# imam
## English
### Alternative forms

* imaum, iman (both archaic)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈiːmɑːm/, /ɪˈmɑːm/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑːm

### Noun

imam (plural imams)
* (Islam) One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.
** 1901, John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp:Now it chanced that in one of the mosques was an Imam. (footnote: The person specially appointed to lead the prayers of the congregation and paid out of the endowed revenues of the mosque to which he is attached)
** 2001 May 10, London Review of Books:But then there's a Christian cleric and an imam on each of the country's three regional censorship boards, in Kaduna, Lagos and Onitsha, although more than one producer told me that the brown envelope worked the same magic here as in any other Nigerian Government department.
** 2004 October 7, London Review of Books, page 3:In the 1980s, roughly six hundred young Algerian men, many of them protégés of Muslim Brothers from Egypt and Wahhabi imams from Saudi Arabia, went to Afghanistan to join the anti-Soviet jihad.
** 2021 January 13, Bethan McKernan, “Turkey drought: Istanbul could run out of water in 45 days”, in The Guardian‎:The critically low level of rainfall in the second half of 2020 – approaching 50% year on year for November – led the religious affairs directorate to instruct imams and their congregations to pray for rain last month.
* (usually capitalized) A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.
    Hypernym: cleric
** (Twelver Shi'ism) One of the Twelve imams, descendants of Muhammad from the seventh to ninth centuries CE who lived exemplary lives.

#### Derived terms

* imamate
* imam bayildi
* imamic

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* I'mma, Imma, Mami, imma, maim, mami

## Albanian
### Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish امام (imam), from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /iˈmam/

### Noun

imam m (plural imamë, definite imami, definite plural imamët)
* (Islam) imam

#### Declension
## Azerbaijani
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

imam (definite accusative imamı, plural imamlar)
* (Islam) imam

#### Declension
## Catalan
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [iˈmam]

### Noun

imam m (plural imams)
* (Islam) imam

#### Further reading

* “imam” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Danish
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Noun

imam c (singular definite imamen, plural indefinite imamer)
* (Islam) imam

#### Declension
### References

* “imam” in Den Danske Ordbog

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

imam m (plural imams, diminutive imampje n)
* (Islam) imam

## French
### Alternative forms

* imâm

### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /i.mam/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

imam m or f by sense (plural imams)
* imam

### Further reading

* “imam”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Inherited from Malay امام (imam), from Arabic إمام (ʔimām, “leader, imam”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /i.mam/
* Hyphenation: i‧mam

### Noun

imam (plural imam-imam)
* (Islam) imam
* (Catholicism) priest
    Synonyms: padri, pastor, rama
* (rare) leader
    Synonyms: kepala, pemimpin, penghulu

#### Derived terms

* diimami
* diimamkan
* keimaman
* mengimami
* mengimamkan
* pengimaman
* imam agung
* imam biarawan
* imam diosesan

#### Related terms

* imamat

### Further reading

* “imam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Italian
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /iˈmam/
* Rhymes: -am
* Hyphenation: i‧màm

### Noun

imam m (invariable)
* (Islam) imam
    Synonyms: iman, imano

### Anagrams

* Imma, mima

## Latin
### Adjective

īmam
* accusative feminine singular of īmus

## Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈi.mam/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -imam
* Syllabification: i‧mam

### Etymology 1

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

#### Noun

imam m pers
* (Islam) imam (“a Shi'ite Muslim leader”)

##### