Quranic root
ذأب
dh · ʾ · b
The root centers on unsettled, non-linear movement: coming or acting without remaining in one direction.
The wolf is associated with approaching from varying directions; this orientation extends to variable wind, alternating action, fluctuation, and wolf-like craft or predation.
- Maqāyīs · row 1876
- Lane · entry 21249
- Lane · entry 21253
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 3
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
ذِئْبٌ
dhiʾbun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Wolf.
The ordinary animal noun, used in the account of Joseph and his brothers.
- Lane · entry 21256
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 3 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 32 Classical meanings
ذُئِبَ؛ ذَأَبَهُ؛ مَذْؤُوبٌ
To be frightened by, attacked, overtaken, or fallen upon by a wolf; transitively, to frighten someone as a wolf does.
Also extended to being frightened by anything; the passive participle may describe a man whose flock has been attacked.
- Lane · entry 21249
- Lane · entry 21263
ذَأَبَ
To act like a wolf, approaching from another direction when guarded against from one direction.
A figurative description of elusive or shifting action.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَؤُبَ؛ ذَئِبَ
To become bad, wicked, deceitful, or crafty, like a wolf.
A figurative characterization of a person.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأْبٌ
A loud or vehement cry or sound.
Reported as a lexical explanation associated with wolf-like vocalizing.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأَبَ
To hasten or be quick in pace or journeying.
A reported figurative extension.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأَبَهُ
To despise, drive away, beat, blame, or disparage someone.
The closely related senses of repelling and treating someone with contempt are grouped here.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأَبَ الإِبِلَ
To drive or urge on camels.
A transitive construction with camels as the object.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأَبَهُ
To collect a thing.
A transitive lexical use distinct from the wolf-related figurative senses.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأَبَ
To make or set a camel saddle, including making its seating part even.
Used of preparing the saddle or its seating arrangement.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذَأَبَ لَهُ ذُؤَابَةً
To provide or arrange a lock of hair for a boy.
A construction involving a ذُؤَابَة, a pendent lock or plait of hair.
- Lane · entry 21249
ذُئِبَ؛ مَذْؤُوبٌ
Of a horse or similar animal, to be affected with the disease called ذِئْبَةٌ.
The term is applied especially to horses, but also to comparable riding or working animals.
- Lane · entry 21249
- Lane · entry 21263
ذَأَّبَ الرَّحْلَ
To equip a camel saddle with a ذِئْبَة, a designated saddle component.
A Form II construction concerning the structure of the saddle.
- Lane · entry 21250
أَذْأَبَتِ الأَرْضُ؛ أَرْضٌ مَذْأَبَةٌ
For land to contain or abound in wolves; land containing many wolves.
The first expression is verbal and the second adjectival or nominal.
- Lane · entry 21251
- Lane · entry 21261
تَذَاءَبَ لِلنَّاقَةِ
To disguise oneself as a wolf before a she-camel, frightening her so that she inclines toward a young one.
A specialized construction involving deceptive imitation to stimulate the animal's protective response.
- Lane · entry 21253
تَذَاءَبَ؛ مُتَذَائِبٌ
To do something by turns, or to be in a state of commotion or fluctuation.
Also used of wind coming from different directions.
- Lane · entry 21253
- Lane · entry 21264
اِسْتَذْأَبَ النَّقَدُ
For low, mean, or ignominious people to gain ascendancy.
A proverbial expression comparing ugly or inferior sheep that become dominant to wolves.
- Lane · entry 21254
غَرْبٌ ذَأْبٌ
A large bucket moved to and fro; by extension, something in much or quick ascending and descending motion.
A conventional expression associated with repeated back-and-forth movement.
- Lane · entry 21255
ذِئْبٌ
Figuratively, a perfidious, crafty, or predatory person; a wolf-like person among the vulnerable, including thieves, sharpers, or thieving paupers.
Used in proverbs and figurative appellations, including a person whose outward reputation is good while conduct is foul.
- Lane · entry 21256
أَكَلَهُمُ الضَّبُعُ وَالذِّئْبُ
A condition of dearth or drought.
A figurative expression for a year or circumstance in which people are consumed by scarcity.
- Lane · entry 21256
ذِئْبُهُ لَا يَشْبَعُ
A person's tongue continually devours another's reputation.
A figurative idiom comparing malicious speech to a wolf devouring flesh.
- Lane · entry 21256
ذِئْبُ يُوسُفَ
A person who is charged with another person's crime.
A proverbial expression referring to the wolf alleged to have consumed Joseph.
- Lane · entry 21256
دَاءُ الذِّئْبِ
An idiom for hunger, or, in another interpretation, death.
The source preserves both traditional explanations of the expression.
- Lane · entry 21256
الذِّئْبَانِ؛ أَظْفَارُ الذِّئْبِ
Names for groups of stars, including two stars near the stars called al-ʿAwāʾidh and al-Farqadān, and certain smaller stars called the wolf's claws.
An astronomical naming use.
- Lane · entry 21256
ذِئْبَةٌ
The angular intervening part of a camel saddle beneath the junction of its curved wooden pieces, pressing or lying upon the animal's back.
A technical saddle term, with details varying among saddle types and authorities.
- Lane · entry 21257
- Lane · entry 21262
ذِئْبَانٌ
The hair on a camel's neck and lips, or the remaining soft fur after most of the coat has fallen or been removed.
A specialized nominal use, distinct from the ordinary plural of ذِئْبٌ.
- Lane · entry 21258
ذُؤَابَةٌ
A pendent lock or portion of hair; by extension, anything hanging loosely or dangling, including a strap, thong, skin, cluster, or flame.
The extensions are based on the characteristic hanging or side-to-side movement of the object.
- Lane · entry 21260
ذُؤَابَةٌ
The highest part of something; figuratively, the highest rank or the nobles of a people.
Used of the summit of a mountain, the height of honor, or leading members of a community.
- Lane · entry 21260
ذَوَائِبُ الجَوْزَاءِ
A group of nine stars arranged in a curved or bowed form in Orion.
An astronomical name.
- Lane · entry 21260
ذَوَائِبُ لَيْلَةٍ
The last or latter portions of a night.
A figurative plural expression for the trailing portions of the night.
- Lane · entry 21260
مُذَأَّبٌ
A boy who has a ذُؤَابَة, a pendent lock of hair.
A descriptive participial use.
- Lane · entry 21262
مُذَأَّبٌ
A camel saddle furnished with a hanging skin or with a ذِئْبَة saddle component.
A technical saddle use distinct from the description of a boy with a hair lock.
- Lane · entry 21262
ذِئْبَةٌ
A disease of horses or similar animals affecting the throat or fauces.
The condition is described as involving hard white nodules and a traditional treatment involving perforation near the ear.
- Lane · entry 21257
- Lane · entry 21263
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form is the ordinary noun ذِئْبٌ; the many derived and figurative branches listed separately are Classical Arabic evidence, not additional Quranic senses.
Some proverb and technical usages preserve alternative traditional interpretations, especially دَاءُ الذِّئْبِ, which may denote hunger or death.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
Maqayis reports a further attributed interpretation of الإذْآب as fleeing; the packet provides no independent Lane form-level evidence sufficient to establish it as a separate dictionary branch, so it is retained only as an unassigned reported extension rather than a direct sense.