“ Hawza ilmiyya” refers to the centre of Shiites seminary that its name background and genesis, in studies on Shiite educational and scientific institutions, has been ignored. In addition, these studies have introduced the Shiite seminaries before creation of the term, as “ Hawza ilmiyya” . This study focuses on the emergence and the semantic evolution of the term of “ Hawza ilmiyya” . The findings of this study suggest that the term of Hawza ilmiyya emerged from within socio-political changes of constitutional period and at first, in its modern sense, was entitled the institution that was founded by Sheikh Abdul Karim Haeri in Qom. Also, this study shows that the new structure of Shiite seminaries, so-called "Hawza ilmiyya", is not applicable to the ancient Shiite scientific centers.