حَنَفَ, aor. ـِ {يَحْنِفُ}, (Ḳ,) inf. n. حَنْفٌ, (TḲ,) He, or it, inclined, or declined. (Ḳ, TA.) You say, حَنَفَ إِلَيْهِ (TA) andتحنّف↓ اليه (Ḳ) He inclined to it. (Ḳ, TA.) And حَنَفَ عَنْهُ andتحنّف↓ عنه He declined from it. (TA.)

حَنِفَ, aor. ـَ {يَحْنَفُ}, (Mṣb, Ḳ,) inf. n. حَنَفٌ; (Mṣb;) and حَنُفَ, aor. ـُ {يَحْنُفُ}; (Ḳ;) He had that kind of distortion which is termed حَنَفٌ as explained below. (Mṣb, Ḳ.)

حنّفهُ, (Ḳ,) or حنّف رِجْلَهُ, (Ṣ,) inf. n. تَحْنِيفٌ, (Ḳ,) He rendered him, (Ḳ,) or his leg, or foot, (Ṣ,) أَحْنَف. (Ṣ, Ḳ.)

تحنّف: see 1, in two places.

[Hence,] He did according to the حَنِيفِيَّة; (Ṣ, Ḳ;) i. e. the law of Abraham, which is the religion of El-Islám: (TA:) or he became circumcised: or he turned away from the worship of idols; (Ṣ, Ḳ;) and became, or made himself, a servant of God; or applied, or devoted, himself to religious services or exercises. (Ṣ.) [See تَحَنَّثَ.]

حَنَفٌ, originally, A natural wryness: and particularly an inversion of the foot, so that the upper side becomes the lower: so says IDrd; (Mgh;) or a crookedness in the leg, or foot; (Ṣ, O, Ḳ;) i. e., (Ṣ, O, but in the Ḳ “or”) a turning of one of the great toes towards the other: (Ṣ, O, Ḳ:) or [a distortion that causes] one's walking on the outer part of the foot, on the side in which is the little toe: (Ḳ: [and so accord. to an explanation of أَحْنَفُ↓ by IAạr cited in the Ṣ:]) or an inclining [app. inwards] in the fore part of the foot. (Lth, Ḳ.)

Accord. to Ibn-ʼArafeh and the Ḳ, it signifies also A right state or condition or tendency; and accord. to the former, the epithetأَحْنَفُ↓ is applied to him who has a wry leg, or foot, only by way of presaging a right state: but Er-Rághib explains حَنَفٌ better, as signifying an inclining, from error, to a right state or tendency. (TA.)

حَنَفِيَّةٌ The persons called in relation to the Imám Aboo-Ḥaneefeh [because they hold his tenets]; as alsoأَحْنَافٌ↓. (TA.) حَنَفِىٌّ [is its n. un.: and] signifies [also] one who is of the religion of Abraham. (Mgh. [See also حَنِيفٌ.])

A مِيضَأَة; [by which is here meant a vessel with a tap, for the purpose of ablution, such as is often used in a private house; and a fountain, i. e. a tank with taps, for the same purpose, in a mosque; because persons of the persuasion of Aboo-Ḥaneefeh must perform the ablution preparatory to prayer with running water, or from a tank or the like at least ten cubits in breadth and the same in depth;] but this application is post-classical. (TA.)

سُيُوفٌ حَنَفِيَّةٌ, (L, Ḳ,* TA,) orحَنِيفِيَّةٌ↓, (so accord. to the CK,) or حَنْفِيَّةٌ, (so in a MṢ. copy of the Ḳ,) Certain swords, so called in relation to El-Ahnaf Ibn-Keys; because he was the first who ordered to make them: by rule it should be أَحْنَفِيَّةٌ. (Lth, L, Ḳ.)

حَنِيفٌ Inclining to a right state or tendency: (Er-Rághib, TA:) or right, or having a right state or tendency; (Akh, Ṣ, TA;) thus applied in like manner as أَعْوَرُ is applied to a crow: (Ṣ:) [and particularly] inclining, from one religion, to another: (Ḥam p. 358:) or inclining, from any false religion, to the true religion: (Mgh:) or inclining in a perfect manner to El-Islám, and continuing firm therein: (Ḳ:) and any one who has performed the pilgrimage: (Aṣ, Ḳ, TA:) so say I’Ab and El-Ḥasan and Es-Suddee; and Az says the like on the authority of Eḍ-Ḍaḥḥák: (TA:) or one who is of the religion of Abraham, (Ḳ, TA,) in respect of making the Sacred House [of Mekkeh] his kibleh, and of the rite of circumcision: (TA:) [and] a Muslim; (Ṣ, Mgh, Mṣb;) because he inclines to the right religion: (Mṣb:) but in this last sense, it is a conventional term of the professors: (Mgh:) [or,] accord. to AO, the worshipper of idols, in the Time of Ignorance, called himself thus; and when El-Islám came, they thus called the Muslim: accord. to Akh, it was applied in the Time of Ignorance to him who was circumcised, and who performed the pilgrimage to the [Sacred] House; because the Arabs in the Time of Ignorance held nothing of the religion of Abraham except circumcision and that pilgrimage: accord. to Ez-Zejjájee, it was applied in the Time of Ignorance to him who made the pilgrimage to the [Sacred] House and performed the ablution on account of جَنَابَة and was circumcised; and when El-Islám came, it was applied to the Muslim, because of his turning from the belief in a plurality of gods: (TA:) also one who devotes himself to religious exercises; or applies himself to devotion: (Mṣb:) its predominant application is to Abraham: (Mgh:) pl. حُنَفَآءُ. (AO, TA.)

[Hence,] حَسَبٌ حَنِيفٌ Recent [grounds of pretension to respect or honour]; of the time of El-Islám; not old. (TA.)

Short. (Ḳ.)

A maker of sandals. (Ḳ.)

حَنِيفِيَّةٌ, accord. to Th and Zj, An inclining to a thing: but ISd says that this explanation is nought. (TA.)

The law of Abraham; which is the religion of El-Islám: also termed مِلَّةٌ حَنِيفِيَّةٌ. (TA.)

See also حَنَفِيَّةٌ.

أَحْنَفُ Having that kind of distortion which is termed حَنَفٌ as explained above; (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ;) applied to a man: (Ṣ, Mṣb:) and so [the fem.] حَنْفَآءُ applied to a leg or foot: (Ḳ:) accord. to IAạr, one who walks on the outer part of his foot, (Ṣ,) or of his feet, (Mṣb,) on the side in which is the little toe: (Ṣ:) or who has one of his great toes turning towards the other: (Mgh:) its abbreviated dim. is حُنَيْفٌ↓. (Mṣb.) See حَنَفٌ, in two places.

Also حَنْفَآءُ, A curved staff or stick; in the dial. of Syria. (TA.)

A bow; (Ḳ;) because of its curved shape. (TA.)

A razor; (Ḳ;) for the same reason. (TA.)

The chameleon. (Ḳ.)

The tortoise. (Ḳ.)

A certain marine fish, also called أَطُومٌ. (Ḳ.)

A certain tree. (IAạr, Ḳ.)

‡ A changeable female slave, at one time lazy and at another brisk. (IAạr, Ḳ.)