Quranic root
أخو
ʾ · kh · w
The root centers on being another's brother: sharing birth, attachment, or a defining bond, with extensions to fellowship, likeness, and connection.
The lexical field extends from siblinghood by birth or nursing to shared tribe, religion, craft, dealings, and affection; it also develops figurative senses of likeness and attachment, including the tethering object called آخِيَّةٌ.
- Maqāyīs · row 48
- Mufradāt · row 21
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 96
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَخٌ
ʾakhun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 75 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 brother: a male sibling sharing one or both parents.
The Quranic group includes the inflected forms أَخُو، أَخَا، أَخِي and the plural surface form إِخْوَانٌ when the context denotes siblinghood.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Mufradāt · row 21
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:12word 58
“(is) a brother”
A brother in an extended sense: a fellow of the same tribe, religion, community, commitment, or affection; also a fellow or like of another.
In prophetic expressions such as “their brother,” the term marks a member of the addressed people and a brother-like relation. In إِخْوَانُ الشَّيَاطِينِ it denotes fellows or counterparts, not biological siblings.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Mufradāt · row 21
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:50word 3
“(We sent) their brother”
Quran 17:27word 4
“brothers”
إِخْوَةٌ
ʾikhwahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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.
Siblings, especially brothers; in a kinship context, brothers and sisters.
This plural can refer to a group of siblings and, as in inheritance language, can include both male and female siblings.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Mufradāt · row 21
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:11word 46
“brothers and sisters”
Brothers joined by a bond of faith or fellowship rather than by birth.
The Quran uses the plural for believers joined in solidarity and shared religious identity.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Mufradāt · row 21
Selected Quran examples
Quran 49:10word 3
“(are) brothers”
أُخْتٌ
ʾukhtun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 14 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 sister: a female sibling.
The Quranic usage denotes a sister in a family or kinship relation.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Mufradāt · row 21
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:12word 60
“a sister”
A female fellow, associate, or counterpart; a like or corresponding thing.
The term may describe a person linked by righteousness or affiliation rather than birth, or a thing comparable to another in a relevant quality.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Mufradāt · row 21
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:28word 1
“O sister”
Quran 43:48word 9
“its sister”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:178أَخِيهِhis brother
- 2:220فَإِخْوَٰنُكُمْ ۚthen they (are) your brothers
- 3:103إِخْوَٰنًۭاbrothers
- 3:156لِإِخْوَٰنِهِمْabout their brothers
- 3:168لِإِخْوَٰنِهِمْabout their brothers
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 20 Classical meanings
أَخَا
To become a brother, friend, or companion to someone.
Form I verb; it may be used of becoming or acting as a brother to one or more persons.
- Lane · entry 6332
أَخَّى
To make a tethering loop or fastening for an animal and tie the animal to it.
Form II, especially with an animal as object.
- Lane · entry 6333
أَخَّى
To confer a benefit that the recipient fails to acknowledge.
A rare reported figurative idiom; the source notes uncertainty in the transmitted forms of the examples.
- Lane · entry 6333
آخَى
To fraternize with someone, act toward him in a brotherly manner, or unite two things as fellows or corresponding pairs.
Form III; the reciprocal or pairing sense may apply to persons or things.
- Lane · entry 6334
تَآخَى
To become brothers, friends, companions, or the like to one another.
Form VI reciprocal usage.
- Lane · entry 6337
تَأَخَّى
To adopt someone as a brother or call him brother.
Form V with a person as object.
- Lane · entry 6336
تَأَخَّى
To seek, pursue, endeavor after, or strive to attain a thing or person.
Form V; the pursuit is explained by analogy with one brother seeking another. تَوَخَّى is reported as more common in this sense.
- Lane · entry 6336
أُخُوَّةٌ
Brotherhood, fraternity, or the relation of brotherhood; by extension, a corresponding relation of sisterhood.
A verbal noun also used as an ordinary noun for the bond or relation.
- Lane · entry 6332
- Lane · entry 6348
أُخُوَّةٌ
Conformity, similarity, combination, agreement, or unison in action.
Used when the relation is not one of birth, including a relation of likeness or coordinated action.
- Lane · entry 6338
- Lane · entry 6348
أَخٌ
A foster-brother.
A classical extension of the sibling term to a relation established through nursing rather than shared parentage.
- Lane · entry 6338
أَخُو
A person or group in a specified state or condition.
A fixed idiomatic construction such as أَخُو الشَّرِّ or أَخُو الخَيْرِ, whose interpretation depends on the expression.
- Lane · entry 6338
أَخُو
One who cleaves or adheres to a quality or practice.
In constructions such as أَخُو الصِّدْقِ, “one devoted to or keeping to truthfulness.”
- Lane · entry 6338
أَخُو
Worthy, fit, or suited for a thing; also possessed of a quality or condition.
A prefixed-noun construction equivalent in some contexts to أَهْلٌ or ذُو, as in being worthy of trust or possessed of wealth.
- Lane · entry 6338
حُمَّى الأَخَوَيْنِ
A recurring fever described as affecting the patient on alternating days or according to a recurring weekly pattern.
A technical medical expression.
- Lane · entry 6338
أَخَوِيٌّ
Brotherly, fraternal, or relating to a brother; also sisterly or relating to a sister.
Adjectival derivative, including relations of friendship or companionship where specified by context.
- Lane · entry 6344
إِخْوَانٌ
A dialectal variant of خِوَانٌ, distinct from its use as the plural of أَخٌ.
The dialectal identification is reported separately from the ordinary plural usage.
- Lane · entry 6346
آخِيَّةٌ
A loop, rope, peg, or similar fastening set in or attached to the ground or a wall for tying an animal.
The term covers several closely related constructions, including a buried rope with an exposed loop and a peg or crosspiece used for tethering.
- Lane · entry 6349
آخِيَّةٌ
A kind of tent-rope or cord.
A specialized nominal use equated with طُنُبٌ.
- Lane · entry 6349
آخِيَّةٌ
A sacred or inviolable right, tie, claim, or bond to be respected.
Figurative usage for a protected relationship, entitlement, or means of connection.
- Lane · entry 6349
آخِيَّةٌ
A support or remaining person or thing upon which one relies and to which one clings.
A figurative use explained through the image of an animal secured to its tether; it may describe a valued surviving or representative member of a lineage.
- Lane · entry 6349
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
إِخْوَةٌ and إِخْوَانٌ are both plurals associated with أَخٌ; the evidence reports a tendency for إِخْوَةٌ to denote siblings and إِخْوَانٌ to denote fellows, but also explicitly records Quranic exceptions and extensions.
One rare Form II idiom is retained because it is stated in the primary lexical evidence, although the source itself notes uncertainty in the transmitted orthography of its examples.
The QAC أَخٌ form group includes the Quranic surface plural إِخْوَانٌ, while إِخْوَةٌ is separately represented as its own QAC form group.