (كافِرين),
Kofer (
Hebrew: כופר), pl. Kofrim (
Hebrew: כופרים) — "coverer" — unbeliever; "a person who hides or covers the truth"