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ويل

Root entry · 10 derived lemmas

The root 'ويل' primarily denotes severe misfortune, punishment, and destruction. It is used as an exclamation of distress, a curse, or a warning of dire consequences. The root encompasses concepts of suffering, ruin, and extreme hardship.

Derived headwords

وَيْلnoun
  1. 1.
    woe, doomboth

    A word expressing severe misfortune, punishment, or destruction, often used as an exclamation or curse.

  2. 2.
    calamity, disasterboth

    The occurrence of evil, misfortune, or a disastrous event.

  3. 3.
    suffering, hardshipboth

    Intense pain, distress, or difficulty, especially from punishment or affliction.

ويل للمطففين — Woe to the defrauders
ويل لكل همزة — Woe to every slanderer
وَيْلَةnoun
  1. 1.
    calamity, disgraceboth

    A great misfortune, disgrace, or a shameful event.

  2. 2.
    lamentationclassical

    An expression of grief or distress, particularly over a misfortune.

لأمك ويلة — Your mother has a calamity
وا ويلتاه — Oh, my disgrace!
وَيْلَتَاهnoun
  1. 1.
    oh, my disgrace!classical

    An exclamation of extreme distress, lamentation, or shame.

يا ويلتنا مال هذا الكتاب — Oh, woe to us! What is this book
وَيْلٌ لِـphrase
  1. 1.
    woe toboth

    A phrase used to pronounce doom or severe misfortune upon someone or something.

ويل لزيد — Woe to Zayd
وَيْلًا لِـphrase
  1. 1.
    woe toboth

    A phrase used to pronounce doom or severe misfortune upon someone or something, often with an implied verb.

ويلا لتيم — Woe to Taym
تَوَايَلَاverb
  1. 1.
    to invoke woe upon each otherclassical

    To call down curses or misfortune upon one another.

وهما يتوايلان — and they invoke woe upon each other
تَوَيَّلَverb
  1. 1.
    to call down woeclassical

    To invoke or call for misfortune or destruction upon oneself or another.

أخا الموت كظا، رهبة وتويلا — a man of death, feared and calling down woe
وَيْلٌ وَئِلٌphrase
  1. 1.
    extreme woeclassical

    An emphatic expression of severe misfortune or destruction, possibly a non-standard formation.

له ويل وئل — He has extreme woe
وَيْلٌ وَئِيلٌphrase
  1. 1.
    extreme woeclassical

    An emphatic expression of severe misfortune or destruction, possibly a non-standard formation.

ويل وائل — Woe to Wā'il (a name or tribe)
وَيْلٌ بِـphrase
  1. 1.
    woe be toclassical

    An expression of misfortune or condemnation, used in specific grammatical constructions.

ويل بزيد فتى شيخ ألوذ به — Woe be to Zayd, a man of noble lineage to whom I resort

