Quranic root
سوأ
s · w · ʾ
The root centers on ugliness, badness, and what is regarded as foul, harmful, distressing, or disgraceful.
From perceived ugliness or bad appearance, the lexical field extends to evil conduct, harmful or distressing conditions, misfortune, shameful exposure, and the evil outcome of an act.
- Maqāyīs · row 2518
- Mufradāt · row 736
- 10
- Quran-attested forms
- 17
- Quran senses
- 167
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَاءَ
sāʾa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 30 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 or become evil, bad, foul, or unseemly; to be an evil course, result, or outcome.
Used evaluatively in constructions comparable to بَئْسَ, including expressions in which a course, destination, abode, action, or result is judged evil.
- Lane · entry 42576
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:32word 7
“and (an) evil”
To displease, grieve, vex, or distress someone.
Used transitively; passive forms describe someone being distressed or an outward sign of grief or displeasure.
- Lane · entry 42576
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:120word 4
“it grieves them”
Quran 11:77word 5
“he was distressed”
أَسَاءَ
ʾasāʾa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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 do evil, act wrongly, or treat someone badly.
May be construed with prepositions such as إِلَى, لِ, عَلَى, or بِ; it is the opposite of أَحْسَنَ in conduct.
- Lane · entry 42578
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 41:46word 6
“does evil”
أَسْوَأُ
ʾaswaʾu
- Part of speech
- Adjective · elative/superlative
- 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.
More or most evil, bad, ugly, or objectionable; worst.
Used as an elative adjective in comparison or superlative evaluation.
- Lane · entry 42591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 39:35word 4
“(the) worst”
Quran 41:27word 7
“(the) worst”
مُسِيء
musīʾ
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who does evil or acts wrongly; an evildoer.
Active-participial use of Form IV أَسَاءَ, describing a person characterized by evil conduct.
- Lane · entry 42578
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 40:58word 10
“the evildoer”
سَوْء
sawʾ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 9 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.
Evilness or badness, especially evil nature, conduct, or an evil deed.
Used as a noun and also attributively in expressions describing a person, action, or quality as evil or displeasing.
- Lane · entry 42580
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:74word 15
“evil”
Quran 25:40word 8
“(of) evil”
سَوْءَة
sawʾah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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.
The private parts or nakedness, understood as what is shameful to expose.
In Quranic usage, refers to the private parts or exposed nakedness in the account of Adam and Eve and related clothing imagery.
- Lane · entry 42583
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:20word 10
“their shame”
A corpse or dead body.
A Quranic contextual use in which a dead body is something unseemly or shameful to leave exposed.
- Lane · entry 42583
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:31word 10
“(the) dead body”
سَيِّئَة
sayyiʾah
- Part of speech
- Feminine noun / adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 58 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.
An evil act, deed, fault, offense, sin, or act of disobedience.
Opposed to حَسَنَة; the plural سَيِّئَات denotes multiple evil deeds or acts and may be used substantively.
- Lane · entry 42590
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:160word 9
“with an evil deed”
Quran 11:114word 11
“the evil deeds”
An evil event, misfortune, affliction, or adverse consequence.
Used in contrast with حَسَنَة for an unwelcome circumstance or occurrence, including an evil outcome associated with what people have done.
- Lane · entry 42590
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:120word 7
“misfortune”
Quran 16:34word 2
“(the) evil (results)”
سَيِّئ
sayyiʾ
- Part of speech
- Adjective / 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.
Evil, bad, foul, unseemly, or objectionable.
Applied adjectivally to a thing, saying, action, quality, or circumstance; it may also be substantivized as “the evil.”
- Lane · entry 42589
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 35:43word 5
“(of) the evil”
Quran 9:102word 8
“(that was) evil”
سُوء
sūʾ
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 50 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.
Evil, harm, injury, mischief, calamity, or any distressing or harmful condition.
The broad noun covers worldly, bodily, psychological, and eschatological distress; in constructions such as سُوءُ الْحِسَاب it denotes an evil or exacting reckoning, and in دَائِرَةُ السُّوء it can denote defeat, affliction, torment, perdition, destruction, or a similarly evil outcome.
- Lane · entry 42581
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:32word 9
“any harm”
Quran 13:11word 26
“misfortune”
Diabolical possession, insanity, or madness.
A specialized Quranic interpretation in which سُوء denotes a debilitating or deranging affliction, not the ordinary generic sense of evil.
- Lane · entry 42581
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:188word 21
“the evil”
Leprosy or a comparable physical affliction.
