Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 11 in the Quran · 25 in 9 texts of the library

عونIbn Fāris's entry for this root was not among the excerpts supplied. The other … (root wn)

English rendering

عون

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

The words of ع و ن that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

26 words8 verbs5 verbal nouns1 participle3 places and instruments1 intensive or elative5 other nouns2 plurals1 relative or abstract

  • اسْتَعِينُhe sought, desired, demanded, or begged, of him, aid, help, or assistance
  • تَعَاوَنُthey aided, helped, or assisted, one another
  • أَعَانَhe aided, helped, or assisted, him
  • عَوْنassistants; aids
  • مُسْتَعَان—
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs8عَانَتَ · اسْتَعِينُ · تَعَاوَنُ

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

  • عَانَتَForm ILane
  • اسْتَعِينُhe sought, desired, demanded, or begged, of him, aid, help, or assistanceLaneForm XQurʾān ×4Lane
  • تَعَاوَنُthey aided, helped, or assisted, one anotherLaneForm VIQurʾān ×2library ×1Lane
  • أَعَانَhe aided, helped, or assisted, himLaneForm IVQurʾān ×2Lane
Verbal nouns5عَوْن · تَعْوِين · عُؤُون

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

  • عَوْنassistants; aidsautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×4Lane
  • تَعْوِينForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • عُؤُونForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • عِوَانForm III · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • مُعَاوَنَةForm III · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles1مُسْتَعَان

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • مُسْتَعَانpassive, Form XQurʾān ×2
Place, time and instrument3مَعُون · مَعُونَة · مِعْوَان

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مَعُونnoun of place or timeLane
  • مَعُونَةaid; assistanceautonoun of place (with -a)library ×1
  • مِعْوَانman who aids, helps, or assists, people much, or oftenLanenoun of instrumentLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative1عَوِين

The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →

  • عَوِينquality (faʿīl)Lane
Other nouns5عَوَان · عَوَانَة · عُون

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

  • عَوَانbeast of the bovine kind, or a cow, or anythingLanenounQurʾān ×1Lane
  • عَوَانَةnounLane
  • عُونnounLane
  • عُوَيْنَةnounLane
  • مُتَعَاوِنَةwoman advanced in age, but not unless with fleshinessLanenounLane
Plurals2أَعْوان · مَعَاوِين

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

  • أَعْوانbroken plural of عَوْنlibrary ×2
  • مَعَاوِينbroken plural of مِعْوَانLane
Relative and abstract1عَوَانِيّ

-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →

  • عَوَانِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 18 patterns does

What each pattern does. The pattern gives a tendency, not a rule: many words have drifted into meanings of their own.

The pattern machinePour the root into a pattern; see whether the word exists

Choose a pattern; the root's letters pour into it. Then see whether the word exists in our sources. The machine makes shapes; only usage makes words.

مَفْعَلَةع و نمَعْوَنَة
  • Attested: مَعُونَة, noun of place (with -a), “aid; assistance” (library)

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.

The grammarians on this pattern (4)

  • ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة

    Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)'

    Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس

    and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule

    Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
  • “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain

This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.

About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

The dictionaries

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Everything you seek help through (istaʿanta bihi), or that helps you, is your ʿawn (عون).

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    Everything you seek help through (istaʿanta bihi), or that helps you, is your ʿawn (عون). Fasting is an ʿawn (عون) — help — for worship. You say: these are your ʿawn (عون), whether male, female, or plural — the word remains the same. Its plural is aʿwān (أعوان). Aʿantuhu (أعنته) means: I helped him — iʿāna (إعانة). Taʿāwanū (تعاونوا) means: they helped each other. A man who is maʿwān (معوان) is one who gives help well. Al-maʿūna (المعونة) is on the pattern mafʿula (مفعلة), according to those who derive it from ʿawn (عون); but according to others it is faʿūla (فعولة) from al-māʿūn (الماعون), which is [itself] on the pattern fāʿūl (فاعول). Al-ʿawān (العوان) is a cow of middle age. Al-ḥarb al-ʿawān (الحرب العوان) is a war that had a previous [war] before it — the war of Bakr, which was the first battle — then it becomes ʿawān (عوان), as if it were being raised from one state to a more intense one. A middle-aged woman is also called ʿawān (عوان). [A poet] said: "soft women, between virgins and ʿawān (عون)." Al-ʿāna (العانة) is a herd of wild donkeys, plural ʿānāt (عانات) and ʿūn (عون). ʿĀnāt (عانات) is also a place in the region of al-Jazīra, to which the wine called al-ʿāniyya (العانية) is attributed. A man's ʿāna (عانة) is the growth of hair over his private parts; its diminutive is ʿuwayna (عوينة).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    العين الناظرة لكل ذي بصر. وعين الماء، وعين الركبة. والعين من السحاب ما أقبل عن يمين القبلة، وذلك الصقع يسمى العين. يقال: نشأت سحابة من قبل العين فلا تكاد تخلف. وعين الشمس: صيخدها. ويقال لكل ركبة عينان كأنهما نقرتان في مقدمها. والعين: المال العتيد الحاضر. يقال: إنه لعين غير (دين) «7» ، أي: مال حاضر. ويقال: إن فلانا لكريم عين الكريم. ويقال: لا أطلب أثرا بعد عين، أي: بعد معاينة. ويقال: العين: الدينار، قال أبو المقدام «8» : حبشي له ثمانون عينا ... بين عينيه قد يسوق إفالا وعنت الشيء بعينه فأنا أعينه عينا، وهو معيون، ويقال: معين ورجل معيان: خبيث العين، قال في المعيون: «9» قد كان قومك يحسبونك سيدا ... وإخال أنك سيد معيون والعين: الميل في الميزان، تقول: أصلح عين ميزانك. والعين الذي تبعثه لتجسس الخبر، ونسميه العرب ذا العيينتين، وذا العيينتين وذا العوينتين كله بمعنى واحد. ورأيته عيانا، أي: معاينة. وتعين السقاء، أي: بلي ورق منه مواضع [فلم يمسك الماء] «10» ، قال القطامي «11» : ولكن الأديم إذا تفرى ... بلى وتعينا غلب الصناعا وتعين الشعيب، أي: المزادة. والعينة: السلف، وتعين فلان من فلان عينة، وقد عينه فلان تعيينا. والعين: بقر الوحش وهو اسم جامع لها كالعيس للإبل. ويوصف بسعة العين، فيقال: بقرة عيناء وامرأة عيناء، ورجل أعين، ولا يقال: ثور أعين. وقيل: يقال ذلك. وروي عن أبي عمرو. وهو حسن العينة والعين، والفعل: عين عينا. والعين: عظم سواد العين في سعتها. ويقال: الأعين: اسم للثور وليس بنعت. وهؤلاء أعيان تومهم، أي أشراف قومهم. ويقال لكل إخوة لأب وأم، ولهم إخوة لأمهات شتى: هؤلاء أعيان إخوتهم. والماء المعين: الظاهر الذي تراه العيون. وثوب معين: في وشيه ترابيع صغار تشبه عيون الوحش. وأولاد الرجل من الحرائر: بنو أعيان، ويقال: هم أعيان.

    al-Khalīl · 170 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 2, p. 254) ↗
  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-ʿawān (العوان) is that which is of middle age of anything, plural ʿūn (عون).

    al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.