Parallel reading

كلمة مثل ويح إلا أنها كلمة عذاب.
It is a word like 'wayh' except that it is a word of torment.
يقال: ويله وويلك وويلي، وفي الندبة: ويلاه؛
It is said: 'waylahu', 'wayluka', 'waylī', and in lamentation: 'waylāhū'.
قالت هريرة لما جئت زائرها: ... ويلي عليك، وويلي منك يا رجل
Hurayrah said when I came to visit her: ... 'Woe is me because of you, and woe is me from you, O man!'
وقد تدخل عليه الهاء فيقال: ويلة؛
And the 'hā'' (pronoun suffix) may be added to it, and it is said: 'waylah'.
والويل: حلول الشر.
And 'al-wayl' means the occurrence of evil.
والويلة: الفضيحة والبلية، وقيل: هو تفجع،
And 'al-waylah' means disgrace and calamity, and it is said to be lamentation.
وإذا قال القائل: وا ويلتاه فإنما يعني وا فضيحتاه،
And when one says: 'Wā waylatāh', they mean 'Wā faḍīḥatāh' (Oh, my disgrace!).
وكذلك تفسير قوله تعالى: يا ويلتنا مال هذا الكتاب ،
And likewise is the interpretation of the Almighty's saying: 'Oh, woe to us! What is this book...'
وقد تجمع العرب الويل بالويلات.
And the Arabs may combine 'al-wayl' with 'al-waylāt'.
وهما يتوايلان.
And they invoke woe upon each other.
ويله وويل له: أكثر من ذكر الويل؛
'Waylahu' and 'waylun lahū' mean to mention 'al-wayl' excessively.
دعا بالويل لما نزل به؛
He called down woe upon himself when what befell him.
قال النابغة الجعدي: على موطن أغشي هوازن كلها ... أخا الموت كظا، رهبة وتويلا
Al-Nābighah al-Juʿdī said: Upon a place that I covered all of Hawāzin with... a man of death, feared and calling down woe.
وقالوا: له ويل وئل وويل وئيل، همزوه على غير قياس؛
And they said: 'He has 'waylun wa'ilun' and 'waylun wa'īlun', they hamzated it irregularly;
قال ابن سيده: وأراها ليست بصحيحة.
Ibn Sīdah said: And I consider it not to be sound.
قال ابن جني: امْتَنَعُوا مِنْ اسْتِعْمَالِ أَفْعَالِ الْوَيْلِ وَالْوَيْسِ وَالْوَيْحِ وَالْوَيْبِ لِأَنَّ الْقِيَاسَ نَفَاهُ وَمَنَعَ مِنْهُ،
Ibn Jinnī said: They refrained from using verbs derived from 'al-wayl', 'al-ways', 'al-wayḥ', and 'al-wayb' because analogy negated it and prevented it,
وَذَلِكَ لِأَنَّهُ لَوْ صُرِفَ الْفِعْلُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ لَوَجَبَ اعْتِلَالُ فَائِهِ وَعَيْنِهِ كَوَعَدَ وَبَاعَ، فَتَحَامَوْا اسْتِعْمَالَهُ لِمَا كَانَ يَعْقُبُ مِنْ اجْتِمَاعِ إِعْلَالَيْنِ.
And that is because if the verb were conjugated from it, its first and middle radicals would necessarily be weak, like 'waʿada' and 'bāʿa', so they avoided using it due to the resulting combination of two weaknesses.
قال سيبويه ويل له وويلا له أي قبحا، الرفع على الاسم والنصب على المصدر، ولا فعل له،
Sībawayh said: 'Waylun lahū' and 'waylan lahū' mean ugliness; the nominative is as a noun and the accusative as a masdar, and it has no verb.
وحكى ثعلب: ويل به؛ وأنشد:
And Thaʿlab narrated: 'Waylun bihi'; and he recited:
ويل بزيد فتى شيخ ألوذ به ... فلا أعشي لدى زيد، ولا أرد
Woe be to Zayd, a man of noble lineage to whom I resort... so I do not have my evening meal with Zayd, nor do I return.
قال الجوهري: تقول ويل لزيد وويلا لزيد، فالنصب على إضمار الفعل والرفع على الابتداء، هذا إذا لم تضفه،
Al-Jawharī said: You say 'Waylun li-Zayd' and 'Waylan li-Zayd'; the accusative is by omitting the verb and the nominative is by initial predication, this is if you do not add it (as a possessive).
فأما إذا أضفت فليس إلا النصب لأنك لو رفعته لم يكن له خبر؛
But if you add it (as a possessive), it is only accusative because if you were to make it nominative, it would have no predicate;
شاهد الرفع قوله عز وجل: ويل للمطففين ؛
The evidence for the nominative is the Almighty's saying: 'Woe to the defrauders';
وشاهد النصب قول جرير: كسا اللؤم تيما خضرة في جلودها، ... فويلا لتيم من سرابيلها الخضر
And the evidence for the accusative is Jarīr's saying: 'Meanness clothed Taym with greenness in their skins,... so woe to Taym from their green garments.'
إذا قرأ ابن آدم السجدة فسجد اعتزل الشيطان يبكي يقول يا ويله ؛
When the son of Adam recites the prostration verse and prostrates, Satan withdraws weeping, saying 'Oh, woe is me!'
الويل: الحزن والهلاك والمشقة من العذاب،
'Al-wayl' means grief, destruction, and hardship from torment,
وكل من وقع في هلكة دعا بالويل،
And everyone who falls into destruction calls out 'al-wayl'.
ومعنى النداء فيه يا حزني ويا هلاكي ويا عذابي احضر فهذا وقتك وأوانك،
And the meaning of the call in it is 'O my grief! O my destruction! O my torment! Be present, for this is your time and your hour.'
فَكَأَنَّهُ نَادَى الْوَيْلَ أَنْ يَحْضُرَهُ لِمَا عَرَضَ لَهُ مِنْ الْأَمْرِ الْفَظِيعِ وَهُوَ النَّدَمُ عَلَى تَرْكِ السُّجُودِ لِآدَمَ، عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ،
So it is as if he called out to 'al-wayl' to be present with him due to the terrible matter that befell him, which was regret for not prostrating to Adam, peace be upon him,
وَأَضَافَ الْوَيْلَ إِلَى ضَمِيرِ الْغَائِبِ حَمْلًا عَلَى الْمَعْنَى، وَعَدَلَ عَنْ حِكَايَةِ قَوْلِ إِبْلِيسَ يَا وَيْلِي، كَرَاهِيَةَ أَنْ يُضِيفَ الْوَيْلَ إِلَى نَفْسِهِ،
And he attributed 'al-wayl' to the third-person pronoun based on the meaning, and deviated from narrating Iblīs's saying 'Yā waylī' (Oh, woe is me), disliking to attribute 'al-wayl' to himself,
وَقَدْ يَرِدُ الْوَيْلُ بِمَعْنَى التَّعَجُّبِ.
And 'al-wayl' may be used to mean astonishment.
وَغَيْرُهُ: وَفِي التَّنْزِيلِ الْعَزِيزِ: وَيْلٌ لِلْمُطَفِّفِينَ وَوَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ ؛
And others: And in the Noble Revelation: 'Woe to the defrauders, and woe to every slanderer';
قَالَ أَبُو إِسْحَاقَ: وَيْلٌ رَفْعٌ بِالِابْتِدَاءِ وَالْخَبَرُ لِلْمُطَفِّفِينَ؛
Abū Isḥāq said: 'Waylun' is nominative by initial predication, and the predicate is 'lil-muṭaffifīn' (for the defrauders);
قَالَ: وَلَوْ كَانَتْ فِي غَيْرِ الْقُرْآنِ لَجَازَ وَيْلًا عَلَى مَعْنَى جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ وَيْلًا،
He said: And if it were outside the Quran, 'waylan' would be permissible, meaning 'Allah has made for them woe,'
وَالرَّفْعُ أَجْوَدُ فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَالْكَلَامِ لِأَنَّ الْمَعْنَى قَدْ ثَبَتَ لَهُمْ هَذَا.
And the nominative is better in the Quran and speech because this meaning has been established for them.
وَالْوَيْلُ: كَلِمَةٌ تُقَالُ لِكُلِّ مَنْ وَقَعَ فِي عَذَابٍ أَوْ هَلَكَةٍ،
'Al-wayl' is a word said to anyone who falls into torment or destruction,
وَأَصْلُ الْوَيْلِ فِي اللُّغَةِ الْعَذَابُ وَالْهَلَاكُ.
And the origin of 'al-wayl' in the language is torment and destruction.
وَالْوَيْلُ: الْهَلَاكُ يُدْعَى بِهِ لِمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي هَلْكَةٍ يَسْتَحِقُّهَا، تَقُولُ: وَيْلٌ لِزَيْدٍ،
'Al-wayl' is destruction, invoked upon one who falls into a deserved destruction. You say: 'Waylun li-Zayd' (Woe to Zayd),
وَمِنْهُ: وَيْلٌ لِلْمُطَفِّفِينَ ، فَإِنْ وَقَعَ فِي هَلْكَةٍ لَمْ يَسْتَحِقَّهَا قُلْتَ: وَيْحٌ لِزَيْدٍ، يَكُونُ فِيهِ مَعْنَى التَّرَحُّمِ؛
And from this is: 'Woe to the defrauders'. If one falls into undeserved destruction, you say: 'Wayḥun li-Zayd' (Alas for Zayd), which carries a meaning of compassion;
وَمِنْهُ قَوْلُ سَيِّدِنَا رَسُولِ اللَّهِ، صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: وَيْحَ ابْنَ سُمَيَّةَ تَقْتُلُهُ الْفِئَةُ الْبَاغِيَةُ
And from this is the saying of our master, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him: 'Alas for Ibn Sumayyah, the transgressing group will kill him.'