حوجcompulsion toward a thing — the state of being in need, per Ibn Fāris (root hwj)

Al-ḥawj (الحوج) is from al-ḥājah (الحاجة - need). You say: aḥwajahu Allāh (أحوجه الله - God made him needy), and aḥwaja huwa (أحوج هو), i.e. he became needy. Al-ḥāj (الحاج) is the plural of ḥājah (حاجة), and likewise al-ḥawāʾij (الحوائج) and al-ḥājāt (الحاجات). At-taḥawwuj (التحوج) is seeking a need. Al-ʿAjjāj said: 'except waiting for the need (al-ḥāj) of one who sought it (taḥawwaja).' Al-ḥawj (الحوج) means needs (al-ḥājāt). He said: 'Indeed it has long held me back from my companions, / and from needs (ḥawj), whose fulfillment was part of my cure.' And you say: 'A pressing need (ḥājah ḥāʾijah) came to us.' He said: 'Many a need (ḥāj) I attained in full.' Al-ḥāj (الحاج) from thorns is a kind [of thorn].

Al-ḥājah (الحاجة - need) is well known; its plural is ḥāj (حاج), ḥājāt (حاجات), and ḥawaj (حوج), and ḥawāʾij (حوائج) contrary to analogy, as if they had made a plural of ḥāʾijah (حائجة). Al-Aṣmaʿī used to reject it, saying it was a post-classical coinage (muwallad). He rejected it only because it departs from analogy; otherwise it is common in the speech of the Arabs. It is recited: 'A man's day is better when he fulfills / his needs (ḥawāʾij) during a long night.' Al-ḥawjāʾ (الحوجاء) means need (al-ḥājah). One says: 'mā fī ṣadrī bihi ḥawjāʾ wa-lā lawjāʾ' (ما في صدري به حوجاء ولا لوجاء - there is nothing in my breast about it, no ḥawjāʾ nor lawjāʾ), nor shakk (doubt) nor miryah (uncertainty), all with one meaning. It is also said: 'laysa fī amrika ḥuwayjāʾ wa-lā luwayjāʾ wa-lā ruwayghah' (there is nothing in your affair, no ḥuwayjāʾ, no luwayjāʾ, no deviation). Al-Liḥyānī said: 'mā lī fīhi ḥawjāʾ wa-lā lawjāʾ, wa-lā ḥuwayjāʾ wa-lā luwayjāʾ.' Qays ibn Rufāʿah said: 'Whoever has in himself a need (ḥawjāʾ) that he seeks / from me — I am indeed bound to fulfill it openly, / I will straighten out his crookedness if he is bent, / just as the shaped arrow-shaft of the nabʿ tree is straightened.' Ibn al-Sikkīt said: 'kallamtuhu fa-mā radda ʿalayya ḥawjāʾ wa-lā lawjāʾ' (I spoke to him and he did not answer me with a ḥawjāʾ nor a lawjāʾ). This is like their saying 'fa-mā radda ʿalayya sawdāʾ wa-lā bayḍāʾ' (he did not answer me with black nor white [i.e., any word]), meaning neither an ugly word nor a good one. And ḥāja yaḥūju ḥawjan (حاج يحوج حوجا) means 'he was in need.' Al-Kumayt ibn Maʿrūf said: 'I was made rich, so I did not turn you away when seeking [something], / and I was in need (ḥajtu), so I did not distress you by [counting] fingers.' Aḥwajahu ilayhi ghayruh (أحوجه إليه غيره - someone else caused him to need it). Aḥwaja (أحوج) also means 'he was in need.' Al-ḥāj (الحاج) is a kind of thorn. Al-ḥāj is also the plural of ḥājah (حاجة). The poet said: 'And one need (ḥājah) suckles from the milk of another, / thus al-ḥāj [needs] suckle from the milk.'

Ḥāʾ, wāw, jīm is one root, meaning being compelled/in need of a thing. Ḥājah (الحاجة) is one of the ḥājāt (الحاجات - needs), and ḥawjāʾ (الحوجاء) means need. It is said aḥwaja al-rajulu (أحوج الرجل) meaning 'he was in need.' It is also said ḥāja yaḥūju (حاج يحوج) meaning 'to be in need.' [The poet] said: — 'I was made rich, so I did not turn you away when seeking [something], / and I was in need (ḥajtu / وحجت), so I did not distress you by [counting] fingers.' As for al-ḥāj (الحاج), it is a kind of thorn, and it is anomalous, a deviation from the root [meaning].

