Arabic language

Arabic (اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ, al-ʿarabiyyah) is a Semitic language that first appeared in the mid-ninth century BCE in Northern Arabia and Sahara southern Levant. It is related to other Semitic languages like Hebrew and Aramaic.^[14][15] Unlike the latter two, where the former derives from the other, however, Arabic is itself a root language, like Latin. Unlike Latin, it is still widely used and spoken today. Around 292 million people speak it as their first language. Many more people can also understand it as a second language in the Maghreb. The Arabic language is written from right to left in a consonant alphabet, which is also called an abjad.^[16] Since it is so widely spoken throughout the world, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The other official languages of the UN are: English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.^[17]

Arabic
اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ al-ʿarabiyyah
al-ʿarabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)
Pronunciation	[ˈʕarabiː] (listen) [al ʕaraˈbijːa] (listen)
Native to	Egypt United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia Cyprus Morocco Western Sahara Senegal Israel Mali Niger Philippines Palestine Algeria Zanzibar Chad Mauritania Tunisia Libya Sudan South Sudan Qatar Kuwait Bahrain Iraq Lebanon Syria Somalia Eritrea Djibouti Malta Comoros Iran Pakistan Malaysia Turkey Indonesia
Ethnicity	Arabs and several other peoples of the Middle East and North Africa
Speakers	380 million native speakers of all varieties (2024)[1] 330 million L2 users of Modern Standard Arabic (2023)[2]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic
Early forms	Proto-Afroasiatic Proto-Semitic Proto-Arabic Old Arabic Pre-classical Arabic Classical Arabic
Standard forms	Modern Standard Arabic
Dialects	Egyptian Sudanese Levantine Maghrebi Mesopotamian Peninsular Central Asian Chadian Shirvani † Siculo-Arabic † Andalusi † Cypriot Saʽidi Judeo-Arabic
Writing system	Arabic alphabet Others Latin script (Arabizi, Said Akl's alphabet, Hassaniya alphabet, Maltese alphabet, Cypriot Maronite Latin alphabet) Hebrew alphabet (in Israel for Levantine)[3] Syriac alphabet (Garshuni) Greek alphabet (Cypriot Maronite Greek alphabet)
Signed forms	Signed Arabic (different national forms)
Official status
Official language in	27 states and territories Algeria Bahrain Chad Comoros Djibouti Egypt Eritrea[4] Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Syria Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Zanzibar (Tanzania) Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (partially recognized state) Somaliland (unrecognized state) International Organizations African Union Arab League Organisation of Islamic Cooperation United Nations Special status in Constitution Iran[a] Pakistan[b]
Recognised minority language in	List Cyprus[7] Israel[8] Mali[9] Niger[10] Philippines[11] Senegal[12] South Africa[13]
Regulated by	List Algeria: Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria Egypt: Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo Israel: Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel Iraq: Iraqi Academy of Sciences Jordan: Jordan Academy of Arabic Libya: Academy of the Arabic Language in Jamahiriya Morocco: Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat Saudi Arabia: Academy of the Arabic Language in Riyadh Somalia: Academy of the Arabic Language in Mogadishu Sudan: Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartoum Syria: Arab Academy of Damascus (the oldest) Tunisia: Beit Al-Hikma Foundation
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ar
ISO 639-2	ara
ISO 639-3	ara – inclusive code Individual codes: arq – Algerian Arabic xaa – Andalusi Arabic abv – Bahrani Arabic avl – Bedawi Arabic shu – Chadian Arabic acy – Cypriot Arabic adf – Dhofari Arabic arz – Egyptian Arabic acm – Gelet Iraqi Arabic afb – Gulf Arabic ayh – Hadhrami Arabic mey – Hassaniya Arabic acw – Hejazi Arabic apc – Levantine Arabic ayl – Libyan Arabic ary – Moroccan Arabic ars – Najdi Arabic acx – Omani Arabic ayp – Qeltu Iraqi Arabic aao – Saharan Arabic aec – Saʽidi Arabic ayn – Sanʽani Arabic ssh – Shihhi Arabic sqr – Siculo-Arabic arb – Standard Arabic apd – Sudanese Arabic acq – Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic abh – Tajiki Arabic aeb – Tunisian Arabic auz – Uzbeki Arabic
Glottolog	arab1395
Linguasphere	12-AAC
Sole official language, Arabic-speaking majority   Sole official language, Arabic-speaking minority   Co-official language, Arabic-speaking majority   Co-official language, Arabic-speaking minority
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Arabic language poem

Many countries speak Arabic as an official language, but not all of them speak it the same way. The language has many dialects, or varieties, such as Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Gulf Arabic, Maghrebi Arabic , Levantine Arabic and many others. Some of the dialects are spoken so differently from one another that some speakers have a hard time understanding the other. Many dialectic words however are nonetheless still rooted in the original, or classical language.

