Quranic root
غوي
gh · w · y
Departure from right guidance, with obscured judgment and immersion in falsehood; a separate classical branch denotes corruption.
The guidance-related branch appears in غَيّ, غَاوٍ, غَوِيّ, and the causative أَغْوَى. Classical lexical discussion also records physical corruption from excess milk and extends related imagery to misguided gathering, traps, dark calamity, and banner or endpoint terminology.
- Maqāyīs · row 3481
- Mufradāt · row 1077
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 22
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَوِيَ
ghawiya
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 be in error through a false belief; to depart from right understanding or guidance.
Used for error rooted in a corrupt or mistaken belief, rather than merely lacking information. It covers the Quranic descriptions of being or becoming astray.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
To fail, be disappointed, or come to nothing.
A reported alternative interpretation of فَغَوَىٰ in 20:121, distinct from the primary interpretation of being in error.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:121word 15
“and erred”
To have one's condition or livelihood become spoiled.
A reported alternative interpretation of فَغَوَىٰ in 20:121; it is related to the classical expression for a suckling animal whose condition is spoiled by excessive milk.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:121word 15
“and erred”
أَغْوَى
ʾaghwā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 lead another into error; to cause someone to share or follow a misguided state.
Includes deliberately drawing others into one's own error or making them an analogue of oneself in misguidance. The construction may be active or attributed to a prior agent or influence.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:16word 3
“You have sent me astray”
Quran 28:63word 9
“we led astray”
Quran 15:39word 9
“and I will mislead them”
To deal with someone according to their error, by punishing or judging them on its account.
A reported interpretation of أَنْ يُغْوِيَكُمْ in 11:34; this is distinct from the ordinary causative sense of leading someone astray.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:34word 14
“let you go astray”
غَاوٍ
ghāwin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 6 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 is in error or has gone astray; a deviant.
An active-participial designation for a person characterized by the guidance-related error expressed by غَوِيَ.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:175word 13
“those gone astray”
Quran 26:91word 3
“to the deviators”
Quran 26:224word 3
“the deviators”
غَوِيّ
ghawiyy
- Part of speech
- Adjective / substantivized 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.
Clearly astray or deviant.
A descriptive form used substantively for a person characterized by deviation from right guidance.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:18word 15
“(are) surely a deviator”
غَيّ
ghayy
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Error arising from a false belief; deviation from right guidance and immersion in falsehood.
The noun denotes a condition or course of misguided understanding, not simply the absence of knowledge.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:256word 9
“the wrong”
Quran 7:202word 4
“the error”
The punishment or consequence resulting from such error.
A Quranic consequential use in which the result or fruit of error is called غَيّ, as in the interpretation of 19:59.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:59word 11
“evil”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:256ٱلْغَىِّ ۚthe wrong
- 7:16أَغْوَيْتَنِىYou have sent me astray
- 7:146ٱلْغَىِّ(of) [the] error
- 7:175ٱلْغَاوِينَthose gone astray
- 7:202ٱلْغَىِّthe error
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 5 Classical meanings
غَوِيَ الفَصِيلُ
Of a suckling animal: to suffer corruption or disorder in its condition from excessive drinking of milk.
A physical-corruption use, distinct from the guidance-related Quranic meanings.
- Mufradāt · row 1077
- Maqāyīs · row 3481
التَّغَاوِي
Gathering or clustering together, especially in an assembly not directed toward right guidance.
A related classical formation; one recorded use describes people gathering over someone with swords.
- Maqāyīs · row 3481
أَغْوِيَة
A calamity, grave predicament, or dark affair.
A classical plural or collective formation used for an obscure and troublesome situation.
- Maqāyīs · row 3481
مُغَوَّاة
A hunter's pit or trap; figuratively, a means of trapping or withholding wealth.
The plural is مُغَوَّيَات; the figurative use is explained through the image of a hunter catching and retaining prey.
- Maqāyīs · row 3481
غَايَة
A banner or war-standard; by extension, the endpoint or limit toward which one proceeds.
Recorded as a related classical development in which the endpoint is explained through the place toward which people return to their banner.
- Maqāyīs · row 3481
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied Lane primary records are pointer-only and contain no lexical discussion beyond a cross-reference, so they are not used as support for individual meanings.
The discussion of غَوَىٰ in 20:121 reports error as the primary interpretation but also records failure and spoiled condition as alternatives. The discussion of أَغْوَى in 11:34 likewise reports punishment or judgment according to error as alternative interpretations alongside the surface causative sense.