A specialized Quranic interpretation of سُوء in expressions describing a hand or bodily condition; it should not be generalized to every occurrence of the noun.
- Lane · entry 42581
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:22word 9
“disease”
The fire of Hell.
A reported Quranic interpretation of a reading of سُوء in a context concerning the fate of earlier peoples; this is a specialized interpretation rather than the ordinary meaning of the noun.
- Lane · entry 42581
- Mufradāt · row 736
سُوءَى
sūʾā
- Part of speech
- Noun / feminine elative
- 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 evil or worst end; an evil, ugly, or blameworthy act or condition, opposed to الْحُسْنَى.
Used substantively for what is evil or ugly and, in Quranic usage, for the evil outcome or end of those who act evilly.
- Lane · entry 42586
- Mufradāt · row 736
Selected Quran examples
Quran 30:10word 6
“the evil”
The fire of Hell.
A specialized Quranic interpretation of سُوءَى as the evil end or Hell-fire, associated with its opposition to الْحُسْنَى.
- Lane · entry 42586
- Maqāyīs · row 2518
- Mufradāt · row 736
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:49سُوٓءَhorrible
- 2:81سَيِّئَةًۭevil
- 2:169بِٱلسُّوٓءِto (do) the evil
- 2:271سَيِّـَٔاتِكُمْ ۗyour evil deeds
- 3:30سُوٓءٍۢevil
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 15 Classical meanings
سَاءَ
To hold or form an evil opinion of someone or something.
Used in the construction سُؤْتُ بِهِ ظَنًّا or سُؤْتُ بِهِ الظَّنَّ, with the case of ظنّ varying according to the construction.
- Lane · entry 42576
سَاءَ
To imprecate or disgrace someone by saying, in effect, “May God remove his face from good.”
A specialized expression involving سُؤْتُ وَجْهَ فُلَانٍ and related forms.
- Lane · entry 42576
سَوَّأَ
To corrupt, mar, or spoil something.
Opposed to rectifying or setting something right.
- Lane · entry 42577
سَوَّأَ
To disapprove of someone’s deed and tell them that they have done ill.
A causative or interpersonal use involving criticism or reproach of an action.
- Lane · entry 42577
أَسَاءَ
To mar, spoil, or fail to do something well.
Applied especially to a thing or task that has been performed badly or spoiled.
- Lane · entry 42578
اِسْتَاءَ
To experience something disliked, displeasure, grief, or anxiety.
Intransitive; may describe becoming upset or distressed on account of an event or report.
- Lane · entry 42579
سُوء
Weakness of the eye or impaired eyesight.
A rare technical use reported for the noun with ḍamma; it is not a general Quranic meaning of سُوء.
- Lane · entry 42581
سَوْءَة
The pudendum or external genital organs, and the anus.
A precise anatomical use underlying the broader notion of private parts or nakedness.
- Lane · entry 42583
سَوْءَة
Any saying, action, quality, custom, or thing of which one is ashamed; a disgrace or disgraceful act.
A transferred use derived from the shame associated with exposure of the private parts.
- Lane · entry 42583
السَّوْءَة
A contrarious or difficult wife or woman.
A specialized lexical use of the definite feminine form.
- Lane · entry 42583
سَايَة
In the expression ضَرَبَ فُلَانٌ عَلَى فُلَانٍ سَايَةً, either to do something displeasing or evil to someone, or to make a way toward achieving one’s purpose with him.
The lexical analysis is disputed: the expression is explained either from سَوْء or from a related form meaning to make or smooth a way.
- Lane · entry 42584
سَيِّئَة
The recompense or consequence of an evil act.
A figurative extension from the evil act itself to what is returned or brought about by it.
- Lane · entry 42590
أَسْوَأُ
Evil, bad, ugly, or abominable when applied directly to a man or woman.
An attributive use describing a person rather than an elative comparison.
- Lane · entry 42591
مَسَاءَة
Grief or vexation; a vice, fault, defect, disease, or act of disobedience.
The noun may denote either the experience or cause of distress, or defects and faults regarded as objectionable.
- Lane · entry 42592
خَزْيَانُ سَوَانُ
In the phrase خَزْيَانُ سَوَانُ, ashamed, base, vile, ignominious, and evil.
An idiomatic or altered form whose second element is explained in connection with أَسْوَأُ.
- Lane · entry 42588
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The specialized interpretations of سُوء as possession or madness, leprosy, and Hell-fire are context-bound Quranic readings and should not be generalized to every occurrence of the noun.
Lane's historical Quran citations have not been converted into modern verse locations unless the corresponding QAC occurrence or independently secure Mufradat location is supplied.