    Al-ʿawān (العوان) is that which is of middle age of anything, plural ʿūn (عون). In the proverb: "the ʿawān (العوان) does not need to be taught fermentation" [i.e., the experienced one does not need instruction]. From it you say: ʿawwanat al-marʾa taʿwīnan (عونت المرأة تعوينا), and ʿānat taʿūnu ʿawnan (عانت تعون عونا) [she became middle-aged]. Al-ʿawān (العوان) among wars is one in which fighting occurred repeatedly, time after time, as if they made the first one Bakr [i.e., firstborn/initial]. A cow that is ʿawān (عوان) is neither fāriḍ (فارض) — old — nor bikr (بكر) — young — but between the two. Al-ʿawn (العون) is help/support against a matter, plural al-aʿwān (الأعوان). Al-maʿūna (المعونة) is help/assistance (al-iʿāna). One says: 'you have no maʿūna (معونة), nor maʿāna (معانة), nor ʿawn (عون) [with you].' Al-Kisāʾī said: al-maʿūn (المعون) is al-maʿūna (المعونة). Jamīl said: "Buthayna, stick to 'no' — indeed, if I had adhered to it, ... despite the abundance of slanderers, what help (maʿūn/معون) it is!" He means: how good a help is your saying 'no' in repelling the slanderers, however many they are. Al-Farrāʾ said: it is the plural of maʿūna (معونة), and there is no word in the language of pattern mafʿal (مفعل) with a single [unvaried] form; we have explained this under [the root] karama (مكرم). You say: 'so-and-so did not fail me in his maʿāwin (معاونه),' which is the plural of maʿūna (معونة). A man who is maʿwān (معوان) gives much help to people. I sought help from so-and-so (istaʿantu bihi) and he helped me (aʿānanī) and assisted me (ʿāwanani). In the supplication: 'O Lord, help me and do not help [others] against me.' Taʿāwana al-qawm (تعاون القوم) means the people helped one another. Iʿtawanū (اعتونوا) means the same; the wāw remained sound [uncontracted] as it does in taʿāwanū (تعاونوا), because their meanings are the same, so [the form] was built upon that; had it not been for that, it would have undergone weak-verb contraction. Al-mutaʿāwina (المتعاونة) among women is one who has advanced in age, and this occurs only along with abundant flesh [robustness]. Al-ʿāna (العانة) is a herd of wild donkeys, plural ʿūn (عون). Al-ʿāna (العانة) is also the pubic hair. Istaʿāna fulān (استعان فلان) means so-and-so shaved his ʿāna (عانة, pubic hair). ʿĀna (عانة) is a village on the Euphrates to which wine is attributed, called ʿāniyya (عانية). Zuhayr said: "from the wine of ʿĀna (عانة), which had scarcely finished aging." Sometimes they said ʿĀnāt (عانات), just as they said ʿArafa (عرفة)/ʿArafāt (عرفات). The rule regarding the declension of ʿĀnāt (عانات) is like that for ʿArafāt (عرفات) and Adhriʿāt (أذرعات).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    العين: حاسة الرؤية، وهى مؤنثة، والجمع أعين وعيون وأعيان. قال يزيد (1) : دلاص كأعيان الجراد المنظم (2) * وتصغيرها عيينة، ومنه قيل: " ذو العيينتين " للجاسوس. ولا تقل: " ذو العوينتين ". والعين: عين الماء، وعين الركبة. ولكل ركبة عينان، وهما نقرتان في مقدمها عند الساق. والعين: عين الشمس. والعين: الدينار. والعين: المال الناض. والعين: الديدبان، والجاسوس. ولقيته عين عنة، إذا رأيته عيانا ولم يرك. وفعلت ذلك عمد عين، إذا تعمدته بجد ويقين. قال امرؤ القيس: أبلغا عني الشويعر أني * عمد عين قلدتهن حريما وكذلك: فعلته عمدا على عين. قال خفاف ابن ندبة السلمي: وإن تك خيلي قد أصيب صميمها * فعمدا على عين تيممت مالكا (*) ولقيته أول عين، وأول عائنة، وأدنى عائنة، أي قبل كل شئ. وعين الشئ: خياره. وعين الشئ: نفسه. يقال: هو هو عينا، وهو هو بعينه، ولا أخذ إلا درهمي بعينه. وفي المثل: " إن الجواد عينه فراره " (1) . و " لا أطلب أثرا بعد عين " أي بعد معاينة. وعائنة بني فلان: أموالهم ورعيانهم. وما بها عائن، وكذلك ما بها عين، أي أحد. وبلد قليل العين، أي قليل الناس. والعين: ما عن يمين قبلة العراق. يقال: نشأت السحابة من قبل العين. والعين: مطر أيام لا يقلع. ويقال: لقيته أول عين، أي أول شئ. وأسود العين: جبل. وقال الفرزدق: إذا زال عنكم أسود العين كنتم * كراما وأنتم ما أقام الاثم ورأس عين: بلدة. وعيون البقر: جنس من العنب يكون بالشام. وأعيان القوم: سراتهم وأشرافهم. والأعيان: الأخوة بنو أب واحد وأم واحدة. وهذه الأخوة تسمى المعاينة. وفي الحديث " أعيان بني الأم يتوارثون، دون بني العلات ". وفي الميزان عين، إذا لم يكن مستويا. وقول الحجاج للحسن: " لعينك أكبر من أمدك " يعني شاهدك ومنظرك أكبر من سنك. والعين: حرف من حروف المعجم. ويقال: هو عبد عين، أي هو كالعبد لك ما دمت تراه، فإذا غبت فلا. قال: ومن هو عبد العين إما لقاؤه * فحلو وإما غيبه فظنون ويقال: أنت على عيني، في الإكرام والحفظ جميعا. قال الله تعالى: (ولتصنع على عيني) . ويقال: بالجلد عين، وهي دوائر رقيقة، وذلك عيب فيه. تقول منه تعين الجلد، وسقاء (1) عين ومتعين. قال رؤبة (*) * ما بال عينى كالشعيب العين (1) * وتعين الرجل المال، إذا أصابه بعين. وتعين عليه الشئ: لزمه بعينه: وحفرت حتى عنت، أي بلغت العيون. والماء معين ومعيون، وأعينت الماء مثله. وعان الدمع والماء عينانا، بالتحريك، أي سال. وشرب من عائن، أي من ماء سائل. وعنت الرجل: أصبته بعينى، فأنا عائن، وهو معين على النقص ومعيون على التمام، قال الشاعر (2) في التمام: قد كان قومك يحسبونك سيدا * وإخال أنك سيد معيون وتعيين الشئ: تخصيصه من الجملة. وعينت القربة، إذا صببت فيها ماء لتنتفخ عيون الخرز فتنسد. قال جرير: بلى فارفض دمعك غير نزر * كما عينت بالسرب الطبابا والمعين: الثور الوحشي. قال جابر بن حريش ومعينا يحوى الصوار كأنه * متخمط قطم إذا ما بربرا وعينت اللؤلؤة: ثقبتها. وعينت فلانا: أخبرت بمساويه في وجهه. وعاينت الشئ عيانا، إذا رأيته بعينك. وابنا عيان: خطان يخطان في الأرض يزجر بهما الطير. وإذا علم أن القامر يفوز قدحه قيل: " جرى ابنا عيان ". والعيان: حديدة تكون في متاع الفدان، والجمع عين، وهو فعل فنقلوا لان الياء أخف من الواو. والعين، بالتحريك: أهل الدار. وقال الراجز (1) : تشرب ما في وطبها قبل العين (2) * وجاء فلان في عين، أي في جماعة. وقال جندل (3) : إذا رآني واحدا أو في عين * يعرفني أطرق إطراق الطحن (4) (*) ورجل أعين واسع العين بين العين، والجمع عين، وأصله فعل بالضم، ومنه قيل لبقر الوحش عين. والثور أعين، …

