Quranic root
هوي
h · w · y
The root centers on emptiness and falling: an unfilled space or air, and movement downward into a fall or depth.
From emptiness and descent develop the senses of vacant space, abyss, falling and overthrowing. Desire is treated as an inclination that can draw a person away from what is right or downward into harm.
- Maqāyīs · row 4972
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 38
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
هَوَى
hawā
- 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 fall, descend, or plunge downward; contextually, to perish through a fall.
Includes downward movement and being swept or carried downward or away; the resulting sense may be perishing or destruction.
- Mufradāt · row 1539
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:1word 3
“it goes down”
Quran 20:81word 17
“he (has) perished”
To incline toward, desire, or be drawn to something.
May describe an inclination toward a person or place, or what the self desires.
- Mufradāt · row 1539
- Lane · entry 17197
- Lane · entry 17202
Selected Quran examples
Quran 14:37word 20
“incline”
Quran 2:87word 22
“desire”
To bring something down or overthrow it.
A causative use represented in the Quranic occurrence أَهْوَىٰ; it expresses causing a fall rather than merely falling oneself.
- Mufradāt · row 1539
- Lane · entry 17197
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:53word 2
“He overthrew”
اِسْتَهْوَى
āistahwā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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.
To entice, lead astray, or cause someone to follow a desire.
The Quranic construction takes a person as the one led or enticed, especially toward misguided desire.
- Mufradāt · row 1539
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:71word 19
“whom (has been) enticed”
هَوًى / هَوَاءٌ
hawan / hawāʾun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 28 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.
Desire or personal inclination; in Quranic usage, often a vain or blameworthy desire opposed to revealed guidance.
The singular هَوًى denotes an individual's inclination or desire, while أَهْوَاء can denote the differing desires of individuals or groups.
- Lane · entry 17202
- Mufradāt · row 1539
Selected Quran examples
Emptiness, vacancy, or a void.
In the Quranic expression describing hearts as هَوَاءٌ, it denotes hearts left empty or void rather than a separate desire.
- Lane · entry 17204
- Mufradāt · row 1539
Selected Quran examples
Quran 14:43word 9
“(are) empty”
هَاوِيَة
hāwiyah
- Part of speech
- Active participle (substantivized)
- 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 abyss or deep pit; in the Quran, the Pit into which the ruined person falls.
A substantivized active participle with an eschatological application to the fire or abyss of punishment.
- Lane · entry 17207
- Mufradāt · row 1539
Selected Quran examples
Quran 101:9word 2
“(will be the) Pit”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:87تَهْوَىٰٓdesire
- 2:120أَهْوَآءَهُمtheir desires
- 2:145أَهْوَآءَهُمtheir desires
- 4:135ٱلْهَوَىٰٓthe desire
- 5:48أَهْوَآءَهُمْtheir vain desires
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 11 Classical meanings
الهَوَى
Love or attachment; an affective inclination toward something.
A general affection or attachment sense, distinct from the specifically blameworthy-desire use.
- Lane · entry 17202
هَوًى
A beloved person or object of love.
The form may function as an inflectionally flexible noun for a beloved or object of affection.
- Lane · entry 17202
أَهْوَاء
Opinions or doctrines that diverge from the right way or the truth.
A plural conventional use, especially in the expression أهل الأهواء, “people of erroneous opinions.”
- Lane · entry 17202
هَوَى بِهِ
In the expression هَوَتْ أُذُنُهُ, to hear a confused, humming, or singing sound.
An idiomatic expression concerning the sound heard by the ear.
- Lane · entry 17197
هَوَتْ أُمُّهُ
A curse or expression of wonder implying that the person's mother has fallen or perished.
A fixed exclamatory or insulting expression, not a literal statement about a particular mother.
- Lane · entry 17197
أَهْوَى
To extend or stretch the hand toward something nearby in order to take it; to reach for or take hold of something, and also to signal with an object.
The construction distinguishes reaching toward a nearby object from reaching toward a distant one; it includes reaching for a sword.
- Lane · entry 17198
هُوَّة
A deep hollow, cavity, pit, or depressed place in the ground.
The noun covers a deep descent or low place as well as a hollow or cavity.
- Lane · entry 17203
هُوَّة
In the expression جعل الأمر هوة واحدة, to make a matter uniform or reduce it to one consistent state.
A conventional idiomatic use.
- Lane · entry 17203
هَاوَن
A mortar or vessel in which substances are pounded or bruised.
The lexical item is reported with an etymological connection to هَاوُونٌ.
- Lane · entry 17206
مَهْوَى الرَّكِيَّة
The cavity or depth of a well.
A construction referring specifically to the hollow portion of a well.
- Lane · entry 17208
مَهْوَاة
The space between two mountains, or a pit or hollow dug into the ground.
The noun applies both to a natural gap or descent and to an excavated hollow.
- Lane · entry 17209
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied QAC nominal group for هَوَآء includes both the Quranic desire forms written هَوَىٰ and the occurrence meaning emptiness; they are retained as distinct senses under a combined citation display rather than silently conflated.
The supplied QAC analysis places the Quranic surface form أَهْوَىٰ at 53:53 in the Form I group, while the Lane evidence separately catalogs أَهْوَى as Form IV. The artifact follows the supplied QAC morphology and retains the explicitly attested causative “bring down or overthrow” use.
The displayed nominal occurrence count of 28 aggregates the 11 occurrences in the هَوَآء group and the 17 occurrences in the merged أَهْوَاء group.