Arab

See also: arab, àrab, and arab.

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Arabic or French arabe.

Symbol

Arab

1. (international standards) ISO 15924 script code for Arabic.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَرَب (ʕarab, “Arabs”) or back-formation from Arabic.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ârʹəb

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈæɹəb/
• (Standard Southern British, Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈaɹəb/
• (US)
  • (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈæɹəb/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɛɹəb/

    • Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger):

      (file)

• (Scotland, Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈaɾəb/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɛɹəb/

• (dated) enPR: āʹrăb, IPA^(key): /ˈeɪɹæb/
• Rhymes: -æɹəb

Adjective

Arab (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to Arabs and their nations.

   Synonym: (nonstandard) Arabic

   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 26, archived from the original on 26 August 2022, page 18:

     The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.

Translations

of or pertaining to Arabs and their nations

• Albanian: arab (sq) m, arabe (sq) f
• Amharic: ዐረብኛ (ʿäräbña)
• Arabic: عَرَبِيّ (ar) (ʕarabiyy)
• Armenian: արաբական (hy) (arabakan)
• Aromanian: arabescu m, arabeascã f
• Azerbaijani: ərəb
• Bashkir: ғәрәп (ğərəp)
• Belarusian: ара́бскі (arábski)
• Bengali: আরবি (bn) (arobi)
• Bulgarian: ара́бски (arábski)
• Burmese: အာရပ် (arap)
• Catalan: àrab (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 阿拉伯 (aa³ laai¹ baak³)

  Dungan: араб (arab)

  Mandarin: 阿拉伯 (zh) (Ālābó)

• Coptic: ⲁⲣⲁⲃⲟⲥ (arabos)
• Czech: arabský (cs)
• Danish: arabisk (da), araber-
• Dutch: Arabisch (nl)
• Esperanto: araba (eo)
• Estonian: araabia (et)
• Finnish: arabialainen (fi)
• French: arabe (fr)
• Gagauz: Arap
• Georgian: არაბული (ka) (arabuli)
• German: arabisch (de), Araber-
• Greek: αραβικός (el) m (aravikós)

  Ancient Greek: Ἀραβικός (Arabikós)

• Hebrew: עֲרָבִי (he) m (araví), עֲרָבִית (he) f (aravít)
• Hindi: अरबी (hi) (arbī), अरब (hi) m (arab)
• Hungarian: arab (hu)
• Indonesian: arabik, bahasa Arab (id)
• Irish: Arabach
• Italian: arabo (it)
• Japanese: アラブの (ja) (arabu no)
• Kazakh: араб (kk) (arab)
• Khmer: អារ៉ាប់ (km) (ʼaarap)
• Korean: 아랍의 (arab-ui)
• Kyrgyz: араб (ky) (arab)
• Lao: ອາຣັບ (ʼā rap), ອາຫຼັບ (ʼā lap)
• Latvian: arābu, arābisks
• Lithuanian: arabų, arabiškas (lt)
• Macedonian: а́рапски (árapski)
• Malay: Arab
• Malayalam: അറബി (ml) (aṟabi)
• Maltese: Għarbi (mt) m
• Manx: Arabagh
• Māori: Ārapi
• Marathi: अरबी (arbī)
• Neapolitan: arabbo
• Norwegian: arabisk (no)

  Bokmål: arabisk (no), araber-

  Nynorsk: arabisk, arabar-

• Occitan: arabi (oc), arab (oc)
• Old English: Arabisċ
• Pashto: عربي (ps) (arabi), عرب (ps) m (arab), تازي (ps) m (tāzi) (derogatory)
• Persian: عَرَب (fa) ('arab), تازی (fa) (tâzi) (derogatory)
• Polish: arabski (pl)
• Portuguese: árabe (pt)
• Romanian: arab (ro)
• Russian: ара́бский (ru) (arábskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: Arabach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀рапскӣ

  Latin: àrapskī (sh)

• Slovak: arabský (sk)
• Slovene: arabski (sl)
• Spanish: árabe (es)
• Swedish: arabisk (sv), arab-
• Tagalog: Arabo (tl)
• Tajik: арабӣ (tg) (arabi), тозӣ (tozi) (derogatory)
• Tatar: гарәп (tt) (ğäräp)
• Thai: อาหรับ (th) (aa-ràp)
• Turkish: Arap (tr)
• Turkmen: arap
• Ukrainian: ара́бський (uk) (arábsʹkyj)
• Urdu: عَرَبی (ur) ('arabī)
• Uzbek: arab (uz)
• Vietnamese: Á rập
• Yiddish: אַראַביש (yi) (arabish)

Noun

Arab (plural Arabs)

1. (strictly) A member of the Semitic ethnic group indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Desert.
2. (loosely) A person from the Middle East and North Africa, whose mother tongue is Arabic.
   • 2023 October 29, Thomas L. Friedman, “Please, Israel, Don’t Get Lost in Hamas’s Tunnels”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 11 November 2023:

     This backlash also fails to take into account that Israel, for all its faults, is a multicultural society where almost half of graduating doctors today are Arabs or Druze.