    al-Jawharī · 393 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 6, p. 2170) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-ʿawn (العون) is helping and supporting (al-muʿāwana wa-l-muẓāhara).

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    Al-ʿawn (العون) is helping and supporting (al-muʿāwana wa-l-muẓāhara). One says: 'so-and-so is my ʿawn (عوني),' meaning my helper, and I have already helped him (aʿantuhu). God Most High said: {So help me with strength} [al-Kahf 18:95], and {and other people helped him with it} [al-Furqān 25:4]. Al-taʿāwun (التعاون) is mutual support. God Most High said: {and help one another in righteousness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and transgression} [al-Māʾida 5:2]. Al-istiʿāna (الاستعانة) is seeking help. He said: {Seek help through patience and prayer} [al-Baqara 2:45]. Al-ʿawān (العوان) is what is intermediate between [young and old] years, and it is used metaphorically for a woman of middle age, on the analogy of what the poet said [continues]...

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    العين الجارحة. قال تعالى: والعين بالعين [المائدة/ 45] ، لطمسنا على أعينهم [يس/ 66] ، وأعينهم تفيض من الدمع [التوبة/ 92] ، قرت عين لي ولك [القصص/ 9] ، كي تقر عينها [طه/ 40] ، ويقال لذي العين: عين «3» ، وللمراعي للشيء عين، وفلان بعيني، أي: أحفظه وأراعيه، كقولك: هو بمرأى مني ومسمع، قال: فإنك بأعيننا [الطور/ 48] ، وقال: تجري بأعيننا [القمر/ 14] ، واصنع الفلك بأعيننا [هود/ 37] ، أي: بحيث نرى ونحفظ. ولتصنع على عيني [طه/ 39] ، أي: بكلاءتي وحفظي. ومنه: عين الله عليك أي: كنت في حفظ الله ورعايته، وقيل: جعل ذلك حفظته وجنوده الذين يحفظونه، وجمعه: أعين وعيون. قال تعالى: ولا أقول للذين تزدري أعينكم [هود/ 31] ، ربنا هب لنا من أزواجنا وذرياتنا قرة أعين [الفرقان/ 74] . ويستعار العين لمعان هي موجودة في الجارحة بنظرات مختلفة، واستعير للثقب في المزادة تشبيها بها في الهيئة، وفي سيلان الماء منها فاشتق منها: سقاء عين ومتعين: إذا سال منها الماء، وقولهم: عين قربتك «1» ، أي: صب فيها ما ينسد بسيلانه آثار خرزه، وقيل للمتجسس: عين تشبيها بها في نظرها، وذلك كما تسمى المرأة فرجا، والمركوب ظهرا، فيقال: فلان يملك كذا فرجا وكذا ظهرا لما كان المقصود منهما العضوين، وقيل للذهب: عين تشبيها بها في كونها أفضل الجواهر، كما أن هذه الجارحة أفضل الجوارح ومنه قيل: أعيان القوم لأفاضلهم، وأعيان الإخوة: لنبي أب وأم، قال بعضهم: العين إذا استعمل في معنى ذات الشيء فيقال: كل ماله عين، فكاستعمال الرقبة في المماليك، وتسمية النساء بالفرج من حيث إنه هو المقصود منهن، ويقال لمنبع الماء: عين تشبيها بها لما فيها من الماء، ومن عين الماء اشتق: ماء معين. أي: ظاهر للعيون، وعين أي: سائل. قال تعالى: عينا فيها تسمى سلسبيلا [الإنسان/ 18] ، وفجرنا الأرض عيونا [القمر/ 12] ، فيهما عينان تجريان [الرحمن/ 50] ، ينان نضاختان [الرحمن/ 66] ، وأسلنا له عين القطر [سبأ/ 12] ، في جنات وعيون [الحجر/ 45] ، من جنات وعيون [الشعراء/ 57] ، وجنات وعيون وزروع [الدخان/ 25- 26] . وعنت الرجل: أصبت عينه، نحو: رأسته وفأدته، وعنته: أصبته بعيني نحو سفته: أصبته بسيفي، وذلك أنه يجعل تارة من الجارحة المضروبة نحو: رأسته وفأدته، وتارة من الجارحة التي هي آلة في الضرب فيجري مجرى سفته ورمحته، وعلى نحوه في المعنيين قولهم: يديت، فإنه يقال: إذا أصبت يده، وإذا أصبته بيدك، وتقول: عنت البئر أثرت عين مائها، قال: إلى ربوة ذات قرار ومعين [المؤمنون/ 50] ، فمن يأتيكم بماء معين [الملك/ 30] . وقيل: الميم فيه أصلية، وإنما هو من: معنت «2» . وتستعار العين للميل في الميزان ويقال لبقر الوحش: أعين وعيناء لحسن عينه، وجمعها: عين، وبها شبه النساء. قال تعالى: قاصرات الطرف عين [الصافات/ 48] ، وحور عين [الواقعة/ 22] .

