Quranic root
وجه
w · j · h
The root centers on facing or presenting oneself toward something: the face is what directly meets what is before it.
From the physical face and front, the lexical field extends to facing, encounter, direction, purpose, course, the self, and social standing. Related forms develop meanings of orientation and the place or manner toward which something proceeds.
- Maqāyīs · row 5042
- Mufradāt · row 1558
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 78
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
وَجَّهَ
wajjaha
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 direct or turn something or someone toward a direction.
A transitive Form II construction; the directed object may be a person, thing, or one's own face.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:79word 2
“[I] have turned”
Quran 16:76word 16
“he directs him”
تَوَجَّهَ
tawajjaha
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form V
- Form
- V
- 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 turn, tend, or betake oneself toward a person, place, or direction.
An intransitive or reflexive orientation toward a destination or object of pursuit; the Quranic occurrence describes setting out toward a place.
- Lane · entry 30386
- Mufradāt · row 1558
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:22word 2
“he turned his face”
وَجِيهٌ
wajīhun
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Worthy of regard; honored or held in high standing.
Describes a person who possesses esteem, distinction, or recognized standing.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
- Lane · entry 30391
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:45word 15
“honored”
Quran 33:69word 16
“honorable”
وَجْهٌ
wajhun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 72 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 face or front of a living body.
The primary bodily sense, including the face as the foremost and outward part of the body.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
Selected Quran examples
Quran 75:22word 1
“Faces”
The self, person, or whole being, represented by the face.
A metonymic use in which the face stands for the person or being as a whole; it can also occur in expressions concerning the divine face or being.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:20word 5
“myself”
Quran 55:27word 2
“(the) Face”
One's orientation, turning, or directed commitment toward God or a chosen object.
Used in constructions such as submitting, establishing, or turning the face; the face may represent the direction and sincerity of one's worship or allegiance.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
- Lane · entry 30388
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:20word 5
“myself”
In devotional expressions, the favor, acceptance, or reward of God sought through an action.
Especially in constructions such as seeking or acting for God's face; the expression may be interpreted as aiming at God, His favor, or the reward of acts intended for Him.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
- Lane · entry 30388
Selected Quran examples
Quran 76:9word 3
“for (the) Countenance”
The beginning or early part of the day.
The Quranic expression وَجْهَ النَّهَارِ refers to the opening part of the day.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:72word 12
“(at the) beginning”
وِجْهَةٌ
wijhahun
- 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.
A direction, orientation, or destination toward which one turns.
In the Quranic occurrence, it denotes an appointed orientation or religious direction toward which a community turns.
- Mufradāt · row 1558
- Lane · entry 30390
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:148word 2
“(is) a direction”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:112وَجْهَهُۥhis face
- 2:115وَجْهُ(is the) face
- 2:144وَجْهِكَ(of) your face
- 2:144وَجْهَكَyour face
- 2:144وُجُوهَكُمْyour faces
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 29 Classical meanings
وَجَّهَ
In an idiomatic expression, to tear or open a woman's covering, described as taking her face; the related expression is also glossed as degrading her or taking her maidenhead.
A rare idiomatic use preserved with the tentative wording of the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 30383
- Lane · entry 30388
وَاجَهَ
To face, confront, encounter, or meet someone face to face, including confronting someone with speech.
Form III; the confrontation may be physical, face-to-face, or verbal.
- Lane · entry 30384
أَوْجَهَ
To repel or reject a petitioner, asker, or beggar.
Form IV, especially in the cited construction involving a person who asks or begs.
- Lane · entry 30385
تَوَجَّهَ
In an idiom, a stupid person who cannot manage or accomplish his affair properly.
A phrase-based characterization rather than the ordinary directional meaning of the verb.
- Lane · entry 30386
اِتَّجَهَ
To fail to apply oneself rightly, or to lack knowledge of the right course to pursue.
Attested in the negative expression meaning that a person did not proceed correctly in anything.
- Lane · entry 30387
اِتَّجَهَ
Of an opinion or idea, to occur or present itself.