Al-ḥājah (الحاجة) and al-ḥāʾijah (الحائجة) [both mean]: want/need (al-maʾrabah), well known. And His saying, exalted is He: 'wa-li-tablughū ʿalayhā ḥājatan fī ṣudūrikum' (that you may satisfy thereon a need in your breasts) [Q. 40:80]. Thaʿlab said: he means journeys. The plural of al-ḥājah is ḥāj (حاج) and ḥawj (حوج). The poet said: 'Indeed it has long held me back from my companions, / and from needs (ḥawj), whose fulfillment was part of my cure.' And it [ḥājah] is [also called] al-ḥawjāʾ (الحوجاء); and the plural of al-ḥāʾijah is ḥawāʾij (حوائج). Al-Azharī said: al-ḥāj is the plural of al-ḥājah, and likewise al-ḥawāʾij and al-ḥājāt. Shamir recited: 'And distance cuts off the hope of one who hopes, / except being present for the need (al-ḥāj) of one who sought it.' Shamir said: he means, when the one you love is far away, hope is cut off, unless you are present, near to your need. He said: he [the poet] said 'hope of one who hopes,' then made an exception, saying 'except being present for al-ḥāj,' i.e. that he be present for it. And al-ḥāj is the plural of ḥājah. The poet said: 'And one need suckles from the milk of another, / thus al-ḥāj [needs] suckle from the milk.' Taḥawwaja (تحوج) means: to seek a need. Al-ʿAjjāj said: 'except being present for al-ḥāj of one who sought it (taḥawwaja).' At-taḥawwuj (التحوج) is seeking a need after a need. At-taḥawwuj is [also] seeking a need. Others [said]: al-ḥājah in the speech of the Arabs — its origin is ḥāʾijah (حائجة); they dropped the yāʾ from it, then when they formed its plural they restored what they had dropped, saying ḥājah and ḥawāʾij; so their making its plural ḥawāʾij indicates that the yāʾ is dropped from it. And ḥājah ḥāʾijah [is used] for emphasis. Al-Layth: al-ḥawj is from al-ḥājah. And in al-Tahdhīb: al-ḥawj means al-ḥājāt (needs). And they said: ḥājah ḥawjāʾ. Ibn Sīdah: 'ḥajtu ilayka aḥūju ḥawjan' and 'ḥijtu' — the latter from al-Liḥyānī; and he recited for al-Kumayt ibn Maʿrūf al-Asadī: 'I was made rich, so I did not turn you away when seeking [something], / and I was in need (ḥajtu), so I did not distress you by [counting] fingers.' He said: and it is also transmitted as 'wa-ḥijtu'; he said: I mentioned it here because it belongs to [the root with] wāw; he said: I will mention it also under yāʾ, because of their saying 'ḥijtu ḥayjan.' And iḥtajtu (احتجت) and aḥwajtu (أحوجت) [are used] like ḥajtu. Al-Liḥyānī: 'ḥāja al-rajulu yaḥūju wa-yaḥīju' (a man is/becomes needy — with wāw or yāʾ in the imperfect), and one says 'ḥajtu' and 'ḥijtu,' meaning 'I became needy.' Al-ḥawj (الحوج) means seeking (al-ṭalab). Al-ḥawj [also] means poverty (al-faqr); and aḥwajahu Allāh (God impoverished/made him needy). Al-muḥwaj (المحوج) is the destitute one (al-muʿdam), pl. muḥāwīj. Ibn Sīdah said: In my view, muḥāwīj is only the plural of muḥwāj, if such a form was indeed used; otherwise there is no reason for the wāw [in the plural]. Taḥawwaja ilā al-shayʾ (تحوج إلى الشيء): he needed it and wanted it. Others [said]: the plural of al-ḥājah is ḥāj, ḥājāt, and ḥawāʾij, contrary to analogy, as if they had made the plural of ḥāʾijah. Al-Aṣmaʿī used to reject it, saying it was a post-classical coinage (muwallad). Al-Jawharī said: he rejected it only because it departs from analogy; otherwise it is common in the speech of the Arabs; and it is recited: 'A man's day is better when / his needs (ḥawāʾij) are fulfilled, during a long night.' Ibn Barrī said: al-Aṣmaʿī rejected it only because it departs from the analogy of the plural of ḥājah; he said: and the grammarians claim that it is a plural for a singular... [entry continues]