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 598) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Al-ʿawn (العون) is a supporter/helper in a matter;

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Al-ʿawn (العون) is a supporter/helper in a matter; the singular, dual, plural, and feminine forms of this word are all the same [i.e., invariant]. Its broken plural has been reported as aʿwān (أعوان). The Arabs say, when the [drought] year comes: 'its aʿwān (أعوانها) have come with it,' meaning by 'the year' famine/drought, and by 'its helpers' locusts, wolves, and diseases. Al-ʿawīn (العوين) is a collective noun [ism jamʿ]. Abū ʿAmr said: al-ʿawīn (العوين) means al-aʿwān (الأعوان) [the helpers]. Al-Farrāʾ said: similarly ṭasīs (طسيس) is the plural of ṭass (طس). You say: aʿantuhu iʿānatan (أعنته إعانة), and istaʿantuhu (استعنته), and istaʿantu bihi fa-aʿānanī (استعنت به فأعانني) [I sought his help and he helped me]. Now, istaʿāna (استعان) undergoes weak-verb contraction even though there is no [attested] hollow triliteral form beneath it — I mean that one does not say ʿāna yaʿūnu (عان يعون) like qāma yaqūmu (قام يقوم) — because even though its triliteral form is not spoken, it is nevertheless in the status of what is spoken, and from this comes aʿāna yuʿīnu (أعان يعين). The weak-verb contraction has become widespread in this root; and since the contraction was applied consistently throughout it, this indicates that its triliteral form, even though not actually used, is in the status of that [which is used]. The verbal nouns are: al-ʿawn (العون), al-maʿāna (المعانة), al-maʿūna (المعونة), al-maʿūna (المعونة) [variant vocalization], and al-maʿūn (المعون). Al-Azharī said: al-maʿūna (المعونة) is [on the pattern] mafʿula (مفعلة) according to the analogy of one who derives it from al-ʿawn (العون); and some said: it is faʿūla (فعولة) from al-māʿūn (الماعون), and al-māʿūn (الماعون) is [on the pattern] fāʿūl (فاعول). Others among the grammarians said: al-maʿūna (المعونة) is mafʿula (مفعلة) from al-ʿawn (العون), like al-maghwutha (المغوثة) from al-ghawth (الغوث) [help], and al-maḍūfa (المضوفة) from aḍāfa (أضاف) meaning 'he feared,' and al-mashwara (المشورة) from ashāra yushīru (أشار يشير). Some Arabs drop the final tāʾ marbūṭa and say maʿūn (معون); this is anomalous, since there is no [regular] pattern mafʿal (مفعل) without the tāʾ in the speech of the Arabs. Al-Kisāʾī said: the pattern mafʿul (مفعل), with ʿayn vocalized with ḍamma, occurs in the masculine only in two words that came as rare exceptions not to be analogized upon: al-maʿūn (المعون) and al-makram (المكرم). Jamīl said: 'Buthayna, stick to "no" — indeed, if I had adhered to it, / despite the abundance of slanderers, what help (maʿūn/معون) it is!' He means: how good a help is your saying 'no' in repelling the slanderers, however many they are. And another poet said: '...for a day of glory or a noble deed (mukram/مكرم)...' [continues]. It was said: maʿūn (معون) is the plural of maʿūna (معونة), and makram (مكرم) is the plural of makruma (مكرمة); this is what al-Farrāʾ said. Taʿāwanū ʿalayya (تعاونوا علي) and iʿtawanū (اعتونوا): they helped one another. Sībawayh said: the wāw of iʿtawanū (اعتونوا) remained sound because it is in the meaning of taʿāwanū (تعاونوا); so they made the avoidance of contraction a sign that it is in the meaning of that which must necessarily remain sound, namely taʿāwanū (تعاونوا). And they said: ʿāwantuhu muʿāwanatan wa-ʿawānan (عاونته معاونة وعوانا) — the wāw remained sound in the verbal noun because it remained sound in the verb, due to the alif preceding it. Ibn Barrī said: one says iʿtawanū (اعتونوا) and iʿtānū (اعتانوا) when they help one another; [a poet] said: 'How shall we manage the drinking, if we have not / dirhams with the tavern-keeper, nor cash? / Shall we help each other (anaʿtān) or shall we owe together (nadān), or will there come forth for us / a young man like a sword-blade, whose nature is praise?' Taʿāwanā (تعاونا): we helped each other. Al-maʿūna (المعونة) is al-iʿāna (الإعانة) [help]. A man who is maʿwān (معوان) gives help well. You say: 'so-and-so did not fail me in his maʿāwin (معاونه),' which is the plural of maʿūna (معونة). [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    العين: حاسة البصر والرؤية، أنثى، تكون للإنسان وغيره من الحيوان. قال ابن السكيت: العين التي يبصر بها الناظر، والجمع أعيان وأعين وأعينات، الأخيرة جمع الجمع والكثير عيون، قال يزيد بن عبد المدان: ولكنني أغدو، علي مفاضة ... دلاص، كأعيان الجراد المنظم وأنشد ابن بري: بأعينات لم يخالطها القذى وتصغير العين عيينة، ومنه قيل ذو العيينتين للجاسوس، ولا تقل ذو العوينتين. قال ابن سيده: والعين الذي يبعث ليتجسس الخبر، ويسمى ذا العينين، ويقال تسميه العرب ذا العينين وذا العوينتين، كله بمعنى واحد. وزعم اللحياني أن أعينا قد يكون جمع الكثير أيضا، قال الله عز وجل: أم لهم أعين يبصرون بها وإنما أراد الكثير وقولهم: بعين ما أرينك، معناه عجل حتى أكون كأني أنظر إليك بعيني. وفي الحديث: أن موسى، عليه السلام، فقأ عين ملك الموت بصكة صكه ، قيل: أراد أنه أغلظ له في القول، يقال: أتيته فلطم وجهي بكلام غليظ، والكلام الذي قاله له موسى قال: أحرج عليك أن تدنو مني فإني أحرج داري ومنزلي، فجعل هذا تغليظا من موسى له تشبيها بفقء العين، وقيل: هذا الحديث مما يؤمن به وبأمثاله ولا يدخل في كيفيته. وقول العرب: إذا سقطت الجبهة نظرت الأرض بإحدى عينيها، فإذا سقطت الصرفة نظرت بهما جميعا، إنما جعلوا لها عينين على المثل. وقوله تعالى: ولتصنع على عيني ، فسره ثعلب فقال: لتربى من حيث أراك. وفي التنزيل: واصنع الفلك بأعيننا ، قال ابن الأنباري: قال أصحاب النقل والأخذ بالأثر الأعين يريد به العين، قال: وعين الله لا تفسر بأكثر من ظاهرها، ولا يسع أحدا أن يقول: كيف هي، أو ما صفتها؟ وقال بعض المفسرين: بأعيننا بإبصارنا إليك، وقال غيره: بإشفاقنا عليك، واحتج بقوله: ولتصنع على عيني ، أي لتغذى بإشفاقي. وتقول العرب: على عيني قصدت زيدا، يريدون الإشفاق. والعين: أن تصيب الإنسان بعين. وعان الرجل يعينه عينا، فهو عائن، والمصاب معين، على النقص، ومعيون، على التمام: أصابه بالعين. قال الزجاج: المعين المصاب بالعين، والمعيون الذي فيه عين، قال عباس بن مرداس: قد كان قومك يحسبونك سيدا، ... وإخال أنك سيد معيون وحكى اللحياني: إنك لجميل ولا أعنك ولا أعينك، الجزم على الدعاء، والرفع على الإخبار، أي لا أصيبك بعين. ورجل معيان وعيون: شديد الإصابة بالعين، والجمع عين وعين، وما أعينه. وفي الحديث: العين حق وإذا استغسلتم فاغسلوا. يقال: أصابت فلانا عين إذا نظر إليه عدو أو حسود فأثرت فيه فمرض بسببها. وفي الحديث: كان يؤمر العائن فيتوضأ ثم يغتسل منه المعين. وفي الحديث: لا رقية إلا من عين أو حمة ، تخصيصه العين والحمة لا يمنع جواز الرقية في غيرهما من الأمراض لأنه أمر بالرقية مطلقا، ورقى بعض أصحابه من غيرهما، وإنما معناه لا رقية أولى وأنفع من رقية العين والحمة. وتعين الإبل واعتانها: استشرفها ليعينها، وأنشد ابن الأعرابي: يزينها للناظر المعتان ... خيف قريب العهد بالحيران أي إذا كان عهدها قريبا بالولادة كان أضخم لضرعها وأحسن وأشد امتلاء. وتعين الرجل إذا تشوه وتأنى ليصيب شيئا بعينه. وأعلنها كاعتانها. ورجل عيون إذا كان نجيء العين، يقال: أتيت فلانا فما عين لي بشيء وما عينني بشيء أي ما أعطاني شيئا. والعين والمعاينة: النظر، وقد عاينه معاينة وعيانا. ورآه عيانا: لم يشك في رؤيته إياه. ورأيت فلانا عيانا أي مواجهة. قال ابن سيده: ولقيه عيانا أي معاينة، وليس في كل شيء قيل مثل هذا، لو قلت لحاظا لم يجز، إنما يحكى من ذلك ما سمع. وتعينت الشيء: أبصرته، قال ذو الرمة: تخلى فلا تنبو إذا ما تعينت ... بها شبحا، أعناقها كالسبائك ورأيت عائنة من أصحابه أي قوما عاينوني. وهو عبد عين أي ما دمت تراه فهو كالعبد لك، وقيل: أي ما دام مولاه يراه فهو فاره وأما بعده فلا، عن اللحياني، قال: وكذلك تصرفه في كل شيء من هذا كقولك هو صديق عين. ويقال للرجل يظهر لك من نفسه ما لا يفي به إذا غاب: هو عبد عين وصديق عين، قال الشاعر: ومن هو عبد العين، أما لقاؤه ... فحلو، وأما غيبه فظنون ونعم الله بك عينا أي أنعمها. ولقيته أدنى عائنة أي أدنى شيء تدركه العين. والعين: عظم سواد العين وسعتها. عين يعين عينا وعينة حسنة، الأخيرة عن اللحياني، وهو أعين وإنه لبين العينة، عن اللحياني، وإنه لأعين إذا كان ضخم العين واسعها، والأنثى عيناء، والجمع منها عين، وأصله فعل بالضم، ومنه قيل لبقر الوحش عين، صفة غالبة. قال الله عز وجل: وحور عين . ورجل أعين: واسع العين بين العين، والعين: جمع عيناء، وهي الواسعة العين. وفي الحديث إن في الجنة لمجتمعا للحور العين. وفي الحديث: أن رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم، أمر بقتل الكلاب العين ، هي جمع أعين. وحديث اللعان: إن جاءت به أعين أدعج. والثور أعين والبقرة عيناء. قال ابن سيده: ولا يقال ثور أعين ولكن يقال الأعين، غير موصوف به، كأنه نقل إلى حد الاسمية. وقال ابن بري: يقال عين الرجل …

