Quranic root
حوط
ḥ · w · ṭ
The root centers on something going around, enclosing, or encompassing another thing.
The basic notion of surrounding extends to guarding and gathering under protection, physical enclosures, comprehensive knowledge, and figurative overpowering that leaves no escape.
- Maqāyīs · row 1477
- Lane · entry 16098
- Lane · entry 16101
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 28
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَحَاطَ
ʾaḥāṭa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 17 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 surround, encompass, encircle, enclose, or hem in.
Used in constructions of surrounding a person, place, or thing; Quranic active and passive forms express the same lexical relation with differing voice and aspect.
- Lane · entry 16101
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:22word 28
“are surrounded”
To beset or overwhelm completely, leaving no escape; figuratively, for a sin to gain mastery or for destruction or an affliction to overtake its object.
A figurative extension of surrounding in which the object is wholly overtaken. Quranic applications include sin, destructive affliction, spoiled fruit or possessions, and imminent or actual destruction.
- Lane · entry 16101
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:81word 5
“and surrounded him”
Quran 18:42word 1
“And were surrounded”
To comprehend or know something completely, in all its circumstances and particulars.
Used with بِهِ, بِهِ عِلْمًا, or equivalent comprehensive-knowledge constructions; the emphasis is on nothing relevant escaping the knower.
- Lane · entry 16101
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:255word 34
“they encompass”
Quran 27:22word 5
“I have encompassed”
مُحِيط
muḥīṭ
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 11 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.
Surrounding, encompassing, or enclosing.
Active-participle usage describing that which surrounds or encompasses another thing; the Quran applies the form to encompassing in a general or comprehensive sense.
- Lane · entry 16121
Selected Quran examples
Quran 41:54word 12
“encompassing”
Encompassing wholly in power, so that nothing escapes; hence besetting or destructive.
Quranic figurative usage, especially of divine power or of a punishment that surrounds its object on every side and leaves no place of escape.
- Lane · entry 16121
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:19word 18
“(is) [the One Who] encompasses”
Quran 11:84word 26
“all-encompassing”
Quran 9:49word 14
“(will) surely surround”
Quran 29:54word 5
“will surely, encompass”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:19مُحِيطٌۢ(is) [the One Who] encompasses
- 2:81وَأَحَـٰطَتْand surrounded him
- 2:255يُحِيطُونَthey encompass
- 3:120مُحِيطٌۭ(is) All-Encompassing
- 4:108مُحِيطًاAll-Encompassing
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 24 Classical meanings
حَاطَ
To guard, protect, defend, care for, or attend to someone or something; also to manage its affairs and seek its good.
Includes guarding kin, defending them, preserving ties of relationship, and providing active care or support.
- Lane · entry 16098
حَاطَ
In an idiomatic expression, to keep or leave someone at a distance rather than approach or defend him.
A tropical or ironic use in expressions involving withdrawal and remoteness.
- Lane · entry 16098
حَوْط
A protective cord or ornament worn or hung to ward off the evil eye.
Reported as an ornament of cord, beads, or a silver crescent used for women or boys.
- Lane · entry 16105
حَاطَ
Of a wild he-ass, to gather and guard its herd or mate.
A zoological usage describing the he-ass drawing the group together and protecting it.
- Lane · entry 16098
حَوَّطَ
To surround something with earth or build a wall or enclosure around it.
Used of enclosing a vine or another object by an encircling structure.
- Lane · entry 16099
حَوَّطَ
To take an affair within one's compass, power, or care; hence to control or monopolize it.
A tropical extension of physical enclosure to command or hold an affair within one's exclusive control.
- Lane · entry 16099
أَحَاطَ
To take something entirely to oneself and debar others from it.
A tropical Form IV usage of complete appropriation.
- Lane · entry 16101
حَاوَطَ
To maneuver someone into turning or yielding, including by deceit or guile.
Used of negotiating indirectly with someone who initially refuses a desired matter.
- Lane · entry 16100
اِحْتَاطَ
To use prudence or precaution, taking the surest course and seeking the most successful means.
Used with affairs or purposes for which a person chooses a safe and judicious method.
- Lane · entry 16103
تَحْوِيطَة
An object hung upon a boy to repel the evil eye.
A reported regional usage, associated with Yemen.
- Lane · entry 16118
حُوَاطَة
An enclosure or pen made for wheat.
A concrete enclosure term.
- Lane · entry 16110
حُوَاطَة
A thing that one soon quits, relinquishes, or abstains from.
A separately reported lexical usage of the same form.
- Lane · entry 16110
حَيِّط
A man who guards, protects, or defends his family and brethren.
An agentive personal description.
- Lane · entry 16111
حَوَّاط
A monopolizer.
A later or contemporary tropical usage.
- Lane · entry 16112
حَوَّاطُ أَمْرٍ
An undertaker, superintendent, or manager of an affair.
An agent noun used in an affair-management construction.
- Lane · entry 16113
حَائِط
A wall, fence, or enclosing structure.
The noun may denote a wall of wood, sticks, reeds, canes, or another material that surrounds what is within it.
- Lane · entry 16114
حَائِط
An enclosed garden, especially a garden of palm trees surrounded by a wall.
A metonymic extension from the enclosing wall to the enclosed garden.
- Lane · entry 16114
أَحْوَط
More or most prudent, comprehensive, or sure.
Used for the course that best gathers the applicable principles and is furthest from strained interpretations.
- Lane · entry 16115
تُحِيطُ
A year of dearth, scarcity, or hardship that destroys animals or people; in another reported usage, a term of good omen.
A rare lexical usage with conflicting reported evaluations of the term's omen value.
- Lane · entry 16117
مَحَاط
A place behind camels or other beasts and their people, surrounding and protecting them.
A place-name or descriptive noun for protected space behind a group of people or animals.
- Lane · entry 16119
مَحَاط
Land enclosed by a wall.
When not enclosed by a wall, the land is distinguished by another term for open or exposed country.
- Lane · entry 16119
مُحَاط
Slain or destroyed.
An idiomatic passive description of someone overtaken by destruction.
- Lane · entry 16120
مُحَوَّط
A vine having a wall built around it.
A passive-participial description of a walled or enclosed vine.
- Lane · entry 16122
مُحْتَاط
Prudent, cautious, or taking the sure course in an affair.
Describes a person who uses precaution and seeks the safest or most successful method.
- Lane · entry 16123
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Form IV أَحَاطَ spans spatial enclosure, figurative overpowering, and complete comprehension; these are separated by lexical construction and context rather than by voice or aspect.
The rare term تُحِيطُ is reported with both a destructive-dearth interpretation and, in one report, an auspicious interpretation.