Quranic root
غوط
gh · w · ṭ
The root centers on settling into a lower place, depth, and going into a hollow or depression.
From the notion of sinking or being low and deep, the lexical family extends to hollows, depressed tracts, deep wells, plunging, and related derived actions. The Quranic noun develops a euphemistic place term for relieving oneself.
- Maqāyīs · row 3479
- Lane · entry 30146
- Lane · entry 30153
- Lane · entry 30158
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
غَائِطٌ
ghāʾiṭun
- 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 place for relieving oneself; euphemistically, a privy or toilet.
In the Quranic construction of coming from the غائط, the noun refers to the place associated with relieving oneself rather than functioning as a general word for excrement.
- Lane · entry 30158
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:43word 31
“the toilet”
Quran 5:6word 33
“the toilet”
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 16 Classical meanings
غَاطَ
To enter or sink into something, to become hidden in the ground, or, of a place, to lie depressed; also to descend or slope into the ground.
Used of a person, foot, or thing entering or sinking into sand, mud, water, a valley, or the ground; also of plaited straps sinking into an animal's side and leaving impressions.
- Lane · entry 30146
غَاطَ
To dig, excavate, or hollow out.
- Lane · entry 30146
غَاطٌ
The mass or main body of people; the group as opposed to factions.
Also reflected in the idiomatic exhortation غُطْ غُطْ, meaning to remain with the main body or group.
- Lane · entry 30146
- Lane · entry 30152
غَوَّطَ
To gobble food, especially in large mouthfuls.
- Lane · entry 30147
غَوَّطَ
To make a well deep.
- Lane · entry 30147
أَغْوَطَ
To make a well deep.
- Lane · entry 30148
تَغَوَّطَ
To void excrement or ordure.
A derived verb used in the euphemistic or bodily-function sense.
- Lane · entry 30149
تَغَاوَطَ
To vie or contend with another in plunging or diving in water.
The construction is reciprocal; the cited form is third-person singular citation form for the reported dual expression تَغَاوَطَا فِي المَاءِ.
- Lane · entry 30150
اِنْغَاطَ
To bend.
Said of a branch, twig, or similar flexible object.
- Lane · entry 30151
غَوْطٌ
A hollow, cavity, pit, or similar excavation in the ground.
- Lane · entry 30153
غَوْطٌ
Tharīd: crumbled bread moistened with broth.
- Lane · entry 30153
غَوْطَةٌ
A low or depressed place, or hollow, in the ground.
- Lane · entry 30155
غُوطَةٌ
A place comprising water and herbage.
The term can designate a well-watered, tree-filled district, as in the name غُوطَةُ دِمَشْقَ.
- Lane · entry 30156
غَوِيطَةٌ
A deep well.
Used adjectivally in the expression بِئْرٌ غَوِيطَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 30157
غَائِطٌ
A wide depressed tract of ground or land; also a valley.
It may be relatively shallow and may have bordering rises or meadows.
- Lane · entry 30158
غَائِطٌ
Human excrement or ordure.
A euphemistic extension from the place term for a location where bodily waste was deposited or where one went to relieve oneself.
- Lane · entry 30158
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic place sense and the separately attested Classical sense 'human excrement' are related euphemistic uses but are kept distinct.