Quranic root
عدو
ʿ · d · w
The root centers on going beyond or crossing what should remain bounded, with extensions to rapid movement, hostile opposition, wrongful aggression, and separation or distance.
The semantic development proceeds from transition and exceeding a limit to running, transgression, enmity, aggression, and related notions of distance, interruption, and transmission from one thing to another.
- Maqāyīs · row 3161
- Mufradāt · row 953
- 12
- Quran-attested forms
- 15
- Quran senses
- 106
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَدَا
ʿadā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To pass beyond, exceed, or transgress a limit.
In the Quran this Form I verb describes exceeding what should be observed or passing beyond a proper boundary; grammatical person and aspect vary by occurrence.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:163word 9
“they transgressed”
Quran 18:28word 12
“pass beyond”
عَادَى
ʿādā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 treat as an enemy; to oppose with enmity or hostility.
The Quranic occurrence is a perfect Form III verb describing a former state of hostility that may be changed into reconciliation.
- Lane · entry 2457
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 60:7word 8
“you have been enemies”
تَعَدَّى
taʿaddā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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.
To transgress or pass beyond a prescribed limit.
The Quranic Form V construction takes divine laws, commands, or boundaries as what is exceeded.
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:229word 41
“transgresses”
Quran 4:14word 5
“and transgresses”
اِعْتَدَى
āiʿtadā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VIII
- Form
- VIII
- Quran occurrences
- 15 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 commit aggression or transgress a protected limit.
This is the use of اعتدى as aggression initiated against another or as wrongful exceeding of a rule, right, or boundary.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Lane · entry 2457
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:190word 8
“transgress”
Quran 2:229word 39
“transgress them”
To respond to an aggressor with a corresponding counteraction.
In the Quranic retaliatory construction, the wording uses the same lexical root for a response proportionate to an earlier aggression; the context distinguishes requital from initiating wrongdoing.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:194word 8
“transgressed”
عَادٍ
ʿādin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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.
One who transgresses, acts wrongfully, or exceeds the permitted limit.
The Quranic active participle includes a person who exceeds the limit of necessity or otherwise acts beyond what is right; its plural form is عَادُونَ.
- Lane · entry 2485
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:173word 18
“transgressor”
Quran 23:7word 7
“(are) the transgressors”
عَادِيَةٌ
ʿādiyahun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
A runner or charger; in the Quran, the charging racers, understood as horses making a swift hostile or predatory incursion.
The supplied Quranic form is the feminine plural عَادِيَاتِ in an oath; the singular citation form is عَادِيَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 2485
Selected Quran examples
Quran 100:1word 1
“By the racers”
عَدَاوَةٌ
ʿadāwahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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.
Enmity or hostility between parties.
The noun denotes the condition or relationship of hostile opposition, whether arising between individuals, communities, or religious groups.
- Lane · entry 2483
- Lane · entry 2457
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:14word 15
“[the] enmity”
Quran 41:34word 14
“(was) enmity”
عَدْوٌ
ʿadwun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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.
Aggressive or transgressive action; enmity expressed in conduct.
The Quranic noun is used adverbially for hostile or wrongful conduct, including conduct that causes others to revile what is sacred.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:108word 10
“(in) enmity”
Quran 10:90word 9
“and enmity”
عَدُوّ
ʿaduww
- Part of speech
- Noun / Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 50 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.
An enemy or hostile adversary.
This use presents hostility as directed opposition or enmity; عَدُوّ can function as a noun or adjective and is used for singular, plural, masculine, and feminine referents.
- Lane · entry 2481
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:36word 12
“(as) enemy”
Quran 60:1word 6
“My enemies”
A person or thing that is harmful or hostile in effect, even without deliberately intending hostility.
The Quranic discussion includes cases where a relationship or conduct causes harm and therefore warrants caution, although the harmful party need not have consciously chosen enmity.
- Lane · entry 2481
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 64:14word 8
“(are) enemies”
عُدْوَان
ʿudwān
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Wrongful aggression, injustice, or transgressive conduct.
This use denotes prohibited aggression initiated against another or conduct that exceeds a right or proper limit.
- Lane · entry 2477
- Lane · entry 2455
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:2word 46
“and [the] transgression”
Quran 58:8word 15
“and aggression”
Counteraction against an aggressor in response to the aggression committed.
In the Quranic expression excluding aggression except against wrongdoers, the term can refer to a justified response directed at one who has initiated wrongdoing; the surrounding context supplies the limitation.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:193word 12
“hostility”
عُدْوَة
ʿudwah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 side or bank of a valley.
