Quranic root
زوج
z · w · j
Pairing or joining one thing with another as its counterpart, associate, or complement.
The pairing principle extends to spouses, paired or contrasting entities, associated groups, and kinds understood as related classes. It can also describe a covering or furnishing associated with what it is placed upon.
- Maqāyīs · row 2314
- Mufradāt · row 635
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 81
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
زَوَّجَ
zawwaja
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 pair, couple, or unite one thing or person with another as its counterpart.
In Quranic pairing constructions, the counterparts may be male and female, spouses or mate-like partners, or souls joined with corresponding bodies, records, works, groups, or followers. This use is distinct from ordinary human marriage.
- Lane · entry 31829
- Mufradāt · row 635
Selected Quran examples
Quran 44:54word 2
“And We will marry them”
Quran 42:50word 2
“He grants them”
Quran 81:7word 3
“are paired”
To give one person in marriage to another; to marry one person to another.
Used in the conventional marriage construction, as in marrying a woman to a man. This is distinguished from pairing people with houris or other counterparts in the non-marital sense.
- Lane · entry 31829
- Mufradāt · row 635
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:37word 31
“We married her to you”
زَوْجٌ
zawjun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 76 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 pair or coupled counterpart; one of two things joined as a pair, and sometimes the pair or couple collectively.
The paired things may be alike or contrasting. The noun can refer to a fellow or like, or to the two paired things together; number and context determine which reading is intended.
- Lane · entry 31836
- Mufradāt · row 635
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:3word 14
“pairs”
Quran 51:49word 5
“pairs”
A spouse: a husband or wife regarded as the partner of the other.
The same noun can refer to either sex; the surrounding context determines whether husband or wife is intended.
- Lane · entry 31836
- Mufradāt · row 635
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:25word 30
“spouses”
Quran 58:1word 8
“her husband”
An associate, consociate, comrade, or peer joined to others by companionship, allegiance, or shared conduct.
In Quranic plural constructions, the term can denote associates or like-minded counterparts rather than marital spouses.
- Lane · entry 31836
- Mufradāt · row 635
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:22word 4
“and their kinds”
A kind, sort, species, or category.
This use denotes a class or variety understood as related to other classes or varieties, including kinds of created things and kinds of punishment.
- Lane · entry 31836
- Mufradāt · row 635
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:5word 68
“kind”
Quran 26:7word 10
“kind”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:25أَزْوَٰجٌۭspouses
- 2:35وَزَوْجُكَand your spouse
- 2:102وَزَوْجِهِۦ ۚand his spouse
- 2:230زَوْجًاa spouse
- 2:232أَزْوَٰجَهُنَّtheir husbands
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 14 Classical meanings
تَزْوِيجٌ
Making things to be of different kinds or species.
- Lane · entry 31829
زَاوَجَ
To become or form a pair with another, or to make a coupling or pairing.
The construction may describe pairing with a person or thing.
- Lane · entry 31830
زَاوَجَ
To marry one another or intermarry.
This is a reciprocal marital use of the Form III verb.
- Lane · entry 31830
زَاوَجَ
To make two phrases or sentences mutually corresponding in sound, rhyme, measure, connection, or dependence.
A rhetorical or stylistic construction concerning the relation between expressions.
- Lane · entry 31830
تَزَوَّجَ
To marry, take a spouse, or enter a marital alliance.
The verb is also used for marrying into a family or group; the sources report variation in some prepositional constructions.
- Lane · entry 31832
تَزَوَّجَ
For sleep to pervade or overcome someone.
Figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 31832
تَزَاوَجَ
To marry one another or intermarry.
Used of a people or group engaging in reciprocal marriage.
- Lane · entry 31833
اِزْدَوَجَ
To pair or couple with another.
The cited usage describes birds pairing with one another.
- Lane · entry 31834
اِزْدِوَاجٌ
Mutual correspondence or resemblance between adjacent words, phrases, or sentences, especially in sound, rhyme, measure, connection, or dependence.
A rhetorical term for parallel or balanced expression.
- Lane · entry 31834
زَاجٌ
Vitriol, a medicinal salt and an ingredient in ink.
This is an Arabicized technical term for a kind of salt.
- Lane · entry 31835
زَوْجٌ
An even number, divisible into two equal numbers.
Technical arithmetic usage; the term contrasts with an odd number.
- Lane · entry 31836
زَوْجٌ
A kind of cloth or silk brocade, including a cloth spread over a howdah.
A material or textile usage.
- Lane · entry 31836
زَوْجِيَّةٌ
The marital state or marriage.
An abstract noun referring to the condition or institution of marriage.
- Lane · entry 31839
مِزْوَاجٌ
A woman who marries often or has had many husbands.
A descriptive noun for frequent remarriage.
- Lane · entry 31842
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form II occurrences translated with marriage in 44:54 and 52:20 are classified under pairing rather than conventional human marriage because the lexical evidence explicitly distinguishes that construction.
Historical citation notation in the Classical source is not used as a modern Quran location; Quran examples here use independently supplied QAC word locations.