النَّسْخُ في اللُّغَةِ: الرَّفْعُ والإِزَالَةُ، كَقَوْلِهِمْ: «نَسَخَتِ الشَّمْسُ الظِّلَّ»، و«نَسَخَتِ الرِّيحُ الأَثَرَ». وَيُسْتَعْمَلُ أَيْضًا لُغَةً بِمَعْنًى قَرِيبٍ مِنَ النَّقْلِ، كَقَوْلِهِمْ: «نَسَخْتُ الكِتَابَ»، أَيْ: نَقَلْتُ مَا فِي أَحَدِهِمَا إِلَى الآخَرِ. وَالنَّسْخُ فِي اصْطِلَاحِ الشَّرْعِ: رَفْعُ الحُكْمِ الثَّابِتِ بِخِطَابٍ سَابِقٍ بِخِطَابٍ مُتَأَخِّرٍ عَنْهُ.

An-Naskh linguistically means: Raising/lifting (Ar-Raf’u) and removing (Al-Izaalah). This is like the statement: ‘The Sun Nasakhat the shade’ and: ‘The wind Nasakhat the trace’. It can also be used linguistically to intend something similar to transference (Naql) like in their statement: ‘Nasakhtu Al-Kitaab’ (i.e. I copied it and transferred what was on one to the other). An-Naskh in accordance to the Shar’a terminological convention (Al Istilaah) means: The lifting of the Hukm established by a previous address by an address that is later than it.