1. (uncommon) An Arabian horse.
   • 1887, Edward B. Baker, Sport in Bengal: and How, When, and where to Seek it, page 61:

     Having taken a very early breakfast, I mounted about eight o'clock my grey Arab, and without anything occurring worthy of note, killed the first three boars in the space of an hour, […]

2. (archaic) A street Arab.
   • a. 1892, Charles Spurgeon, a sermon

     You Christian people often see the little gutter children — the poor little arabs in the street — and you feel much pity for them, as well you may.

   • 1866, Punch, page 225:

     The other day I heard you complaining of the nuisance that small ragged street-boys are to you whenever you go out. […] You wished that some one would do something to clear away these little Arabs, as you are pleased to call them, so that a fine old English gentleman—as you are pleased to think yourself—might take his exercise in peace.

Synonyms

• (person): Ayrab, woolly-head (offensive), sand nigger (highly offensive)

Translations

person from Arabia

• Albanian: arab (sq), arabe (sq) f
• Amharic: ዐረብ (ʿäräb)
• Arabic: عَرَبِيّ (ar) m (ʕarabiyy), عَرَبِيَّة (ar) f (ʕarabiyya), عَرَب (ar) (ʕarab) (collective)
• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܛܝܝܐ, ܥܪܒܝܐ, ܥܖܒܝܐ (archaic)

• Armenian: արաբ (hy) (arab)
• Aromanian: arab m, arabã f
• Azerbaijani: ərəb
• Belarusian: ара́б m (aráb), ара́бка f (arábka)
• Bengali: আরব (bn) (arob)
• Bulgarian: ара́бин m (arábin), ара́бка m (arábka)
• Burmese: အာရပ် (arap)
• Catalan: àrab (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 阿拉伯人 (aa³ laai¹ baak³ jan⁴)

  Dungan: араб (arab), арабжын (arabřɨn)

  Mandarin: 阿拉伯人 (zh) (Ālābórén)

• Corsican: àrabu m, àraba f, arabu (co) m, araba f
• Czech: Arab (cs) m, Arabka (cs) f
• Danish: araber c
• Dutch: Arabier (nl) m
• Esperanto: arabo
• Estonian: araablane (et)
• Faroese: arábi m or f
• Finnish: arabi (fi), arabialainen (fi)
• French: Arabe (fr) m or f
• Gagauz: arab, arap
• Georgian: არაბი (arabi)
• German: Araber (de) m, Araberin (de) f
• Greek: Άραβας (el) m (Áravas), Αράβισσα (el) f (Arávissa)

  Ancient Greek: Ἄραψ m (Áraps)

• Hausa: Balarabe (ha) m, Balarabiya f
• Hebrew: עֲרָבִי (he) m (araví), עֲרָבִיָּה f (araviyá)
• Hindi: अरब (hi) m (arab), अरबी (hi) m (arbī)
• Hungarian: arab (hu)
• Irish: Arabach m
• Italian: arabo (it) m, araba (it) f
• Japanese: アラビア人 (ja) (アラビアじん, arabiajin)
• Kazakh: араб (kk) (arab)
• Khmer: អារ៉ាប់ (km) (ʼaarap)
• Korean: 아랍인 (ko) (arabin)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ereb (ku) m or f

• Kyrgyz: араб (ky) (arab)
• Ladino: árabo m
• Lao: ອາຣັບ (ʼā rap), ອາຫຼັບ (ʼā lap)
• Latin: Arabes m pl
• Latvian: arābs m, arābiete f
• Lithuanian: arabas (lt) m, arabė (lt) f
• Macedonian: А́рап m (Árap), А́рапка f (Árapka)
• Malay: Arab
• Malayalam: അറബി (ml) (aṟabi)
• Maltese: Għarbi (mt) m, Għarbija f, Għarbin pl
• Manx: Arabagh m
• Māori: Ārapi
• Marathi: अरब (arab)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: араб хүн (arab xün)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: araber (no) m, araberinne m or f, araberkvinne m or f

