Quranic root
رعي
r · ʿ · y
The root centers on watching over, guarding, and preserving; it also has a distinct branch of returning or turning back.
The guarding principle extends to tending animals, pasture, attentive observance, governance, and stewardship. A separate branch denotes retreat or returning from something.
- Maqāyīs · row 2081
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 10
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
رَعَى
raʿā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To pasture or feed animals.
Used with animals and pasture; the Quranic imperative in 20:54 has the sense of letting livestock graze.
- Lane · entry 23736
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:54word 2
“and pasture”
To keep, guard, or observe faithfully; to be mindful of something.
Can take a person, affair, right, or obligation as its object; in 57:27 it describes failing to observe an obligation with its due observance.
- Lane · entry 23736
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:27word 29
“they observed it”
رَاعَى
rāʿā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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.
To pay attention to, heed, or address attentively.
In the Quranic imperative رَاعِنَا, the form is explained as an appeal to give attention or listen attentively.
- Lane · entry 23739
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:104word 6
“Raina”
Quran 4:46word 14
“and "Raina”
مَرْعًى
marʿan
- 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.
Pasture: grazing ground or herbage available for animals.
The noun can denote the place or the vegetation that is grazed.
- Lane · entry 23743
- Lane · entry 23762
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 79:31word 4
“and its pasture”
Quran 87:4word 3
“the pasture”
رَاعٍ
rāʿin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who watches over, guards, or tends what is entrusted to him; a keeper or shepherd.
The Quranic form is plural and substantivized, describing people characterized by faithful observance and guardianship.
- Lane · entry 23753
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:8word 5
“(are) observers”
Quran 70:32word 5
“(are) observers”
رِعَايَةٌ
riʿāyahun
- Part of speech
- Verbal 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.
Careful observance, mindful regard, or faithful keeping.
In 57:27, the phrase حق رعايتها means its due or proper observance.
- Lane · entry 23736
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:27word 31
“observance”
رِعَاءٌ
riʿāʾun
- Part of speech
- Noun · plural active participle / verbal 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.
Shepherds or keepers; a plural of رَاعٍ.
The Quranic occurrence is interpreted contextually as a plural active participle referring to people tending livestock.
- Lane · entry 23753
- Mufradāt · row 562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:23word 24
“the shepherds”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:104رَٰعِنَاRaina
- 4:46وَرَٰعِنَاand "Raina
- 20:54وَٱرْعَوْا۟and pasture
- 23:8رَٰعُونَ(are) observers
- 28:23ٱلرِّعَآءُ ۖthe shepherds
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 39 Classical meanings
رَعَى
To keep and tend livestock, including leading them to pasture, feeding them, or defending them from an enemy.
A broader animal-tending use than merely grazing.
- Lane · entry 23736
رَعَى
To touch or feel the female sexual organ.
A conventional euphemistic use in a reported expression.
- Lane · entry 23736
رَعَى
To manage, rule, or govern people or affairs.
Used of a ruler, governor, or other person responsible for subjects or affairs.
- Lane · entry 23736
مُرَاعَاةٌ
To regard, take account of, or show consideration toward someone or something; to act well toward it.
Includes the related sense of facing or attending to a person or thing.
- Lane · entry 23736
- Lane · entry 23738
رَاعَى
To watch an affair in order to see what it will become or what result it will yield; to watch the stars while awaiting their disappearance.
A monitoring or waiting construction, distinct from simple guarding.
- Lane · entry 23736
رِعَايَةٌ
Faithfulness to an engagement or promise.
A conventional ethical use, synonymous with fulfilling an undertaking.
- Lane · entry 23736
رَعَّى
To say or invoke that God keep or guard someone.
A Form II usage found in a blessing or prayer formula.
- Lane · entry 23737
رَاعَى
To pasture together with other animals.
Used of an animal grazing alongside animals of its own or another kind.
- Lane · entry 23738
رَاعَى
In the expression وَرِّعِ اللِّصَّ وَلَا تُرَاعِهِ, to refrain from waiting for the thief.
The reported expression also has an alternative explanation involving restraining the thief and not bearing witness against him.
- Lane · entry 23738
أَرْعَى
To cause pasture to grow for animals, or to make a place into a pasturage.
Also used of land that abounds in herbage.
- Lane · entry 23739
أَرْعَى
To give ear, hearken, or listen attentively.
Used in the construction أَرْعَيْتُهُ سَمْعِي and in the imperative أَرْعِنِي سَمْعَكَ.
- Lane · entry 23739
أَرْعَى
To show mercy, spare, pity, or have compassion for someone.
The verb is used with عَلَى in the reported construction.
- Lane · entry 23739
اِسْتَرْعَى
To desire or arrange for cattle to pasture, especially to leave them grazing without a herder.
The reported examples distinguish leaving cattle to pasture by night or day.
- Lane · entry 23742
اِسْتَرْعَى
To ask or desire someone to keep, guard, or pay attention to something.
