Quranic root
ودد
w · d · d
The root centers on love, affection, and positive attachment, with wishing understood as desiring what one loves.
The lexical tradition distinguishes affection itself from wishing for a desired outcome, and extends the root to mutual or expressed affection. A separate homonymous branch denotes a peg or stake.
- Maqāyīs · row 5061
- Mufradāt · row 1562
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 29
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
وَدَّ
wadda
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 17 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 love, feel affection for, or favor a person or thing.
The verb denotes affection or positive attachment toward its object. Voice, tense, and subject differences in the Quran do not create separate lexical meanings.
- Lane · entry 45093
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:96word 9
“Loves”
To wish for or desire that something happen or be the case.
Frequently followed by لَوْ or أَنْ and directed toward a hoped-for, desired, or regretted outcome. This is the desiderative use of the verb, distinct from affection itself.
- Lane · entry 45093
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:118word 12
“They wish”
To show or maintain friendly affection toward someone, including friendly allegiance or supportive association.
In the Quranic relational construction concerning those opposed to God and His Messenger, the verb expresses affiliating with or supporting them through the signs and causes of affection, rather than merely wishing for something.
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 58:22word 8
“loving”
مَوَدَّة
mawaddah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Love, affection, or a bond of affection between persons.
May denote affection itself or its expression and causes within a relationship, including friendly or supportive attachment. The Quran applies it to marital affection, kinship-related love, and expressed affiliation.
- Lane · entry 45107
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
A letter or epistle.
A rare and explicitly disputed interpretation reported for the first occurrence of مَوَدَّة in Quran 60:1; it is not the ordinary sense of the noun.
- Lane · entry 45107
وَدُود
wadūd
- Part of speech
- Adjective / divine epithet
- 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.
Loving and beloved; as a divine epithet, the One who loves His servants and is beloved by the righteous.
In the Quran it is an epithet of God, combining divine love toward servants with the resulting love or approval directed toward Him.
- Lane · entry 45101
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:90word 9
“Most Loving”
Quran 85:14word 3
“the Most Loving”
وَدّ
wadd
- Part of speech
- Proper 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.
Wadd, the name of an idol worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia and associated with the people of Noah.
A proper name in the Quranic account of the idols invoked by Noah's people.
- Lane · entry 45099
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 71:23word 7
“Wadd”
وُدّ
wudd
- 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.
Affection, love, or gracious acceptance bestowed between people.
In the Quran, it denotes the affection and acceptance God establishes for those who believe and act righteously.
- Lane · entry 45093
- Mufradāt · row 1562
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:96word 9
“affection”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 29 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 10 Classical meanings
وَادَّ
To love or favor one another; to reciprocate affection.
Form III reciprocal construction.
- Lane · entry 45094
تَوَدَّدَ
To seek to attract another's love or affection.
Form V causative or self-directed construction describing cultivation of another person's affection.
- Lane · entry 45096
تَوَدَّدَ
To show or manifest love or affection toward someone.
Form V construction with إِلَى may mark the person toward whom affection is expressed.
- Lane · entry 45096
تَوَادَّ
To love one another and reciprocate affection.
Form VI reciprocal construction.
- Lane · entry 45097
وِدّ
A beloved person, an object of love, or a friend.
Used of one who is loved or regarded as a friend; the noun may also function directly as an epithet without an understood ذو.
- Lane · entry 45098
وِدّ
A loving or affectionate person.
The term can describe one who loves or is affectionate, including emphatic use for someone possessing much love or affection; it is used alike of masculine and feminine referents.
- Lane · entry 45098
وَدّ
A wooden pin, peg, or stake.
A dialectal form identified with وَتِدٌ, especially associated with the dialects of Temeem or Nejd.
- Lane · entry 45099
وُدّ
A wish or desire that something be or come to pass.
Occurs in the construction بِوُدِّي أَنْ, meaning “I wish that …”; vowel lengthening in the cited poetic example is metrical.
- Lane · entry 45100
وَدُود
A mare that exerts all her power in running.
A rare specialized equine usage.
- Lane · entry 45102
أَوَدُّ
More loving or most loving; more or most affectionate.
A comparative or superlative adjective, not a separate basic semantic branch from loving or affectionate.
- Lane · entry 45105
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The interpretation of مَوَدَّة in Quran 60:1 as “a letter” is explicitly reported as strange or disputed; the ordinary Quranic sense is love or affection.
وَدّ as the idol's proper name is distinct from the separately reported dialectal noun meaning a peg or stake.