  Nynorsk: arabar m, arabarinne f, arabarkvinne f

• Old English: Arabisċ
• Old South Arabian: 𐩲𐩧𐩨 (ʿrb)
• Pashto: عرب (ps) m ('arab)
• Persian: عَرَب (fa) ('arab)
• Polish: Arab (pl) m, Arabka (pl) f, Arabus m
• Portuguese: árabe (pt) m or f
• Romanian: arab (ro) m, arabă (ro) f
• Russian: ара́б (ru) m (aráb), ара́бка (ru) f (arábka)
• Sardinian: arabu m, araba f
• Scottish Gaelic: Arabach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: А̀рапин m, А̀рапкиња f

  Latin: Àrapin (sh) m, Àrapkinja f

• Slovak: Arab (sk) m, Arabka (sk) f
• Slovene: Arabec (sl) m, Arabka f
• Spanish: árabe (es) m or f
• Swahili: Mwarabu class 1
• Swedish: arab (sv) c, arabiska (sv) c
• Tagalog: Arabo (tl)
• Tajik: араб (arab)
• Thai: อาหรับ (th) (aa-ràp), คนอาหรับ
• Tumbuka: Mrungwana class 1, muArabu class 1
• Turkish: Arap (tr)
• Turkmen: arap
• Ukrainian: ара́б (uk) m (aráb), ара́бка (uk) f (arábka)
• Urdu: عَرَب m ('arab)
• Uyghur: ئەرەب (ereb)
• Uzbek: arab (uz)
• Vietnamese: người Á rập
• Yiddish: אַראַבער m (araber)

horse — see Arabian horse

Proper noun

Arab

1. A city in Marshall County, Alabama, United States.
2. (rare, dated) The Arabic language.
   • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Numa ‘El Adrea’”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 120:

     Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard.

Derived terms

• 48 Arab
• arabesque
• Arab fever
• Arabia
• Arabian
• Arabic
• Arabist
• Arabize
• non-Arab
• street Arab

Anagrams

• Raab, ABAR, Abra, abar, abra, Abar, arba, bara, Baar, raab

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَرَب (ʕarab).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈarap]
• Hyphenation: Arab

Noun

Arab m anim (female equivalent Arabka)

1. Arab (person)

   Synonym: arabáč

Declension

Declension of Arab (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	Arab	Arabové
genitive	Araba	Arabů
dative	Arabovi, Arabu	Arabům
accusative	Araba	Araby
vocative	Arabe	Arabové
locative	Arabovi, Arabu	Arabech
instrumental	Arabem	Araby

Related terms

• arabáč
• arabismus
• arabista
• arabistika
• arabizace
• arabizovat
• arabský
• arabština
• Arábie
• Saúdská Arábie

Further reading

• “Arab”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “Arab”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “Arab”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay Arab, from Classical Malay عرب (Arab), from Arabic عَرَب (ʕarab).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈarab/ [ˈa.rap̚]
• Rhymes: -arab
• Syllabification: A‧rab

Adjective

Arab

1. Arabic

Noun

Arab

1. Arabian, Arab

Proper noun

Arab

1. Arabic, a major Semitic language originating from the Arabian peninsula
2. Arabia
3. (colloquial) ellipsis of Arab Saudi

Malay

Alternative forms

• عرب

Etymology

From Arabic عَرَب (ʕarab).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈarab/ [ˈa.rap̚]
• Rhymes: -arap, -rap, -ap

Adjective

Arab

1. Arab (of or pertaining to Arabs and their nations)

Derived terms

• bahasa Arab
• kuda Arab
• negeri Arab
• orang Arab
• Tanah Arab

Polish

Etymology

Internationalism; compare English Arab.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.rap/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arap
• Syllabification: A‧rab
• Homophone: arab

Noun

Arab m pers (female equivalent Arabka)

1. Arab

Declension

Declension of Arab

	singular	plural
nominative	Arab	Arabowie
genitive	Araba	Arabów
dative	Arabowi	Arabom
accusative	Araba	Arabów
instrumental	Arabem	Arabami
locative	Arabie	Arabach
vocative	Arabie	Arabowie

Related terms

noun

• arabeska

Further reading

• “Arab”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “Arab”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)

Welsh

Etymology

Internationalism. Borrowed from English Arab, from Arabic عَرَب (ʕarab).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈarab/

Noun

Arab m (plural Arabs or Arabiaid, feminine Arabes)

1. Arab

   Synonym: Arabiad

Related terms

• Arabia (“Arabia”)
• Arabaidd (“Arab, Arabian”, adjective)
• Arabeg (“Arabic language”)

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “Arab”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies