فوج

Arabic

Alternative forms

• فَيْج (fayj) — obsolete

Etymology

From earlier فَيْج (fayj, “legman, courier; company”), borrowed from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (pdk' /⁠payg⁠/, “foot-soldier, foot-walker, courier”) (Classical Persian پیگ (payg)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fawd͡ʒ/

Noun

فَوْج • (fawj) m (plural أَفْوَاج (ʔafwāj))

1. company, group, crowd, drove, swarm
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 110:2:

     وَرَأَيْتَ ٱلنَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ ٱللّٰهِ أَفْوَاجًا

     wa-raʔayta n-nāsa yadḵulūna fī dīni llāhi ʔafwājan

     And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes

2. (military) cohort, battalion, regiment (a military unit of size varying by state)
3. (mining) shift, layer, stratum (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Declension

Declension of noun فَوْج (fawj)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	فَوْج fawj	الْفَوْج al-fawj	فَوْج fawj
Nominative	فَوْجٌ fawjun	الْفَوْجُ al-fawju	فَوْجُ fawju
Accusative	فَوْجًا fawjan	الْفَوْجَ al-fawja	فَوْجَ fawja
Genitive	فَوْجٍ fawjin	الْفَوْجِ al-fawji	فَوْجِ fawji
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	فَوْجَيْن fawjayn	الْفَوْجَيْن al-fawjayn	فَوْجَيْ fawjay
Nominative	فَوْجَانِ fawjāni	الْفَوْجَانِ al-fawjāni	فَوْجَا fawjā
Accusative	فَوْجَيْنِ fawjayni	الْفَوْجَيْنِ al-fawjayni	فَوْجَيْ fawjay
Genitive	فَوْجَيْنِ fawjayni	الْفَوْجَيْنِ al-fawjayni	فَوْجَيْ fawjay
Plural	basic broken plural triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	أَفْوَاج ʔafwāj	الْأَفْوَاج al-ʔafwāj	أَفْوَاج ʔafwāj
Nominative	أَفْوَاجٌ ʔafwājun	الْأَفْوَاجُ al-ʔafwāju	أَفْوَاجُ ʔafwāju
Accusative	أَفْوَاجًا ʔafwājan	الْأَفْوَاجَ al-ʔafwāja	أَفْوَاجَ ʔafwāja
Genitive	أَفْوَاجٍ ʔafwājin	الْأَفْوَاجِ al-ʔafwāji	أَفْوَاجِ ʔafwāji

Derived terms

• أَفَاجَ (ʔafāja, “to congregate”)

Descendants

• → Classical Persian: فَوْج (fawj)
  • → Bengali: ফৌজ (fouj)
  • → Pashto: فوځ (fawź), پوځ (pawź)
  • → Old Gujarati: फोज (phoja)
    • Gujarati: ફોજ (phoj)
    • Marwari: फौज (phauj)
  • → Hindustani:

    Devanagari script: फ़ौज (fauj)

    Arabic script: فوج (fauj)

  • → Kannada: ಫೌಜು (phauju)
  • → Marathi: फौज (phauj)
  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi script: ਫ਼ੌਜ (fauj)

    Shahmukhi script: فوج (fauj)

References

• “فوج” in Almaany
• Freytag, Georg (1835) “فوج”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 379
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “فوج”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎^[2] (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 643
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “فوج”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[3], London: Williams & Norgate, page 2455
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “فوج”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎^[4] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 986

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَوْج (fawj).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [fawd͡ʒ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [fäwd͡ʒ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [fäwd͡ʒ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [fäwd͡ʒ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [fäwd͡ʒ̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [fowd͡ʒ̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [fäwd͡ʒ]

Readings
Classical reading?	fawj
Dari reading?	fawj
Iranian reading?	fowj
Tajik reading?	favj

Noun

Dari	فوج
Iranian Persian
Tajik	фавҷ

فوج • (fowj)

1. (archaic) group, company
2. (archaic) a regiment

   Synonyms: هنگ (hang), رژیمان (režimân)

Descendants

• → Bengali: ফৌজ (fouj)
• → Pashto: فوځ (fawź), پوځ (pawź)
• → Old Gujarati: फोज (phoja)
  • Gujarati: ફોજ (phoj)
  • Marwari: फौज (phauj)
• → Hindustani:

  Devanagari script: फ़ौज (fauj)

  Arabic script: فوج (fauj)

• → Kannada: ಫೌಜು (phauju)
• → Marathi: फौज (phauj)
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਫ਼ੌਜ (fauj)

  Shahmukhi script: فوج (fauj)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian فَوْج (fawj), from Arabic فَوْج (fawj). First attested in c. 1503 as Middle Hindi فوج (fvj /⁠fauj⁠/).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /fɔːd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɔːd͡ʒ

Noun

فَوج • (fauj) f (formal plural اَفْواج (afvāj), Hindi spelling फ़ौज)

1. army (military; force)

   Synonym: سینا (senā)

2. (figuratively) a horde (both in terms of items or people).

Declension

Declension of فوج
	singular	plural
direct	فوج (fauj)	فوجیں (faujẽ)
oblique	فوج (fauj)	فوجوں (faujõ)
vocative	فوج (fauj)	فوجو (faujo)

Derived terms

• فوجدار (faujdār)
• فوجداری (faujdārī)
• فوجی (faujī, “soldier”)

Further reading

• “فوج”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “فوج”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]