Quranic root
خشي
kh · sh · y
The root centers on fear and dread, with extensions into reverential awe and figurative apprehension or knowing.
The core meaning of fear may be intensified by awareness of what is feared and by reverence; the lexicon also records a figurative knowing use and separate branches concerning dryness or decay.
- Maqāyīs · row 1590
- Mufradāt · row 410
- Lane · entry 19219
- Lane · entry 19226
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 48
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
خَشِيَ
khashiya
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 40 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 fear or dread; to feel fear marked by reverence, awe, or veneration.
Used with a direct object, مِنْ, عَلَى, or an أن-clause. The reverential nuance is especially prominent where the feared object is regarded with awe, while the Quran also uses the verb for apprehension of people or events.
- Lane · entry 19219
- Mufradāt · row 410
Selected Quran examples
To apprehend or anticipate that a consequence will occur; in a projected-outcome construction, to recognize or judge what may result.
In فَخَشِينَا أَنْ يُرْهِقَهُمَا ... (18:80), the verb expresses apprehension of a harmful consequence. The same Quranic expression is also explained as “we disapproved” or “we knew” that it would happen.
- Lane · entry 19219
- Mufradāt · row 410
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:80word 6
“and we feared”
خَشْيَة
khashyah
- 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.
Fear imbued with reverence, awe, or veneration.
Often associated with knowledge or awareness of what is feared. It may occur in constructions expressing fear of a person, consequence, or divine judgment.
- Lane · entry 19219
- Mufradāt · row 410
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:74word 31
“fear”
Quran 4:77word 22
“as (they) fear”
Quran 17:31word 4
“(for) fear”
Quran 21:28word 14
“fear of Him”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:74خَشْيَةِfear
- 2:150تَخْشَوْهُمْfear them
- 2:150وَٱخْشَوْنِىbut fear Me
- 3:173فَٱخْشَوْهُمْso fear them
- 4:9وَلْيَخْشَAnd let fear
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 10 Classical meanings
خَشِيَ
To hope for a favorable or easier outcome.
A reported figurative use, distinct from fear or dread.
- Lane · entry 19219
خَشَّىَ
To frighten or cause someone to fear.
May be expressed as frightening someone by means of a thing or event.
- Lane · entry 19220
خَاشَىَ
To vie with someone in fear or dread, being more fearful than that person.
A reciprocal or comparative Form III use.
- Lane · entry 19221
خَاشَىَ
To leave, forsake, relinquish, or abandon someone.
A distinct Form III lexical use.
- Lane · entry 19221
خَاشَىَ
To guard oneself against someone by acting with exceptional caution or wariness, and consequently to turn away or withdraw.
A Form III construction describing defensive avoidance.
- Lane · entry 19221
خَشْيَان
Fearful or dreading; in a reported specialized usage, a woman who fears everything.
The feminine and generalized-everything description belongs to the specifically reported usage and is not a restriction on the ordinary verb.
- Lane · entry 19224
خَشَاء
A tract of land that is hard, barren, or rugged, including land without herbage.
A lexical use applied to land rather than to a feeling of fear.
- Lane · entry 19225
خَشِيّ
Dry, or dry and rotten, especially when applied to herbage, herbs, trees, or meat.
A separate material branch concerning dryness or decay.
- Lane · entry 19226
أَخْشَى
More or most fearful, feared, or dreaded.
An anomalous comparative form functioning like a comparative adjective.
- Lane · entry 19228
مَخَاشٍ
Causes of fear or dread.
A plural noun referring to things that occasion fear; related to مَخْشَاةٌ.
- Lane · entry 19229
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic construction in 18:80 has competing lexical renderings: fearing or apprehending a consequence, disapproving it, or knowing that it would occur; these readings should not be treated as unrelated ordinary meanings of every occurrence.
خَشْيَة may carry a pronounced nuance of reverence and knowledge, but the Quranic verb also occurs with ordinary feared persons or events, so that nuance should not be imposed uniformly on every context.