Quranic root
حوي
ḥ · w · y
The root's central idea is gathering things together and bringing them within a unified whole.
From gathering, the lexical field extends to acquiring or possessing, enclosing and containing, coiling or assuming a rounded form, gathered encampments, coiled intestines, and material wound around a camel's hump.
- Maqāyīs · row 1482
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَحْوَى
ʾaḥwā
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Deeply black or dark.
In the Quranic description, it characterizes vegetation after it has become dark, dry residue.
- Mufradāt · row 366
Selected Quran examples
Quran 87:5word 3
“dark”
حَوِيَّةٌ
ḥawiyyahun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural حَوَايَا
- 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.
Intestines; entrails.
The Quranic form is the plural حَوَايَا, used for the intestinal organs among the parts being discussed.
- Lane · entry 16232
- Mufradāt · row 366
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:146word 19
“the entrails”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 occurrencesBroader 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
حَوَى
To gather, collect, draw, or bring something together.
A transitive Form I verb; the object may be gathered into a whole.
- Lane · entry 16224
حَوَى
To grasp, obtain, acquire, or possess something.
Covers gaining possession and holding something within one's grasp or possession.
- Lane · entry 16224
حَوَى
Of a place or container, to comprise, encompass, or contain something.
Used of a location or receptacle that holds something within it.
- Lane · entry 16224
حَوَى
To turn something around, make it revolve, or wind it.
A transitive use describing circular movement or winding.
- Lane · entry 16224
حَوَى
To make a riding vehicle or saddle called a حَوِيَّةٌ.
The recorded conventional use describes making it for a woman to ride.
- Lane · entry 16224
تَحْوِيَةٌ
The act or state of drawing together, contracting, or being contracted.
A Form II verbal noun describing contraction or drawing oneself into a smaller compass.
- Lane · entry 16225
تَحَوَّى
To gather oneself together, coil oneself, or assume a round or circular form.
Used especially of a serpent and, by comparison, of the intestines.
- Lane · entry 16226
اِحْتَوَى
To make a small watering trough or tank for camels.
A specialized Form VIII use concerning a camel's water receptacle.
- Lane · entry 16228
حَوًى
Roundness, circularity, or a coiled form.
Said of things such as a serpent or formations of stars; the examples illustrate the form rather than restrict the meaning.
- Lane · entry 16229
حِوَاءٌ
A place or bodily cavity that contains something.
The belly or womb containing a fetus is given as an example of such a container.
- Lane · entry 16230
حِوَاءٌ
A close collection or encampment of tents, especially the tents of a people gathered at a water source.
Regional descriptions include a small group of tents collected together in a productive tract.
- Lane · entry 16230
حِوَاءٌ
A desert tent made of goat hair or camel fur.
This is a separate nominal use from حِوَاءٌ meaning a collection or place of tents.
- Lane · entry 16230
حَوِيٌّ
Possessing something after earning it or becoming entitled to it.
An adjectival description of possession grounded in deserving or entitlement.
- Lane · entry 16231
حَوِيٌّ
A small watering trough or tank made for a camel.
A specialized object noun; it is also associated with the verb meaning to make such a receptacle.
- Lane · entry 16231
حَوِيَّةٌ
A winding, circling, or coiled gut or intestine.
The term is applied to intestinal coils in an animal's belly, with several technical identifications recorded.
- Lane · entry 16232
حَوِيَّةٌ
A hollow, excavation, well, or rock-and-earth construction that collects and retains rainwater.
Regional explanations differ: the term may denote rain-filled hollows, torrent-retaining wells, or a hard rock surface enclosed so that water gathers in it.
- Lane · entry 16232
حَوِيَّةٌ
A cloth or pad wound around a camel's hump as a riding seat or saddle; also a riding apparatus prepared for a woman.
The camel-specific saddle covering is distinguished from a similar item used for other animals; reported usage also includes men riding such equipment.
- Lane · entry 16232
حَوَّاءٌ
A person who collects or keeps serpents; by later use, a snake-charmer or performer with serpents.
The related active-participial form حَاوٍ is also recorded for a serpent keeper.
- Lane · entry 16234
حَوَّاءٌ
The constellations Serpentarius and Serpens.
A conventional astronomical designation derived from the serpent-keeper sense.
- Lane · entry 16234
مَحْوَاةٌ
Land abounding in or containing serpents.
A descriptive feminine noun used of a tract of land.
- Lane · entry 16243
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
حَوَايَا is presented under حَوِيَّةٌ as its supported singular citation form; the lexical sources record variation in the analysis of its singular and plural patterns.