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 13, p. 301) ↗
  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    عَانَتْ

    1. عَانَتْ, (S, K,) aor. تَعُونُ, inf. n. عَوْنٌ, (S, TA, [but see what follows,]) said of a woman, She was, or became, such as is termed عَوَان [q. v.]; as also عَوَّنَتْ, inf. n. تَعْوِينٌ: (S, K:) and in like manner, عانت, aor. as above, inf. n. عُؤُونٌ, [or عَوْنٌ, (Ham p. 630,)] is said of a cow, accord. to AZ. (TA.)

    عَوَّنَ

    2: see 1: and see also 10. تَعْوِينٌ signifies also The he-ass's leaping his she-ass much, or often. (IAar, K.) And The invading another in respect of his share, or portion. (K.)

    عَاوَنَهُ

    3. عَاوَنَهُ, inf. n. مُعَاوَنَةٌ and عِوَانٌ (K,) [He aided, helped, or assisted, him, being aided, &c., by him:] see 6: and i. q. أَعَانَهُ: see the latter, and see also 10.

    اعانهُ

    4. اعانهُ [inf. n. إِعَانَةٌ] and عَاوَنَهُ signify the same, (S, * MA, K,) i. e. He aided, helped, or assisted, him. (MA.) رَبِّ أَعِنِّى وَلَا تُعِنْ عَلَىَّ [O my Lord, aid me, and aid not against me,] is said in a form of prayer. (S.) [And you say, اعانهُ عَلَي الأَمْرِ lit. He aided him against, meaning, to accomplish, or perform, the affair]. See also 6 and 10, the latter in two places.

    تَعَيَّنَ

    5. تَعَيَّنَ, originally تَعَوَّنَ: see 10, last sentence.

