— Views on its original form and pattern: (1) it was أَيَيَةayayah, pattern فَعَلَةfaʿalah, and the yāʾ became alif owing to the heaviness of the vowel — the inclination of Sībawayh and al-Khalīl; (2) أَيْيَةayyah, pattern فَعْلَةfaʿlah — al-Kisāʾī; (3) some have attributed it to the root ʾ w y. The plural āyāt supports the first view.
آيَةāyah pl. آيَات وَآيٌāyāt wa-y: a manifest sign that points to something beyond itself; in the Quran (1) a sign: ﴿وَمِنْ اٰيٰتِهِۦ خَلْقُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالْاَرْضِ﴾ (Ar-Rūm 30:22); (2) a miracle: ﴿فَاْتِ بِاٰيَةٍ اِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الصّٰدِقِيْنَ﴾ (Ash-Shuʿarāʾ 26:154); (3) a discrete sentence of the Quran, a verse: ﴿مَا نَنْسَخْ مِنْ اٰيَةٍ اَوْ نُنْسِهَا﴾ (Al-Baqarah 2:106); ﴿تِلْكَ اٰيٰتُ الْكِتٰبِ الْمُبِيْنِ﴾ (Yūsuf 12:1)