Quranic root
أوي
ʾ · w · y
The root expresses gathering or movement toward a place of attachment, refuge, or shelter, alongside a distinct branch of compassionate concern.
The gathering-oriented branch yields repairing to a refuge, providing shelter, and the place of resort or abode. Related derived uses describe things gathering together, while the separate compassion branch yields pity and requests for mercy.
- Maqāyīs · row 173
- Mufradāt · row 64
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 36
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَوَى
ʾawā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
To withdraw or repair to a place, or to take refuge there; to betake oneself to shelter, lodging, or protection.
Normally construed with إِلَى. In the cave passages, renderings such as “retreat” or “turn away” describe withdrawal toward a place of refuge, not a wholly separate generic sense.
- Lane · entry 7541
- Mufradāt · row 64
Selected Quran examples
آوَى
ʾāwā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 9 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.
To shelter, harbor, or take someone into one's care or abode; to provide lodging, protection, or refuge.
A transitive causative use, including taking someone to oneself or bringing someone into a place of safety or lodging.
- Lane · entry 7543
- Mufradāt · row 64
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:69word 5
“he took”
Quran 8:72word 12
“gave shelter”
Quran 23:50word 6
“and We sheltered them”
Quran 93:6word 4
“and give shelter”
مَأْوًى
maʾwan
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 22 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.
A place of resort, lodging, refuge, or abode.
May denote an ordinary place of shelter or an ultimate destination and abode in eschatological contexts, including جَنَّةُ الْمَأْوَى.
- Lane · entry 7553
- Mufradāt · row 64
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:151وَمَأْوَىٰهُمُand their refuge
- 3:162وَمَأْوَىٰهُand his abode
- 3:197مَأْوَىٰهُمْtheir abode
- 4:97مَأْوَىٰهُمْ(will have) their abode
- 4:121مَأْوَىٰهُمْtheir abode
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 10 Classical meanings
أَوَى لَهُ
To pity someone or feel compassion and mercy toward him.
A distinct construction with لِ, separate from repairing to a place or taking refuge.
- Lane · entry 7541
- Mufradāt · row 64
أَوَّى بِالْخَيْلِ
To call horses so that they return or draw together.
A conventional call to horses; the evidence presents both calling them back and drawing them together as closely related descriptions.
- Lane · entry 7542
إِيوَاءُ خَشَبِ الْفَحْمِ
The covering of charcoal wood with dust or earth.
A technical use of the verbal noun for covering the wood used to make charcoal.
- Lane · entry 7543
تَأَوَّى
To gather or draw together; of birds, horses, or people, to collect or flock together.
The use may describe a group becoming gathered or mutually joined.
- Lane · entry 7544
تَأَوَّى
Of a wound, to draw together as it heals.
A specialized bodily use describing contraction or closing during healing.
- Lane · entry 7544
تَأَوَّى
To utter أَوْهِ, a cry of distress or pain.
A derived verbal use associated with vocalizing the interjection أَوْهِ.
- Lane · entry 7544
آوٍ، أُوِيٌّ
Gathering or flocking together, especially as applied to birds that collect into a group.
The plural form أُوِيٌّ is specifically reported for birds and is explicitly equated with the corresponding gathering participle.
- Lane · entry 7549
اِسْتَأْوَى
To ask or desire someone to show compassion or mercy.
A Form X causative/request construction taking a person as the one whose compassion is sought.
- Lane · entry 7547
مَأْوًى
A lodging or nightly resting place for animals, including sheep, goats, or camels.
A Classical specialization of the place noun for an animal's resting or lodging place.
- Lane · entry 7553
اِبْنُ آوَى
The jackal, a small wild animal.
A fixed compound noun; its plural بَنَاتُ آوَى can refer to males as well as females.
- Lane · entry 7550
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Form I renderings such as “retreat” and “turn away” are treated as contextual realizations of withdrawing or repairing to a refuge; the evidence does not require a separate generic sense of turning away.
The Quranic expression جَنَّةُ الْمَأْوَى has differing classical interpretations concerning who or what repairs to it, while its lexical core remains a place of resort or abode.
The horse-call entry preserves a reported construction whose exact emphasis is variously described as calling the horses back or drawing them together.