حلى

Core meaning

To ornament: to add to a body what adorns it without being part of it; the ornament one wears.

Uses

1. حِلْيَة, حُلِىّ → "ornament" : what one wears: drawn from the sea, melted in the fire, or turned into an idol.

   • «وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا۟ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةًۭ تَلْبَسُونَهَا» — "and extract from it an ornament that you wear" (16:14)
   • «مِنْ حُلِيِّهِمْ عِجْلًۭا جَسَدًۭا» — "from their ornaments, a calf, a body" (7:148)

2. يُحَلَّوْنَ, حُلُّوا → "to be ornamented" : the dwellers of the Garden, ornamented with bracelets.

   • «يُحَلَّوْنَ فِيهَا مِنْ أَسَاوِرَ مِن ذَهَبٍۢ وَلُؤْلُؤًۭا» — "they will be ornamented therein with bracelets of gold and pearls" (22:23)
   • «وَحُلُّوٓا۟ أَسَاوِرَ مِن فِضَّةٍۢ» — "And they have been ornamented with bracelets of silver" (76:21)

Evidence from the text

The ornament is always added to what it adorns. The sea gives two distinct things: flesh one eats, and an ornament one wears (16:14, 35:12); metal heated in the fire in search of an ornament casts off its froth (13:17). In the Garden, bracelets of gold, pearls or silver are added to the garments (18:31, 22:23, 35:33, 76:21).

The text also shows the ornament misused: the people of Moussa make a calf of it (7:148). In 43:18, the one brought up amid ornaments is described by what surrounds him, not by the clarity of his speech in a quarrel.

Distinctions

• زين — adornment: what embellishes and makes desirable, whereas the ornament is an object worn