Quranic root
يوم
y · w · m
A temporal unit or period, with a related extension to a significant occurrence or event.
The root primarily denotes a day or temporal span; Arabic also extends it to an important event or occasion. The plural أيام reflects an underlying أيوام with assimilation.
- Maqāyīs · row 5274
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 405
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
يَوْم
yawm
- Part of speech
- Noun · temporal adverbial use
- Quran occurrences
- 405 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.
A day: the ordinary daytime interval, especially the period from sunrise to sunset.
Used for a counted or specified day and in plural أَيَّام for days. Inflection, definiteness, number, and temporal-adverbial use do not create separate lexical meanings.
- Mufradāt · row 1631
- Lane · entry 12207
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:184word 1
“(Fasting for) days”
Quran 12:92word 5
“today”
A period or span of time of any duration, including a specified occasion or an extended epoch.
This broader temporal use includes expressions such as today, the days of God—whose genitive construction honors times marked by divine blessings—and يَوْمَئِذٍ, meaning “on that day” or “at that time.” In يَوْمَئِذٍ the form is bound to إِذ and may be treated as an inflected or indeclinable construction.
- Mufradāt · row 1631
- Lane · entry 12207
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 1:4يَوْمِ(of the) Day
- 2:8وَبِٱلْيَوْمِand in the Day
- 2:48يَوْمًۭاa day
- 2:62وَٱلْيَوْمِand the Day
- 2:80أَيَّامًۭا(for) days
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 7 Classical meanings
يَوْم
An event, occurrence, or incident.
Used for an event when it befalls, including in the expression فِي اليَوْمِ.
- Lane · entry 12207
يَوْم
Day after day; every day.
A conventional repeated construction, as in يَوْمَ يَوْمَ or يَوْمَ يَوْمٍ.
- Lane · entry 12207
يَوْم
A day's journey.
Used as a measure of travel or distance.
- Lane · entry 12207
يَوْم
A contest, fight, or battle; in أَيَّامُ العَرَبِ, the “days” are the conflicts or battles of the Arabs.
A conventional metonymic use referring to a significant conflict rather than an ordinary calendar day.
- Lane · entry 12207
ابْنُ يَوْمِهِ
A person concerned only with the present and not with the morrow.
An idiomatic expression meaning literally “son of his day.”
- Lane · entry 12207
يَوْمِيَّة
A day's wages.
A derived nominal related to يَوْم.
- Lane · entry 12208
مُيَاوَمَة
Day-by-day dealing or arrangement.
A derivative formed from يَوْم, parallel to terms formed from night or month.
- Lane · entry 12209
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The QAC N and T tags represent different grammatical uses of the same lexeme and are therefore merged under one public form.
The Quran-focused discussion of يَوْمَئِذٍ is represented as a constructional condition; no separate unlisted word location is claimed for that bound expression.