Most of the countries that use Arabic as their official language are in the Middle East. They are part of the Arab world, the largest religion in the region is Islam. The Arabic language is considered to be the language of Islam as the Quran was revealed in the Arabic language and it was also the native language of and spoken by Muhammad, the religion's prophet.

Arabic is very important in Islam because Muslims believe that Allah (God) used it to talk to Muhammad through the Archangel Gabriel (Jibril), giving him the Quran in the language. Many but not all Arabic-speakers are Muslims. The miracle of the Quran is believed to be in its language.

Arabic is also becoming a popular language to learn in the Western world even though its grammar is sometimes very hard to learn for native speakers of Indo-European languages. Many other languages have borrowed words from Arabic because of its importance in history. Some English words that can be traced to Arabic are sugar,^[18] cotton,^[19] magazine,^[20] algebra,^[21] alcohol^[22] and emir.^[23][24][25]

Arabic is an official language of these countries:

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Comoros
• Chad
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Eritrea
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palestine
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Somaliland
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

It is also a national language of:

• Mali
• Somalia
• Senegal

Abjad

The Arabic alphabet is a consonant alphabet with 31 letters, as listed below:

• ا (ʾalif, sometimes pronounced like ‘aa’)
• ب (bāʾ/bīth, pronounced like ‘b’ or ‘p’)
• ت (tāʾ/tāw, pronounced like ‘t’)
• ث (thāʾ/thāw, pronounced like ‘th’ in ‘bath’)
• ج (gīm/gīmil, pronounced like ‘j’ or ‘ch’ in ‘cheap’)
• ح (ḥāʾ/ḥīth, pronounced like a heavy ‘h’)
• خ (khāʾ/khīth, pronounced like ‘ch’ in ‘loch’)
• د (dāl/dālith, pronounced like ‘d’)
• ذ (dhāl/dhālith, pronounced like the ‘th’ in ‘the’)
• ر (rāʾ/rīsh’, pronounced like ‘r’ or ‘rr’ in Spanish)
• ز (zayn/zāy/zāʾ, pronounced like ‘z’ or ‘zh’)
• س (sīn/sāmikh, pronounced like ‘s’)
• ش (shīn, pronounced like ‘sh’)
• ص (ṣād/ṣādhī, pronounced like a heavy ‘s’)
• ض (ḍād/ḍādhī, pronounced like a heavy ‘d’)
• ط (ṭāʾ/ṭīth, pronounced like a heavy ‘t’)
• ظ (ḍhāʾ/ḍhīth, pronounced like a heavy ‘th’)
• ع (ʿayn, sometimes pronounced like ‘euu’)
• غ (ghayn, pronounced like gargling water)
• ف (fāʾ/fī, pronounced like ‘f’ or ‘v’)
• ق (qāf/qūf, like the sound made in comical cartoons when the characters gulp down a drink)
• ك (kāf, pronounced like ‘k’ or ‘g’)
• ل (lāmidh/lām, pronounced like ‘l’ or ‘ly’)
• م (mīm, pronounced like ‘m’)
• ن (nūn, pronounced like ‘n’ or ‘ny’)
• ه (hāʾ/hī, pronounced like ‘h’)
• ة (hiʾ/tāʾ marbūṭa, sometimes pronounced like ‘t’)
• و (wāw, pronounced like ‘w’ or ‘oo’)
• ء (hamzah, silent)
• ي (yāʾ/yūdh, pronounced like ‘y’ or ‘ee’)
• ى (yiʾ/ʾalif maqṣūrah, sometimes pronounced like ‘aa’)

Notes

1. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes the Arabic language as the language of Islam, giving it a formal status as the language of religion, and regulates its spreading within the Iranian national curriculum. The constitution declares in Chapter II: (The Official Language, Script, Calendar, and Flag of the Country) in Article 16 "Since the language of the Qur`an and Islamic texts and teachings is Arabic, ..., it must be taught after elementary level, in all classes of secondary school and in all areas of study."^[5]
2. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan states in Article 31 No. 2 that "The State shall endeavour, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan (a) to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language ..."^[6]