Quranic root
طوف
ṭ · w · f
A root centered on one thing going around, enclosing, or encompassing another.
From circling and surrounding, the lexicon develops uses for circumambulation, visitation by something that comes around, an encompassing flood, and a distinct body or party. These developments express the root's general orientation but are not all meanings of every derived form.
- Maqāyīs · row 3085
- Mufradāt · row 919
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 41
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
طَافَ
ṭāfa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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 go or walk around, circle, or circulate among or around something or people; in passive constructions, to be passed around or served.
Used with constructions such as حَوْلَ, بِ, or عَلَى. Active and passive Quranic uses include circling among people and having food or drink circulated among those being served.
- Lane · entry 11963
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 52:24word 1
“And will circulate”
Quran 37:45word 1
“Will be circulated”
To come upon or visit, especially as a sudden occurrence affecting a person or place.
The Quranic use in فَطَافَ عَلَيْهَا طَائِفٌ describes a visitation or sudden event coming upon the garden; this is distinct from ordinary circumambulation.
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:19word 1
“So there came”
تَطَوَّفَ
taṭawwafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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.
To go around or circumambulate, especially to make the prescribed circuit or movement around a sacred place.
The Quranic occurrences refer to going around or circumambulating in pilgrimage-related constructions, including بِهِما and the House.
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:158word 16
“he walks”
Quran 22:29word 6
“and circumambulate”
طَائِفٌ
ṭāʾifun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 goes around or circumambulates; in the Quran, those who circumambulate the Sacred House.
In the pilgrimage passages, the active participle denotes people who go around the House. The same form can also describe a moving or visiting entity in another Quranic construction.
- Lane · entry 11975
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:125word 19
“for those who circumambulate”
A visitation or sudden affliction that comes upon a person or place, including a Satanic prompting or intrusive thought.
The Quran applies the form to a Satanic visitation in 7:201 and to the visitation or calamity that came upon the garden in 68:19; it is not restricted to a physical visitor.
- Lane · entry 11970
- Lane · entry 11975
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:201word 6
“an evil thought”
Quran 68:19word 3
“a visitation”
طَائِفَةٌ
ṭāʾifahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 24 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 distinct group or party of people.
The Quran uses the noun for a group or party, including two opposing parties. In the relevant lexical discussion, the number may be determined by context and can range from one person upward; the form is not limited to a fixed numerical size.
- Lane · entry 11976
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
طَوَّافٌ
ṭawwāfun
- 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.
An attendant or servant who moves about among people and waits upon them.
The Quranic plural in 24:58 refers to household servants or attendants who regularly move about among the members of the household.
- Lane · entry 11974
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:58word 37
“(as) moving about”
طُوفَانٌ
ṭūfānun
- 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.
An overwhelming flood or deluge.
The Quranic occurrences refer to water that overwhelms or covers people, especially the flood associated with the people of Noah.
- Lane · entry 11972
- Mufradāt · row 919
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:133word 3
“the flood”
Quran 29:14word 14
“the flood”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:125لِلطَّآئِفِينَfor those who circumambulate
- 2:158يَطَّوَّفَhe walks
- 3:69طَّآئِفَةٌۭa group
- 3:72طَّآئِفَةٌۭa group
- 3:122طَّآئِفَتَانِtwo parties
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
طَافَ
To travel about or journey through countries or tracts of land.
A conventional use with فِي and a place or region; it extends going around into traveling about.
- Lane · entry 11963
طَوْفَهُ
To practice circumvention or maneuvering like another person.
An idiomatic use preserved in the expression طَوْفَهُ.
- Lane · entry 11963
طَافَ
To void excrement, or to go out to an open tract for that purpose.
This is a separate bodily-function use of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 11963
طَوَّفَ
To fill the land in great abundance, like a flood, as people or locusts do.
Used of a multitude spreading across or filling a land.
- Lane · entry 11964
أَطْوَفَ
To surround or encompass a thing.
A transitive Form IV use with بِ and the encompassed object.
- Lane · entry 11965
أَطْوَفَ
To come to, visit, alight at someone's abode as a guest, or approach and draw near to someone.
The expression may describe coming by night, though it can also be used of daytime approach.
- Lane · entry 11965
أَطْوَفَ
To approach sexually or have sexual intercourse.
A specialized construction with بِالنِّسَاءِ; the lexical evidence supports the construction without restricting the object by gender beyond that expression.
- Lane · entry 11965
أَطْوَفَ
Of an apparition or phantom, to visit someone in sleep.
Used of a خَيَال or apparition that comes to a person in sleep.
- Lane · entry 11965
طَافٌ
A person who goes around much or often; the feminine form may describe one who frequently visits neighboring tents or houses.
The source's household and neighboring-house examples illustrate habitual roaming rather than a restriction on the meaning.
- Lane · entry 11969
طَوْفٌ
A float or raft made from inflated water-skins, wood, or canes bound together for traveling or carrying loads across water.
Also called رَمَثٌ; used for embarking, transport, and crossing rivers.
- Lane · entry 11970
طَوْفٌ
The bull around which the oxen turn while treading or threshing grain.
An agricultural term referring to the animal that serves as the center of the oxen's movement.
- Lane · entry 11970
طَوْفٌ
A portion or allotment of water used to irrigate canes or similar crops.
A specialized irrigation term.
- Lane · entry 11970
طَوْفٌ
The foul matter passed by a child after suckling, and by extension human excrement.
The latter is described as a secondary application of the former use.
- Lane · entry 11970
طُوفَانٌ
An overwhelming mass or inundation of people or things; figuratively, widespread death, slaughter, calamity, or affliction.
This extends the image of something encompassing everything beyond literal water.
- Lane · entry 11972
طُوفَانٌ
Intense, encompassing darkness of night.
Used figuratively in طُوفَانُ الظَّلَامِ.
- Lane · entry 11972
طَوَّافٌ
A maker of the raft or float used for crossing water.
A derived occupational use distinct from the attendant sense.
- Lane · entry 11974
طَائِفٌ
A patrol or watch that goes around the houses, especially at night.
A specialized substantive use derived from going the rounds.
- Lane · entry 11975
طَائِفٌ
The bull positioned at the side or edge of a heap of grain being threshed.
An agricultural term distinct from the bull around which the other oxen turn.
- Lane · entry 11975
طَائِفٌ
A section of a bow between its curved end and the central or forearm-like portion.
The sources give several technical descriptions of the precise boundaries; the common sense is a defined side section of the bow.
- Lane · entry 11975
طَائِفٌ
A portion or extremity of a person, such as an arm, leg, hand, or foot.
Attested in plural usage for portions or extremities cut or struck.
- Lane · entry 11975
طَائِفَةٌ
A detached or distinct part, portion, piece, or bit of a thing.
This material-portion sense is separate from the Quranic use for a group or party of people.
- Lane · entry 11976
طَائِفِيٌّ
A kind of raisins whose bunches consist of closely compacted berries.
The name is apparently associated with the district of al-Ṭāʾif.
- Lane · entry 11977
تِطْوَافٌ
A garment worn for going around or circumambulating the House.
A specialized garment term associated with circumambulation of the Kaaba.
- Lane · entry 11978
مَطَافٌ
A place where one goes around or circumambulates.
A place noun derived from the act of طَوَاف.
- Lane · entry 11979
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form I Quranic occurrences include active and passive constructions: circulation, service, and being passed around are treated as constructional variants of the same going-around sense, while the sudden-visitation use is kept separate.
The public headwords طَائِفٌ and طَوَّافٌ are normalized singular active-participle citations although the supplied Quran occurrences include plural forms and inflected surfaces.