May be used of asking hearers to attend to a speech.
- Lane · entry 23742
رِعْيٌ
Pasture or herbage serving as the food of animals.
The noun may have a plural referring to kinds or sorts of pasture.
- Lane · entry 23743
رِعْيُ الحَمَامِ وَالإِبِلِ
A particular herb with berries like myrtle berries, edible by camels but poisonous to certain reptiles or vermin.
A technical botanical usage.
- Lane · entry 23743
رِعْيَةٌ
The act of animals pasturing or pasturing by themselves.
A verbal noun or substantive formed from the animal-grazing use of رَعَى.
- Lane · entry 23744
رِعْيَةٌ
The act or occupation of keeping, tending, pasturing, or feeding camels.
Used of the work of a person who tends or pastures animals.
- Lane · entry 23744
رِعْيَةٌ
The act of watching and awaiting the disappearance of the stars.
A specialized nominal use associated with watching the stars.
- Lane · entry 23744
رِعْيَةٌ
Land containing projecting stones that impede the plough.
A distinct geographical or agricultural noun.
- Lane · entry 23744
رَعْوَى
Mercy or pity to be shown to someone.
Used in the expression meaning that one has no mercy or pity to bestow.
- Lane · entry 23745
رُعْيَا
Mindfulness, regardfulness, or observance of an affair.
A substantive connected with the construction رَعَى أَمْرَهُ.
- Lane · entry 23746
رَعِيٌّ
Pastured, kept, guarded, or governed.
A reported adjective or passive-participial usage, with the lexical status noted as analogical in the source.
- Lane · entry 23747
رَعِيَّةٌ
Livestock that is pastured, tended, or kept; especially animals held under someone's care.
The plural may refer to livestock kept for an owner or ruler.
- Lane · entry 23748
رَعِيَّةٌ
The people or community under the rule, guardianship, or government of a ruler.
The same noun extends from protected livestock to subjects or persons under authority.
- Lane · entry 23748
رَعَاوَى
Camels that pasture around people's dwellings because they are used for their work or livelihood.
A specialized plural or collective designation for working camels.
- Lane · entry 23750
رَاعٍ
A person who keeps, guards, pastures, or tends livestock.
The active participle is substantivized as a keeper or shepherd.
- Lane · entry 23753
- Lane · entry 23754
رَاعِي البُسْتَانِ
A species of locust or grasshopper.
A technical zoological name; another related expression denotes a different species.
- Lane · entry 23753
الرَّاعِي
The name of several stars associated with traditional stellar figures.
Includes names used for stars in or near Ophiuchus, Cepheus, Orion, or Sagittarius.
- Lane · entry 23753
رَاعٍ
A ruler, governor, prince, or commander who manages the affairs of a people; also one responsible for his own affairs.
A political and fiduciary extension of the keeper sense.
- Lane · entry 23753
رَاعٍ
Faithful to a charge, especially of carrier pigeons that reliably carry messages.
A specialized conventional use derived from the sense of faithful care.
- Lane · entry 23753
رَاعِيَةٌ
A particular small yellow bird found beneath horses or similar animals.
A technical bird name, also appearing in the compound رَاعِيَةُ الخَيْلِ.
- Lane · entry 23754
رَاعِيَةُ الشَّيْبِ
The beginning or first signs of gray hair.
A figurative or tropical expression.
- Lane · entry 23754
أَرْعَى
More or most merciful and compassionate; by extension, more easy or convenient for someone.
A comparative usage with a reported figurative development from showing mercy.
- Lane · entry 23755
أُرْعُوَّةٌ
The yoke placed on the necks of two bulls used for ploughing.
A dialectal agricultural term.
- Lane · entry 23756
تِرْعِيَّةٌ
A person skilled in tending or pasturing camels, or habitually engaged in that work; a good seeker of herbage for cattle.
Several variant forms are reported for the same occupational designation.
- Lane · entry 23759
مَرْعًى
The act of pasturing or grazing.
A verbal-noun use of the same form that also denotes a pasture or place of pasture.
- Lane · entry 23762
رِعَاءٌ
The guarding of palm trees.
A reported verbal-noun use, distinct from the plural active-participle reading ‘shepherds’.
- Lane · entry 23736
مَرْعِيٌّ
Pastured, tended, fed, guarded, minded, or governed.
A passive participial adjective covering things or persons placed under care or rule.
- Lane · entry 23764
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form III Quranic imperative رَاعِنَا is represented according to the supplied lexical explanation as an appeal for attention or listening; the packet also preserves an alternate interpretation in cross-reference context, so the English contextual gloss should not be treated as a complete lexical definition.
رِعَاءٌ is morphologically classified in the QAC packet as a verbal noun, while the direct lexical evidence also identifies it as the plural of رَاعٍ. The Quranic occurrence is presented under the shepherd/keeper reading, with the verbal-noun use retained separately under broader Classical Arabic meanings.