Arabic word sheet
هَوًى
Desire, inclination
- Type
- noun
- Root
- ه و ي
Meaning and usage
Desire, inclination
What one feels drawn to, the wish that carries someone along. Used on its own the word is mostly taken in a bad sense: whim, the urge one follows instead of reason.
يَخْتَارُ سَامِي ثِيَابَهُ حَسَبَ هَوَاهُ.
Sami chooses his clothes as he fancies.
Love, passion
Loving attachment, the feeling of one who loves; it is the poets’ word for passion.
كَتَبَ الشَّاعِرُ قَصِيدَةً عَنِ الْهَوَى.
The poet wrote a poem about love.
Beloved
Also said of the person or thing one loves: the one who is the object of the passion.
كَانَتْ سَلْمَى هَوَى الشَّاعِرِ مُنْذُ الصِّغَرِ.
Salma had been the poet’s beloved since childhood.
Plural
أَهْوَاءٌ
Word family
What the root means ه و ي
The root’s basic verb means to fall, to drop from high to low, and its nouns name the air and the empty space one falls through. A second verb of the same root means to love, to be drawn to something: the headword belongs with it, beside “to fall”, “air”, “chasm” and “to reach out for”.
to love, to desire
هَوِيَ
to fall, to drop
هَوَى
air
هَوَاءٌ
chasm, pit
هُوَّةٌ
to reach out for
أَهْوَى
Synonyms
leaning, inclination
مَيْلٌ
It matches the sense of inclination and stays neutral: it only says that one leans toward a thing, with no idea of blame or of passion.
passionate love
عِشْقٌ
It matches only the sense of love and is stronger: it is love at its most intense.