An idiomatic construction equivalent to an idea occurring to someone.
- Lane · entry 30387
اِتَّجَهَ
To become convalescent or recover toward health.
A specialized intransitive use describing improvement in a patient's condition.
- Lane · entry 30387
وَجْهٌ
A respect, aspect, or point of view from which something is considered.
Used in expressions such as “in every respect” or “from every point of view.”
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The proper, valid, reasonable, or correct way of understanding or accounting for something.
Said of an argument, saying, phrase, or proposed course when it has—or lacks—a sound rationale or correctness.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The standing or authority of a word, expression, or view; by extension, its respectability or propriety.
Used to say that a statement is or is not of respectable authority, and in related usage that it is or is not the proper way.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
A course, purpose, object, or aspect toward which a person or thing proceeds or through which an affair is approached.
Covers expressions for pursuing a purpose, restraining something from its course, turning it back, approaching an affair from its proper aspect, or shooting in one direction.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The place, region, quarter, point, or direction toward which a person or thing goes, tends, or looks.
May denote the bearing or point of orientation of a person, thing, road, or movement.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The end or result toward which an affair leads or tends.
A figurative extension from the direction or course of an affair to its eventual outcome.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The mode, manner, or method of doing something.
A lexical use equivalent to طريقة in describing how an action or matter is carried out.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
Brightness or clarity of intellect.
A figurative use referring to intellectual brightness rather than the bodily face.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The hair of the face, in an expression describing its growth.
Attested in the phrase for the hair of a person's face growing out.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The beginning or first part of a period, including the beginning of time or the early part of the forenoon.
A temporal idiomatic use such as وجه الدهر or وجه الضحى; the Quranic beginning-of-day use is listed separately under the Quranic form.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The original, exact, or unaltered form in which something is reported or recited.
Used with reporting or transmitting speech or a narration in its proper form.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
The drift or direction of speech.
A specialized figurative use concerning the course taken by discourse.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
A random, heedless, or headlong course or manner of proceeding.
Used in expressions for going one's way without guidance or restraint.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
A prominent person, chief, or person of good rank or station.
In singular or plural expressions, the face represents the leading or socially prominent member of a group.
- Lane · entry 30388
وَجْهٌ
Consideration or regard.
A figurative use marked in the evidence as an assumed tropical extension.
- Lane · entry 30388
جَهَةٌ
A respect or relation in which something is considered; with reference to, by reason of, or on account of something.
Used in expressions equivalent to “in respect of” or “with reference to.”
- Lane · entry 30389
جَهَةٌ
A relative direction or location, including above, below, before, behind, right, and left.
The six conventional relative points or directions are explicitly enumerated in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 30389
وِجْهَةٌ
A way, mode, or manner of acting.
A Classical use of the noun beyond its Quranic occurrence as a direction or orientation.
- Lane · entry 30390
أَوْجَهُ
More or most worthy of regard.
The comparative or superlative form of the standing or esteem expressed by وَجِيهٌ.
- Lane · entry 30392
تَوْجِيهٌ
Equivocation or indirect wording.
A specialized nominal use equated in the evidence with التورية.
- Lane · entry 30393
مُتَوَجَّهٌ
A place toward which one tends, proceeds, or betakes oneself.
A passive-participial noun referring to the destination or object of movement.
- Lane · entry 30394
وَجْهٌ
The meaning or signification of something.
Used in the expression asking what a thing, statement, or expression means.
- Lane · entry 30388
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Expressions involving وَجْهُ اللَّهِ are context-sensitive: the evidence records readings involving divine self or essence, orientation toward God, and God's favor or the reward intended for Him; these are kept as distinct supported uses rather than collapsed into one gloss.
Lane's historical Quran citation conventions were not converted into modern verse locations unless the corresponding location was independently supplied by QAC.
The rare idiomatic senses involving a covering, degradation, or maidenhead are retained with cautious wording because the supplied lexical text itself uses tentative language.