Quranic root
حيص
ḥ · y · ṣ
The root centers on turning aside with deviation, wavering, or retreat.
From physical or behavioral turning away, the semantic range extends to retreat, flight, avoidance, and escape; the idiom حَيْصَ بَيْصَ applies the notion of being unable to find a way out to confusion or severe straitness.
- Maqāyīs · row 1489
- Lane · entry 16325
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مَحِيصٌ
maḥīṣun
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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 place or way of escape; a refuge or way out.
In the Quranic occurrences, the form denotes an available escape or refuge, often in constructions with مِنْ meaning that there is no escape from something; contextual renderings include “place of escape,” “place of refuge,” and “any escape.”
- Lane · entry 16333
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:121مَحِيصًۭاany escape
- 14:21مَّحِيصٍۢplace of escape
- 41:48مَّحِيصٍۢplace of escape
- 42:35مَّحِيصٍۢplace of refuge
- 50:36مَّحِيصٍplace of escape
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 6 Classical meanings
مَحِيصٌ
The act of turning away, retreating, or fleeing.
A Classical infinitive use of the same form, distinct from its Quran-attested noun-of-place sense.
- Lane · entry 16325
- Lane · entry 16333
حَاصَ
To turn away, retreat, or flee from something; figuratively, to deviate from the truth; also to avoid a thing and thereby become safe from it.
Used with عن and in contexts of withdrawal from combat or an adversary, flight, deviation, or avoidance.
- Lane · entry 16325
حَايَصَ
To deal with someone by artifice or guile; to vie with or strive to overcome him.
A Form III construction describing adversarial maneuvering or competition.
- Lane · entry 16326
حَيْصَ بَيْصَ
A state of confusion, severe straitness, or difficulty from which there is no escape; figuratively, being so hemmed in that one cannot act freely.
An idiomatic expression that may describe falling into difficulty or putting someone in circumstances where movement, livelihood, or free action is restricted.
- Lane · entry 16330
حَيْصَ بَيْصَ
The hole of a rat or mouse.
A separate lexical use of the fixed expression, not the idiom for confusion or straitness.
- Lane · entry 16330
حَيُوصٌ
A skittish, wayward beast that takes fright and runs off at random; especially, a badly behaved mule.
Describes an animal that turns away from what its master wants.
- Lane · entry 16332
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic contextual renderings “place of escape,” “place of refuge,” and “any escape” are treated as one escape/refuge sense rather than separate meanings.
The Classical infinitive use of مَحِيصٌ is listed separately from the Quranic noun-of-place use.