    تَعَاوَنُوا

    6. تَعَاوَنُوا signifies بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا أَعَانَ, (S, Msb, K,) They aided, helped, or assisted, one another; (MA;) as also عَاوَنُوا; (Msb;) and اِعْتَوَنُوا, (S, K,) in which the و is preserved because it is preserved in تعاونوا with which it is syn.; (Sb, S;) and also اِعْتَانُوا, accord. to IB, who cites as an ex. a verse in which نَعْتَانُ occurs; but this correctly means نَأْخُذُ العِينَةَ [belonging to art. عين]. (TA.) One says, تَعاونوا عَلَي الأَمْرِ They aided, helped, or assisted, one another [lit. against, meaning, to accomplish, the affair]. (MA.)

    اِعْتَوَنُوا

    8. اِعْتَوَنُوا اِعْتَانُوا: see 6, in two places.

    استعانهُ

    10. استعانهُ استعان بِهِ He sought, desired, demanded, or begged, of him, aid, help, or assistance. (MA.) You say, اِسْتَعَنْتُهُ, (Mgh,) or اِسْتَعَنْتُ بِهِ, (S, Msb,) or both, (K,) فَأَعَانَنِى (S, Mgh, Msb, * K) and عَاوَنَنِى, (S, TA,) for which last, عَوَّنَنِى is erroneously put in the copies of the K; (TA;) [i. e. I sought, &c., of him, aid, &c., and he aided me.] The alteration of the infirm letter [و into ا] is made in استعان and اعان in imitation of a general rule [which requires it when that alteration is made in the unaugmented triliteral verb], though عَانَ, aor. يَعُونُ, [as their source of derivation,] is not used. (TA.) ب [i. e. بِ] is called حَرْفُ ٱسْتِعَانَةٍ [A particle denotative of seeking aid, &c.,] because when you say ضَرَبْتُ بِالسَّيْفِ and كَتَبْتُ بِالقَلَمِ and بَرَيْتُ بِالمُدْيَةِ, it is as though you said اِسْتَعَنْتُ بِهٰذِهِ الأَدَوَاتِ عَلَي هٰذِهِ الأَفْعَالِ [meaning I sought aid of these instruments, or made use of them as means, against, i. e. to perform, these actions of smiting &c.]. (TA.) [And you say, استعان بِنَفْسِهِ, meaning He sought self-help, or exerted himself, فِي أَمْرٍ in an affair, and عَلَيْهِ against it, or him.] استعان signifies also He shaved his عَانَة, or pubes; (S, Msb, K;) and so تَعَيَّنَ, originally تَعَوَّنَ, on the authority of ISd. (TA.)

    عَوْنٌ

    عَوْنٌ (S, Mgh, K) and مَعُونَةٌ (S, Mgh, Msb, K) and مَعْوُنَةٌ, (K, TA,) with damm to the و, agreeably, with analogy, (TA, [in the CK written مَعْوَنَةٌ,]) and مَعَانَةٌ (S, Msb, K) and مَعُونٌ, (S, K,) [respecting the second and last of which see what follows,] are simply substs., (Mgh, Msb, K,) and signify Aid, help, or assistance: (S, Mgh, * Msb, * K: *) عَوْنٌ is one of those quasi-inf. ns. that govern like the inf. n., i. e. like the verb; as in the saying, [When the Creator's aiding the man is true, he will not find such as is difficult, of hopes, otherwise than facilitated]: (I 'Ak, § إِعْمَالُ المَصْدَرِ:) or, accord. to AHei, it is an inf. n. [having no verb]: (TA:) مَعُونَةٌ is of the measure مَقْعُلَةٌ, (Az, Msb, TA,) from العَوْنُ; (Az, TA;) or, as some say, of the measure فَعُولَةٌ, from المَاعُونُ: (Az, Msb, TA:) one says, مَا عِنْدَكَ مَعُونَةٌ and مَعَانَةٌ and عَوْنٌ [i. e. There is not with thee any aid]: (S:) and مَا أَخْلَانِى فُلَانٌ مِنْ مَعَاوِنِهِ [Such a one did not make me to be destitute of his aids]; مَعَاوِنُ being pl. of مَعُونَةٌ: (S, TA:) مَعُونٌ is said by Ks to be syn. with مَعُونَةٌ; (S;) and he says that it is the only masc. of the measure مَفْعُلٌ except مَكْرُمٌ: (TA:) an ex. of it occurs in a verse of Jemeel cited voce أَىُّ: Fr says that it is pl. [virtually, though not in the language of the grammarians,] of مَعُونَةٌ; (S, TA;) and that there is no sing. of the measure مَفْعُلٌ. (S. [On this point, see مَأْلُكٌ, voce أَلُوكٌ.]) Also An aid, as meaning an aider, a helper, or an assistant, (S, Msb, K,) to perform, or accomplish, an affair; (S, Msb;) applied to a single person, (K, TA,) and also to two, (TA,) and to a pl. number, (K, TA,) and to a male, (TA,) and to a female: (K, TA:) and [particularly] a servant: (Har p. 95:) [and an armed attendant, a guard, or an officer, of a king, and of a prefect of the police, and the like:] and عَوَانِيُّ is an appellation applied to an عَوْن [or armed attendant, or a guard,] who accompanies a Sultán, without pay, or allowance: (TA in art. تأر:) أَعْوَانٌ is pl. of عَوْنٌ; (Lth, S, Msb, K;) and عَوِينٌ is a quasi-pl. n., (K,) said by AA to be syn. with أَعْوَانٌ, and Fr says the like. (TA.) The Arabs say, السَّنَةُ جَآءَتْ مَعَهَا أَعْوَانُهَا, meaning When drought comes, [its aiders] the locusts and the flies and diseases come with it. (TA.) And عَوْنٌ signifies Anything that aids, helps, or assists, one: for instance, [one says,] الصَّوْمُ عَوْنُ العِبَادَةِ [Fasting is the aider of religious service]. (Lth, TA.) See also what next follows.

    أَبُو عُونٍ

    أَبُو عُونٍ, with damm, Dates: and salt: (K:) or أَبُو عَوْنٍ [thus, with fet-h,] has the latter meaning; salt being metonymically thus called because its aid is sought for the eating of food. (Har p. 227.)