The Quran contrasts the nearer and farther sides of the valley; the form is also used for a lateral part or side generally.
- Lane · entry 2470
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:42word 3
“on side of the valley”
Quran 8:42word 6
“(were) on the side”
مُعْتَدٍ
muʿtadin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who transgresses, violates a limit, or commits aggression.
This active participle is used substantivally and adjectivally; the supplied Quranic forms include both singular and plural inflections.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Lane · entry 2461
- Mufradāt · row 953
Selected Quran examples
Quran 50:25word 3
“transgressor”
Quran 2:190word 13
“the transgressors”
Quran 9:10word 10
“(are) the transgressors”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:36عَدُوٌّۭ ۖ(as) enemy
- 2:61يَعْتَدُونَtransgressing
- 2:65ٱعْتَدَوْا۟transgressed
- 2:85وَٱلْعُدْوَٰنِand [the] transgression
- 2:97عَدُوًّۭاan enemy
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 69 Classical meanings
عَدَا
To pass from one thing or affair to another; to leave it or turn away from it.
The object may be omitted when the construction means to turn away from the matter at hand.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَا
To act corruptly, injuriously, or wrongfully toward someone.
This is a Classical construction with عَلَى and is kept distinct from the Quranic Form I occurrences whose supplied contexts express passing beyond or transgression.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَا
To steal goods or seize what is behind someone.
A specialized usage applied to a thief or to the act of taking property by stealth.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَا
To leap upon someone or something.
This is a physical attack or pounce, not merely verbal or legal transgression.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَا
To run or move rapidly.
The term can describe a person or horse and ranges from a swift pace to strenuous running; the related statement that water runs belongs to the same motion branch.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَا
To divert, turn away, or occupy someone so as to prevent attention to an affair.
The construction is عَدَاهُ عَنِ الأَمْرِ or an equivalent expression with the thing from which one is diverted.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَانِي
For evil or mischief to reach someone from another source.
The phrase عَدَانِي مِنْهُ شَرٌّ presents the evil as reaching or befalling the affected person.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدِيَ
To hate or detest someone or something.
This is a distinct stative usage of the root and is not the Form III verb of treating someone with enmity.
- Lane · entry 2455
عَدَا
To except or exclude, equivalent to “except.”
With ما or without it, the following noun may be governed as an object or, in particle-like use, in the genitive.
- Lane · entry 2455
- Lane · entry 2463
عَدَّى
To cause someone or something to pass from one matter to another, or to make it pass through and beyond.
The related grammatical term تَعْدِيَةُ الفعل describes making a verb transitive, but that grammatical label is not itself treated as a separate lexical meaning.
- Lane · entry 2456
عَادَى
To make distant, withdraw from, or remain aloof from something.
This construction is distinct from عَادَىَهُ in the sense of treating a person with enmity.
- Lane · entry 2457
عَادَى
To take from, raise, neglect, or repeatedly wash the hair.
The alternatives describe particular treatment of hair during washing or grooming.
- Lane · entry 2457
عَادَى
To fold a pillow.
A specialized household usage.
- Lane · entry 2457
عَادَى
To lower one of the supports beneath a cooking pot so that the pot inclines toward the fire.
The object is one of the stones supporting the pot.
- Lane · entry 2457
عَادَى
To act successively upon two targets, overtaking or striking one immediately after the other.
The usage is applied to a horse, hunter, or other agent dealing with two quarry animals in one run; it can also describe thrusting two men successively.
- Lane · entry 2457
عَادَى
To vie or compete with another in running.
The construction denotes competition in speed or running ability.
- Lane · entry 2457
أَعْدَى
To cause a disease, disposition, or harmful condition to pass to another; to infect or transmit it.
The transmitted condition may be mange, scab, another disease, an evil disposition, or mischief.
- Lane · entry 2458
أَعْدَى
To aid, strengthen, or avenge someone against a wrongdoer; in judicial use, to hear an accusation and summon the adversary.
The object is someone seeking support or redress against another who has wronged him.
- Lane · entry 2458
أَعْدَى
To make a person or horse run or go at a running pace.
The causative Form IV construction may mean either making or directing the subject to run.
- Lane · entry 2458
تَعَدَّى
To find food or pasture sufficient to dispense with other provisions.
The Classical expressions refer to finding flesh, milk, or pasture so that wine or purchased fodder is unnecessary.
- Lane · entry 2459
تَعَدَّى
To take or receive a woman’s dowry.
A specialized construction with the dowry as object.
- Lane · entry 2459
تَعَادَى
For people or animals to become affected by one another’s disease.
