Kaafir

So I learnt something interesting the other day. Some people tend to use the Arabic word 'kaafir' as a derogatory term to describe certain types of non-Muslims, ie. those that are openly insulting to Islam and Muslims. Its usually translated as 'disbeliever'. But actually thats just a tertiary meaning.

If we look at the root letters of the word 'kaafir;, they are:

Ka Fa Ra      

and the this means 'to conceal' or 'to cover'. So 'kaafir' is the one doing the 'kufr', ie. covering. So it follows that a  farmer can technically be called a 'kaafir', as he buries the seeds of his crops in the ground, covering them with earth.

In the Quran the word 'kaafir' is also used to mean someone who is ungrateful. That is, ungrateful of the gifts that Allaah ta'ala has bestowed on us.

And then its also used to mean a 'disbeliever'.

So the meaning of kufr:

Primary meaning is to cover.
Secondary meaning is to be ungrateful
Tertiary meaning is to disbelieve.

So its not actually an insult to call someone a 'Kaafir'.

Interestingly, many languages of the world will have similar sounding words to mean the same thing..

COVER ---> root letters: Ca Va Ra ---> Ka Fa Ra ---> kufr ---> COVER

A 19th century Indian scholar called Hameeduddin Farahi first researched this and began writing about Quranic words whose Arabic masdar's  exist in words of other languages in a book called 'Mufradaatul Quran'.