    عَانَةٌ

    عَانَةٌ A herd of wild asses: (S, K:) and a she-ass: (K:) pl. عُونٌ, (S, K,) and some say عَانَاتٌ. (TA.) And [hence, app.,] العَانَةُ is the appel-lation of (assumed tropical:) Certain white stars, beneath the سُعُود [pl. of سَعْد, q. v.]. (K.) Also The pubes; i. e. the hair of the رَكَب; (S, Msb, K;) the hair that grows above the anterior pudendum; (Mgh;) or, [as some say,] above that of a woman: (TA:) or, accord. to Az (Mgh, Msb, TA) and AHeyth, (TA,) the place of growth of the hair above the anterior pudendum of a man (Msb, TA) and of a woman; (TA;) the hair itself being called the شِعْرَة (Mgh, Msb, TA) and the إِسْب; (Msb, TA;) though it is also called عانة (Mgh, Msb) by an extension of the proper meaning (Mgh) or by an ellipsis: (Msb:) the word is originally عَوَنَةٌ: (Msb:) and the dim. is عُوَيْنَةٌ. (Mgh.) فُلَانٌ عَلَي عَلَي عَانَةِ بَكْرِ بْنِ وَائِلٍ is a saying mentioned by Lh as meaning جَمَاعَتِهِمْ وَحُرْمَتِهِمْ [i. e., app., Such a one is over the collective body, or community, and those who are under the protection, of the tribe of Bekr Ibn-Wáïl]: and it is said to mean, he is manager, orderer, or regulator, of their affairs. (TA.) And عَانَةٌ is said to signify in the dial. of 'AbdEl-Keys A share of water for land. (TA.)

    عَوَانٌ

    عَوَانٌ A beast of the bovine kind, or a cow, (AZ, TA,) or anything, (S, TA,) [i. e.] an animal [of any kind]. (IAar, TA,) or a woman, and a beast, (Msb,) Of middle age, (AZ, IAar, Msb, TA,) between such as is advanced in age and the youthful, (AZ, TA,) neither young nor old; (IAar, TA:) so in the Kur ii. 63: (S, * TA:) or a cow, and a mare, that has brought, forth after her firstborn: (K, TA: [in the CK, البَكْرُ is erroneously put for البِكْرِ:]) and a woman who has had a hasland; (K, TA;) in the M, i. q. ثَيِّبٌ: (TA:) pl. عُونٌ, (S, Msb, K,) originally عُوُنٌ. (Msb, TA.) لَا تُعَلَّمُ العَوَانُ الخِمْرَةَ is a prov. [expl. in art. خمر.]. (S, TA.) And حَرْبٌ عَوَانٌ means (assumed tropical:) A war in which fighting has occurred once [and is occurring again]; (S, K;) as though they made the first [fighting] to be a بِكْر [or first-horn], (S.) And ضَرْبَةٌ عَوَانٌ (assumed tropical:) A blow inflicted by seizing an opportunity when the object is unaware, and requiring to be repeated: pl. ضَرَبَاتٌ عُونٌ, occurring in a trad., in which the blows of 'Alee are said to have been not of this kind, but such as are termed مُبْتَكِرَاتٌ. (L. [See بِكْرٌ, last sentence.]) And Land watered by rain (K, TA) between two portions of land not so watered. (TA.) And [the fem. i. e.] with ة, A tall palm-tree: (S, K:) of the dial. of 'Omán, (AHn, S, TA,) or of the dial. of Azd: (TA:) or one standing alone, apart from others. (IAar, TA.)

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Look this root up elsewhere:Doha Historical Dictionary ↗Quranic Arabic Corpus ↗Arabic Almanac ↗Hawramani Arabic Lexicon ↗

The same letters, turned

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

ع و ن

Not in Ibn Fāris; only in later sources.

Lisān ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×11

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

Reference

About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary

al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).

A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).

Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).

Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.

Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.

The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).

The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.

Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 6 of 643

Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.

Letters & sound

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.

Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)

16 more

Reference

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ع

ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗

ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗

و

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗

ن

ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان ما بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى وما فويق الثنايا مخرج النون

From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Sībawayh, lines 26555–26556 ↗

ومن طرف اللسان بينه وبين ما فويق الثنايا، مخرج النون

From the tip of the tongue, between it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Ibn Jinnī, line 979 ↗

Sībawayh, al-Kitāb (ed. Hārūn) and Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb; OpenITI digital texts (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Full credits on each letter's page.

In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ع

Level of existence: الطبيعة · Nature

Divine Name: الباطن · The Inward (al-Bāṭin)

Lunar mansion: الثريا · al-Thurayyā (the Pleiades)

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 63825

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗

و

Level of existence: تعيين الرتب والمقامات والمنازل · the determination of ranks, stations and waystations

Divine Name: رفيع الدرجات · Rafīʿ al-Darajāt, Exalted in Degrees

Lunar mansion: الرشا · al-Rashāʾ

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62121

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

Nature (ch. 2)

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582

ن

Level of existence: السماء الرابعة · the fourth heaven

Divine Name: النور · the Light (al-Nūr)

Lunar mansion: السماك · al-Simāk

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64663

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗

Nature (ch. 2)

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ع

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي اسم لقدوم أو رحيل.

It is a name for arrival or departure.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي اسم للساكن في الذات التي تقوم به.

It is a name for that which dwells in the self and by which the self subsists.

With kasra ـِ

فهي اسم لخبث الذات.

It is a name for the foulness of the self.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

و

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي الأشياء المشتبكة في الإنسان مثل العروق والأصابع وما أشبه ذلك.

It is the intertwined things in the human being, such as veins, fingers and the like.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي الأشياء المباينة لبني آدم مثل الأفلاك والجبال وما أشبه ذلك

It is things distinct from the children of Adam, such as the celestial spheres, mountains and the like.

With kasra ـِ

فهي الأشياء المشتبكة المستقذرة أو المبغوضة كالأمعاء ونحوها.

It is intertwined things that are filthy or detested, such as the intestines and the like.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ن

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي الخير الساكن في الذات الشاعل فيها.

It is the good that dwells in the self, kindling [al-shāʿil, as written] within it.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى الخير الكامل أو النور الساطع.

It is an indication of perfect good or radiant light.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى شيء يدركه المتكلم أو هو له.

It is an indication of something that the speaker perceives or that belongs to him.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus8 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterع و

Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 21048 ↗

  • عويالعين والواو والياء أصل صحيح يدل على لي في الشيء وعطف لهL21049
  • عودالعين والواو والدال أصلان صحيحان يدل أحدهما على تثنية في الأمر والآخر جنس من الخشبQ 63 · L21085
  • عوذالعين والواو والذال أصل صحيح يدل على معنى واحد وهو الالتجاء إلى الشيء ثم يحمل عليه كل شيء لصق بشيء أو لازمهQ 17 · L21124
  • عورالعين والواو والراء أصلان أحدهما يدل على تداول الشيء والآخر يدل على مرض في إحدى عيني الإنسان وكل ذي عينين ومعناه الخلو من النظر ثم يحمل عليه ويشتق منهQ 4 · L21134
  • عوزالعين والواو والزاء كلمة واحدة تدل على سوء حالL21168
  • عوسالعين والواو والسين كلمة قد ذكرها أهل اللغة وقياسها قياس صحيح بعيدL21174
  • عوصالعين والواو والصاد أصيل يدل على قلة الإمكان في الشيءL21178
  • عوضالعين والواو والضاد كلمتان صحيحتان إحداهما تدل على بدل للشىء والأخرى على زمانL21184
In the sister scriptsHebrew ע ו נSyriac ܥ ܘ ܢ
Arabicع و ن
Hebrewע ו נ
Syriacܥ ܘ ܢ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩲 𐩥 𐩬
Phoenician𐤏 𐤅 𐤍

Letter for letter, by the regular sound correspondences of the Semitic languages (Arabic keeps several sounds the others merged). This shows how the root would be spelled; whether a related word exists is a separate question, answered in the Semitic lens. Where an Arabic sibilant (s, sh) continues two older sounds, both spellings are shown.