The construction describes reciprocal or successive transmission of a disease.
- Lane · entry 2460
تَعَادَى
For people or animals to die one after another or in large numbers.
The usage may describe successive deaths within a period or widespread death among camels.
- Lane · entry 2460
تَعَادَى
For a group to arrive successively with aid or assistance.
The construction describes successive members of a party coming to support someone.
- Lane · entry 2460
تَعَادَى
For people to treat one another with enmity or hostility.
This reciprocal Form VI meaning is distinct from the one-sided Form III verb عَادَىَهُ.
- Lane · entry 2460
تَعَادَى
For a matter between parties to become corrupt, complicated, or disputed.
The subject is the affair or relationship between the parties rather than the parties themselves.
- Lane · entry 2460
تَعَادَى
To become uneven or dissimilar in its parts.
The usage applies to a place whose parts differ in level or character.
- Lane · entry 2460
تَعَادَى
To become distant, remote, or aloof.
The construction is used with عن and may describe people, things, or places.
- Lane · entry 2460
الاِعْتِدَاء
In supplication, exceeding the limits of the transmitted rule or customary form.
This is a Classical specialization of the verbal noun and does not replace the Quranic meanings of the finite verb.
- Lane · entry 2461
الاِسْتِعْدَاء
To seek aid, strengthening, or vengeance from a ruler, governor, commander, or judge against a wrongdoer.
The construction is a legal or administrative demand for assistance or redress.
- Lane · entry 2462
الاِسْتِعْدَاء
To provide aid or assistance against a wrongdoer.
This less common direction of the verbal noun describes the assistance itself rather than the request for it.
- Lane · entry 2462
عَدْوٌ
Openly or publicly.
This meaning occurs in the fixed expression فَعَلَ كَذَا عَدْوًا بَدْوًا.
- Lane · entry 2464
عِدًى
The broad stones covering a grave or the thin stone used to cover or conceal something.
A related usage denotes a piece of wood placed between two other pieces; the reported senses concern covering or separating materials.
- Lane · entry 2468
عِدًى
People who are distant, strangers, foreigners, or unrelated by kinship.
This is a plural lexical use associated with عَدُوّ, not the ordinary Quranic noun meaning an enemy.
- Lane · entry 2481
عَدْوَةٌ
A vigorous run or a stretch of running.
This feminine verbal noun is used for a vehement run of the kind called عَدْو.
- Lane · entry 2469
عَدْوَةٌ
The extent of eyesight or a distance comparable to a bowshot.
The expression may indicate the distance separating one person or thing from another.
- Lane · entry 2469
عُدْوَةٌ
An elevated place or the lateral part of something.
This branch is distinct from the Quranic sense of a valley side as a geographical location.
- Lane · entry 2470
عُدْوَةٌ
A place extending far or broadly.
A rare Classical spatial usage.
- Lane · entry 2470
عُدْوَةٌ
A sweet kind of plant or herbage called خُلَّة.
This botanical sense is distinct from the geographical noun.
- Lane · entry 2470
عِدْوَةٌ
According to a reported usage, a stone covering a grave or well.
The evidence attributes this rare sense to some authorities and leaves the lexical form and plural partly uncertain.
- Lane · entry 2471
عِدْوَةٌ
Remote or distant affairs.
Used in the expression أُمُورٌ عِدْوَةٌ or a closely related construction.
- Lane · entry 2471
عَدْوَى
The transmission of mange, scab, or another disease from one person or animal to another.
The term also appears in the negated expression لا عَدْوَى, denying autonomous causal transmission in the cited traditional formulation.
- Lane · entry 2472
عَدْوَى
Badness, corruption, unsoundness, or a harmful condition.
This is a distinct nominal use from disease transmission.
- Lane · entry 2472
عَدْوَى
A demand made to a governor or judge for aid, retribution, or the summoning of an adversary.
The term may also denote the aid requested or the sealed token used to summon the person whose presence is required.
- Lane · entry 2472
عُدَوَاءُ
Distance, remoteness, or prolonged separation, especially between dwellings.
The noun may describe a long-standing state of separation.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدَوَاءُ
An occupation, hindrance, or business that diverts someone from another matter.
The plural عَوَادِي can denote intervening accidents or obstacles of time and fortune.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدَوَاءُ
The shifting or varying of time or fortune.
A figurative extension of interruption and changing circumstances.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدَوَاءُ
A severely distressing or afflicting form of yearning or longing.
The sense describes the effect of intense desire on its sufferer.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدَوَاءُ
An uneven or uncomfortable mount, saddle, seat, or place.
