The word qurban appears three times in the Quran. Those occurrences do not all describe the later Eid al-Adha ritual in the same narrow sense; they use the idea of an offering or act intended to bring a person nearer to God.
One occurrence appears in the story of Abel and Cain, where the brothers present offerings and one is accepted while the other is rejected. The passage emphasizes that acceptance is connected to piety and sincerity rather than merely performing an outward act.
The Arabic term is broader than the technical modern shorthand of “animal sacrifice.” In Islamic legal and devotional language, qurban became closely associated with the livestock sacrifice performed during Eid al-Adha, while udhiyah is often used for that specific rite.
Readers sometimes confuse the Quranic word count with the number of verses about sacrifice, or with occurrences of related Arabic roots and forms. Counting the exact word or term as presented in standard English discussions gives three appearances, not seven, five, or one.