Quranic root
جوف
j · w · f
The root centers on the inside, hollow, or inner space of a thing.
From the notion of an interior or cavity, the evidence develops related meanings of bodily interior, hollow or spacious objects, entry into an interior, penetration reaching an interior, and derived states of being hollow or spacious. جَوْفُ عَيْرٍ is also recorded as a proper place-name and proverbial expression, not as a general lexical sense.
- Maqāyīs · row 1261
- Lane · entry 47803
- Lane · entry 47797
- Lane · entry 47801
- Lane · entry 47802
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
جَوْف
jawf
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
The interior or inner cavity of a person; the inside of the body.
In the Quranic occurrence, the noun is inflected as جَوْفِهِ and refers to a person's inner bodily space.
- Lane · entry 47803
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:4word 8
“his interior”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 33:4جَوْفِهِۦ ۚhis interior
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 25 Classical meanings
جَوَفٌ
The state of being hollow, empty within, or spacious in the interior.
A verbal noun describing hollowness, emptiness, or ample interior space.
- Lane · entry 47797
جَافَ
To reach or cause something to reach or enter an interior.
Used of medicine entering inside, a wound reaching the interior, or a piercing or arrow being made to penetrate the interior of its target.
- Lane · entry 47797
تَجْوِيفٌ
The making of a hollow or cavity; hollowing out.
Also denotes a hollow or cavity produced by hollowing.
- Lane · entry 47798
أَجَافَ
To shut or close a door.
A figurative or extended Form IV usage.
- Lane · entry 47799
تَجَوَّفَ
To become hollow or empty within.
Describes a change into an internally hollow or vacant state.
- Lane · entry 47800
تَجَوَّفَ
To be within the interior of something.
Used for something situated inside another thing, as a developing leaf within a plant.
- Lane · entry 47800
اِجْتَافَ
To enter the interior or midst of something.
The object entered is expressed as the thing whose interior or middle is entered.
- Lane · entry 47801
اِسْتَجْوَفَ
To become wide or spacious, or to find a place hollow, empty, or spacious.
The form may describe a thing becoming spacious or a person finding a place to have an ample or hollow interior.
- Lane · entry 47802
جَوْفٌ
A hollow or vacant interior space; the inside or midst of a house or other thing.
The noun may denote an interior that is occupied or unoccupied, the inside of a structure, or the middle of a thing.
- Lane · entry 47803
جَوْفٌ
A low, broad, or depressed tract of land, including a valley or the interior of a valley.
A geographical usage for a broad depression or water-retaining tract into which smaller watercourses may flow.
- Lane · entry 47803
جَوْفٌ
The belly, abdomen, or inner chest and thorax of a person.
The term may refer to the interior of the belly or to the thoracic region; in the expression الأَجْوَفَانِ it can denote the belly and the vulva together.
- Lane · entry 47803
الأَجْوَافُ
The tents of regional governors or collectors of the poor-rate.
A regional usage attributed to the people of al-Ghawr and Yemen.
- Lane · entry 47803
جَوْفُ اللَّيْلِ
The last third of the night.
A conventional temporal expression; another reported reckoning describes it as the fifth of the sixths of the night.
- Lane · entry 47803
جُوفِيٌّ
A species of fish.
A lexicalized noun used with this vocalization, including an accusative form used by poetic license.
- Lane · entry 47805
جُوفَانٌ
The penis of an ass or a man.
An anatomical noun.
- Lane · entry 47806
جَائِفٌ
A penetrating wound that reaches into the body's interior or a vital part, sometimes passing through.
A technical injury term whose application is described in terms of reaching, entering, or passing through the interior.
- Lane · entry 47808
جَائِفَةٌ
A great fault, imperfection, or vice.
An extended or figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 47808
جَائِفَةٌ
A deep watercourse or other deeply cut tract.
Used of a deep channel or watercourse; the plural is جَوَائِفُ.
- Lane · entry 47808
جَوَائِفُ النَّفْسِ
The deep recesses of the chest where the soul is conceived as having its seat.
A conventional poetic expression for the recessed interior of the chest.
- Lane · entry 47808
الجَائِفُ
The cephalic vein running along the upper arm toward the shoulder blade.
A technical anatomical term.
- Lane · entry 47808
أَجْوَفُ
Hollow or empty within; spacious or capacious in the interior.
Applied to objects, vessels, and living beings; the same branch includes being great in the interior or belly.
- Lane · entry 47809
أَجْوَفُ
A cowardly man.
An extended or figurative usage, also reported for related forms.
- Lane · entry 47809
أَجْوَفُ
A horse whose white marking extends across the belly to the point where the sides terminate.
A specialized description of coat coloring.
- Lane · entry 47809
مُجَافٌ
A shut or closed door.
A figurative or extended usage.
- Lane · entry 47810
مُجَوَّفٌ
An animal marked with white extending over the belly or sides.
Applied especially to a horse or to a bird described as white in the belly.
- Lane · entry 47813
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form occurs once, in the inflected form جَوْفِهِ; the public headword is normalized to جَوْف.