Lenses

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl defines ʿawn as anything you seek help from or that helps you.well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    Al-Khalīl defines ʿawn as anything you seek help from or that helps you. His example is 'fasting is an aid to worship'. He notes that ʿawn serves for masculine, feminine and plural alike, with the broken plural aʿwān, and he treats ʿawān, a cow or woman of middle age, in the same entry. He calls a war ʿawān when a war preceded it, the first being bikr, and he takes maʿūna either as mafʿula from ʿawn or as faʿūla from māʿūn. Al-Jawharī leads with ʿawān, 'the middle-aged of everything'; describes ḥarb ʿawān as war fought 'time after time'; and glosses ʿawn as al-ẓahīr ʿalā al-amr, the backer in an affair. Al-Rāghib reduces ʿawn to muʿāwana and muẓāhara, defines istiʿāna as 'seeking help', and illustrates both with Quranic verses. Ibn Manẓūr adds a proverb in which a drought year arrives 'with its helpers' (locusts, wolves, diseases), and a morphological note: istaʿāna and aʿāna are inflected as hollow verbs although the simple verb *ʿāna yaʿūnu* 'to help' is not used. Lane records the rarer strand, ʿānat 'she became ʿawān', and taʿwīn, the he-ass covering his she-ass often.

    Draws on: al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn · al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ · al-Rāghib, Mufradāt · Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān · Lane

  • Letters & soundIn al-Dabbāgh's letter meanings, ʿayn names 'arrival or departure', wāw 'the intertwined things in the human being, such as veins and fingers', and nūn 'the good that dwells in the self, kindling within it'.speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    In al-Dabbāgh's letter meanings, ʿayn names 'arrival or departure', wāw 'the intertwined things in the human being, such as veins and fingers', and nūn 'the good that dwells in the self, kindling within it'. Read together, they could suggest movement toward another, a joining, and an inward good, which fits mutual aid, though this is an imposed reading. The data supplied give no correspondence from Ibn ʿArabī's chapter 198 for these three letters. Ibn Jinnī's imsās works mainly by contrasting near pairs of words and offers no ready gloss here. Mainstream linguistics treats such letter meanings as suggestive at most.

    Draws on: al-Dabbāgh (al-Ibrīz) · Ibn Jinnī imsās (general)

    • al-Dabbāgh, al-Ibrīz (letters of the Fātiḥa)
  • Root structureIbn Fāris's ʿ-w chapter includes several roots that can be set beside ʿ-w-n.plausible

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    Ibn Fāris's ʿ-w chapter includes several roots that can be set beside ʿ-w-n. ʿ-w-dh denotes taking refuge (iltijāʾ), which sits close to istiʿāna. ʿ-w-d includes 'doubling in a matter' (tathniya), which recalls the ḥarb ʿawān, a war that comes again. ʿ-w-y denotes bending. ʿ-w-ḍ denotes substitution. Among the permutations, ʿ-n-w occurs once in the Quran ('faces are humbled', Q 20:111), and Ibn Fāris gives it three senses: eager intent, submission, and emergence. The other permutations are n-ʿ-w (announcing a death) and n-w-ʿ (kind or type; a certain motion); w-ʿ-n is 'not a root' for Ibn Fāris, and w-n-ʿ is unattested. None of this amounts to Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation, because no single meaning runs through all six orders. These are juxtapositions only.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus siblings · permutations

    • Qurʾān 20:111 ↗
    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, bāb al-ishtiqāq al-akbar (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident cognate of ʿawn 'help' is established in Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian or Geʿez.plausible

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    No confident cognate of ʿawn 'help' is established in Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian or Geʿez. Hebrew ʿāwōn 'iniquity' is a false friend: it is usually derived from ʿ-w-h 'to bend, twist', which corresponds to Arabic ʿ-w-y ('bending'), a sibling in Ibn Fāris's nucleus, and not to ʿ-w-n. The word is native Arabic, with no sign of borrowing.

    Draws on: negative finding · BDB

    • Brown–Driver–Briggs, s.v. עָוֹן / עָוָה
  • Quranic exegesisOn Q 1:5, al-Ṭabarī reads iyyāka nastaʿīn as seeking help from God alone, both in worship and in all one's affairs.plausible

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    On Q 1:5, al-Ṭabarī reads iyyāka nastaʿīn as seeking help from God alone, both in worship and in all one's affairs. Al-Zamakhsharī takes the fronted pronoun as marking restriction (ikhtiṣāṣ). He explains that worship precedes the request because the means (wasīla) comes first and makes the request fit to be answered. Al-Rāzī treats the verse at length, including the question of how human acts relate to the help God gives for them. On Q 2:45 ('seek help through patience and prayer'), some early authorities cited by al-Ṭabarī glossed ṣabr as fasting, which matches al-Khalīl's example 'fasting is an aid to worship'. The other strand appears at Q 2:68, where the cow is ʿawān, 'between' young and old; Q 12:18 (Jacob's 'God is the one whose help is sought') and Q 5:2 (cooperate in piety, not in sin) complete the key uses.

    Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib

  • Akbarian readingThe root does not occur in Faṣṣ Ādam, and Ibn ʿArabī's Iṣṭilāḥ gives it no definition.uncertain

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    The root does not occur in Faṣṣ Ādam, and Ibn ʿArabī's Iṣṭilāḥ gives it no definition. Its main place in his work is his commentary on the Fātiḥa, read through the ḥadīth qudsī that divides the prayer between God and the servant. In that ḥadīth, 'You we worship and You we ask for help' is the verse said to be 'between Me and My servant'. On that reading, istiʿāna marks the point where the servant's act and God's act meet. This lens is offered at low confidence and should be checked against the Futūḥāt's chapter on the mysteries of prayer.

    Draws on: absent from Faṣṣ Ādam · no Iṣṭilāḥ entry · Futūḥāt on the Fātiḥa

    • Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, bāb asrār al-ṣalāt (on the Fātiḥa)

Reference

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out