Quranic root
عطو
ʿ · ṭ · w
The root centers on taking or handling something and passing it from one party to another.
The lexical development extends from reaching out to take by hand, to handing over and giving, mutual exchange, gifts, and figurative undertaking.
- Maqāyīs · row 3244
- Mufradāt · row 989
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 14
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَعَاطَىٰ
taʿāṭāā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
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 reach out to take up or seize something, and thereby undertake an act; in the Quranic use, to advance against the she-camel and strike it.
In 54:29, the expression is explained as raising oneself and the hands to take the she-camel or a sword and then killing; it is also interpreted as emboldening oneself to undertake the act.
- Lane · entry 3803
- Mufradāt · row 989
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:29word 3
“and he took”
أَعْطَىٰ
ʾaʿṭāā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 8 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 give, present, offer, deliver, or bestow something to a recipient.
The action denotes giving or delivery and does not require the recipient actually to take or receive the thing. In the Quran it includes giving an owed levy as well as granting, assigning, or bestowing a benefit.
- Lane · entry 3801
- Mufradāt · row 989
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:29word 24
“they pay”
Quran 9:58word 7
“they are given”
Quran 93:5word 2
“will give you”
Quran 108:1word 2
“We have given you”
عَطَاءٌ
ʿaṭāʾun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
A gift, benefaction, grant, provision, or bestowal.
In the Quran this is the bestowed benefit or reward itself, rather than merely the act of giving; it may be attributed to God or described as an enduring or unrestricted grant.
- Lane · entry 3809
- Mufradāt · row 989
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:20word 10
“(the) gift”
Quran 38:39word 2
“(is) Our gift”
Quran 78:36word 4
“a gift”
Quran 11:108word 16
“a bestowal”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 9:29يُعْطُوا۟they pay
- 9:58أُعْطُوا۟they are given
- 9:58يُعْطَوْا۟they are given
- 11:108عَطَآءًa bestowal
- 17:20عَطَآءِ(the) gift
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
عَطْوٌ / عَاطٍ
To stretch or reach upward toward something in order to take it, especially by raising the head or hands.
Used of a gazelle or kid reaching toward tree leaves, and of the corresponding active participle; the same physical reaching may be expressed by taking with the hand.
- Lane · entry 3798
- Lane · entry 3806
- Lane · entry 3814
عَطَّى
To serve, render service, or minister to someone.
The derived verb can describe one who has the office of serving another.
- Lane · entry 3799
عَطَّى
To incite someone to hasten or make haste.
This is a causative use distinct from the intransitive use of hastening.
- Lane · entry 3799
تَعَطَّى
To hasten or make haste.
A derived intransitive use describing the subject's own haste.
- Lane · entry 3802
عَاطَى
To hand or pass something to another, mutually or reciprocally; to work for someone and hand over what is wanted.
The expression can describe reciprocal passing or presenting, including the passing of drinks among companions.
- Lane · entry 3800
مُعَاطَاةٌ
A prohibited face-to-face exchange of swordplay in which each party brings the other’s sword near and they engage one another.
This is a specialized conventional use referring to a staged or mutually enacted sword encounter.
- Lane · entry 3800
أَعْطَى / عَطْوَى / مُعْطِيَةٌ
To be tractable, manageable, submissive, or yielding rather than resisting.
Of a camel, it means giving its head and not resisting; of a person, giving the hand can express submission; of a bow, it means bending readily and being pliable.
- Lane · entry 3801
- Lane · entry 3807
- Lane · entry 3816
تَعَاطٍ
To take something that has been presented or offered, especially by hand.
The object may be food, drink, a vessel, or another thing; the construction corresponds to taking or handling with the hand.
- Lane · entry 3803
تَعَاطٍ
To take or appropriate something that is not rightfully due.
This is the morally negative use of taking what one has no right to take.
- Lane · entry 3803
تَعَاطٍ
To contend with one another in taking or giving, each passing or attempting to take something from the other.
The expression can include overcoming or surpassing another in the reciprocal act.
- Lane · entry 3803
تَعَاطٍ
To recite verses or poetry in turn, or vie with one another in recitation.
A figurative extension of reciprocal exchange, especially used of the rajaz metre.
- Lane · entry 3803
تَعَاطٍ
To venture upon, undertake, or engage in something boldly and without hesitation.
It may refer to a noble or honorable undertaking, or specifically to embarking on a bad or foul act; it can also describe taking up activities such as wine-drinking or gambling.
- Lane · entry 3803
تَعَاطَى
To affect or attempt a skill or status one does not possess.
Used of pretending to be a poet or attempting eloquence without being qualified for it.
- Lane · entry 3803
اِسْتَعْطَى
To ask, demand, or seek a gift from people.
The request may be made with or into the hand, emphasizing the gesture of begging or asking for a gift.
- Lane · entry 3804
عَطَاءٌ
The act of giving, especially liberal, bountiful, munificent, or generous giving.
The related intensive designation مِعْطَاءٌ describes a person who gives much or often; this is an intensive description of the same giving branch, not a separate Quranic form.
- Lane · entry 3809
- Lane · entry 3817
عَطَاءٌ
A stipend, pay, or allowance issued from a government treasury or assigned to soldiers or others.
The term may refer to a regular governmental disbursement, distinguished in some usages from periodic sustenance or رزق.
- Lane · entry 3809
عَاطٍ بِغَيْرِ أَنْوَاطٍ
To reach for or claim what one does not possess or what cannot reasonably be attained.
The proverb may describe arrogating property or knowledge without the means or discipline to support the claim.
- Lane · entry 3814
عَطَوِيًّا
A large quantity of thin excrement, in the expression أَلْقَى عَطَوِيًّا.
This is an idiomatic and rare usage associated with the reported story behind the expression.
- Lane · entry 3808
العَطَوِيَّة
The name of a Kharijite sect, named in relation to ʿAṭiyyah ibn al-Aswad.
A proper-name designation rather than a productive general lexical sense.
- Lane · entry 3808
أُمُّ عَطِيَّة
A hand-mill or millstone.
A specialized lexical expression meaning the hand-mill, synonymous with الرَّحَى.
- Lane · entry 3813
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied QAC metadata labels تَعَاطَىٰ as Verb · Form I, while the corresponding Lane lexical entry identifies the form as Form VI; the public form label follows the supplied QAC form-group metadata.