Quranic root
جوع
j · w · ʿ
The root centers on hunger: the painful state caused by an empty stomach, opposed to satiety.
The basic bodily condition extends in Classical Arabic to periods of widespread hunger or famine and to derived expressions for causing, deliberately undertaking, displaying, or figuratively desiring through hunger.
- Maqāyīs · row 1260
- Mufradāt · row 281
- Lane · entry 47786
- Lane · entry 47789
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- 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.
جَاعَ
jāʿa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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 be or become hungry; to have an empty belly.
An active Form I verb expressing the condition opposed to satiety.
- Lane · entry 47784
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:118word 4
“you will be hungry”
جُوعٌ
jūʿun
- 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.
Hunger: the painful condition caused by an empty stomach, or emptiness of the belly.
A bodily state opposed to satiety; the Quranic noun denotes hunger itself rather than the separately derived sense of a famine period.
- Lane · entry 47789
- Mufradāt · row 281
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:155word 5
“and [the] hunger”
Quran 106:4word 4
“(against) hunger”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:155وَٱلْجُوعِand [the] hunger
- 16:112ٱلْجُوعِ(of) the hunger
- 20:118تَجُوعَyou will be hungry
- 88:7جُوعٍۢhunger
- 106:4جُوعٍۢ(against) hunger
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 16 Classical meanings
جَاعَ
To desire or long for someone or something.
A figurative construction with إِلَى, including longing to meet someone or longing for someone's property.
- Lane · entry 47784
جَوَّعَ / أَجَاعَ
To cause someone to become hungry or empty-bellied; to deprive someone of food and drink.
Causative Form II and Form IV usage.
- Lane · entry 47785
- Lane · entry 47786
أَجَاعَ
To constrain a dependent or ignoble person through want so that he has recourse to, or remains attached to, one.
A figurative extension illustrated in the proverb about making a dog hungry so that it follows.
- Lane · entry 47786
تَجَوَّعَ
To make oneself hungry or empty-bellied intentionally; to abstain from eating fully.
Form V; may describe deliberate dietary restriction, including restriction undertaken for taking medicine.
- Lane · entry 47787
اِسْتَجَاعَ
To show or present oneself as hungry.
Form X usage concerning the outward display of hunger.
- Lane · entry 47788
اِسْتِجَاعَةُ العِلْمِ
Insatiability or an unceasing appetite for knowledge.
A figurative construction with knowledge as the object of the appetite.
- Lane · entry 47788
مَجَاعَةٌ
A period or year of famine and widespread hunger.
The derived noun may designate a time of drought or collective deprivation, as in a famine year.
- Lane · entry 47789
- Mufradāt · row 281
الرَّضَاعَةُ مِنَ الجُوعِ
Nursing that satisfies an infant's hunger and thereby constitutes the legally consequential form of suckling.
A technical legal expression distinguishing hunger-satisfying nursing in infancy from nursing after hunger is satisfied only by solid food.
- Lane · entry 47789
جُوعًا لَهُ وَنُوعًا
An imprecatory formula invoking hunger upon someone.
A conventional accusative verbal-noun construction.
- Lane · entry 47789
جَوْعَةٌ
A single temporary attack or episode of hunger.
The feminine noun marks one occurrence or bout of the condition.
- Lane · entry 47790
جَوْعَةٌ
A condition of destitution and hunger affecting a tribe.
A collective use referring to a tribe's state rather than to one individual's temporary hunger.
- Lane · entry 47790
جَائِعٌ
Hungry or empty-bellied; also deprived of food and drink.
An adjective describing a person or other subject in the state of hunger or food deprivation.
- Lane · entry 47792
جَائِعُ القِدْرِ
Having a cooking pot that is not full.
A figurative phrase describing scarcity of prepared food.
- Lane · entry 47792
جَائِعَةُ الوِشَاحِ
Slender in the waist or belly.
A figurative expression applied to a woman; the bodily comparison does not restrict the ordinary adjective's reference.
- Lane · entry 47792
مَجَاعٌ
The space or distance at which a satiated person becomes hungry.
A distance measure defined by the point at which hunger would arise in one who is presently satisfied with food.
- Lane · entry 47793
مُسْتَجِيعٌ
A person who habitually appears hungry, or who is continually eating one thing after another.
The explanations describe a persistent appearance or recurrent eating behavior.
- Lane · entry 47796
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic evidence attests the basic hunger noun and Form I verb; the derived famine noun مَجَاعَةٌ is preserved separately as a broader Classical Arabic meaning rather than merged into the Quranic noun sense.