The term describes something on which the rider or sitter cannot remain at ease.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدَوَاءُ
Dry, hard, rough, or uneven ground, including a hard stratum in a well.
The description includes land that is difficult to walk or ride over and from which a digger turns aside.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدَوَاءُ
A brief or slight making of a camel to kneel.
A specialized usage associated with mounting or dismounting.
- Lane · entry 2473
عُدْوِيّ
Relating to camels pasturing on the herbage called عُدْوَة or on حَمْض.
Authorities differ over whether the designation refers to grazing on حَمْض or remaining among عِضَاه trees.
- Lane · entry 2474
عَدَوِيَّةٌ
Summer herbage appearing after the departure of spring growth.
The term may refer to young trees that become green and are grazed by camels, or to the plants called رَبْل.
- Lane · entry 2476
عَدَوِيَّةٌ
Young sheep or goats.
A separate animal-naming usage.
- Lane · entry 2476
عَدَوِيَّةٌ
Female infants up to about forty days old, according to one reported usage.
The evidence records disagreement about this form and its relation to similarly pronounced words; the designation reportedly ends after the infant’s hair is cut.
- Lane · entry 2476
عَدَوَانٌ
Predatory or aggressively attacking, especially of a wolf or other beast of prey.
The adjective is explained by the animal’s attacking people and making them prey.
- Lane · entry 2478
عَدَوَانٌ
Running vehemently or frequently; possessing great running speed.
Applied especially to a horse and, by extension, to a man or other runner.
- Lane · entry 2478
عَدَاءٌ
A single run or uninterrupted heat to a goal or limit.
The usage is especially applied to a horse.
- Lane · entry 2479
عَدَاءٌ
The tract coextensive with something in breadth and length.
One may keep to the tract alongside a road, river, or mountain.
- Lane · entry 2479
عَادٍ
Seizing or carrying off by force, or snatching unexpectedly; by extension, a predatory lion.
The animal epithet is motivated by the lion’s injurious seizure of people as prey.
- Lane · entry 2485
عَادِيَةٌ
Wrongdoing, injury, evil, or mischief; also sharpness of temper or anger.
As a substantive, the feminine form can denote harmful conduct or its effects rather than an active runner.
- Lane · entry 2486
عَادِيَةٌ
The harm or hurt caused by poison.
A specialized figurative extension of injurious effect.
- Lane · entry 2486
عَوَادِي
Grapevines planted at the feet or roots of large trees.
The plural is explained as deriving from عَادِيَةٌ in this botanical usage.
- Lane · entry 2486
أَعْدَى
More transmissible or contagious than something else.
Used in comparative expressions about mange, scab, yawning, or similar transmission.
- Lane · entry 2487
أَعْدَى
More wrongful, hostile, or vehement in running than another.
The comparative may select among the root’s branches according to context, including aggression and speed.
- Lane · entry 2487
أَعْدَى
Most effective in aiding or avenging someone.
An irregular comparative formation associated with the causative sense of aiding a wronged person.
- Lane · entry 2487
تَعَادٍ
An uneven place whose parts differ in level or character.
The noun is used of ground containing burrows, trenches, or other irregularities.
- Lane · entry 2488
مَعْدًى
A way beyond or an alternative course; in the fixed phrase, no possibility of passing from one person to another.
The expression مَا لِي عَنْ فُلَانٍ مَعْدًى means that one cannot leave or bypass that person for another.
- Lane · entry 2489
مَعْدِيٌّ
Treated wrongfully, unjustly, injuriously, or tyrannically.
The construction مَعْدِيٌّ عَلَيْهِ describes the person against whom wrongdoing has been committed.
- Lane · entry 2491
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The form عَادِيَاتِ in 100:1 is presented under عَادِيَةٌ as its singular active-participle citation form; its Quranic sense is the racer or charger, not the separate Classical substantive meaning of wrongdoing.
عَدُوّ can function as both noun and adjective and is not restricted to a single grammatical number or gender.
عُدْوَان and اِعْتِدَاء may describe either initiated aggression or a proportionate response, depending on the Quranic construction and context.
The rare Classical senses associated with عِدْوَةٌ, عَدَوِيَّةٌ, and related forms include attributed or disputed lexical reports and are kept outside the Quranic senses.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The reported stone-covering sense under عِدْوَةٌ is attributed to some authorities and its exact form and plural are uncertain; it is retained as a qualified Classical meaning rather than assigned to a Quranic sense.
Lane's historical Quran citation in the discussion of عَدَا is not converted into a modern verse location; modern Quran examples here use only secure QAC locations.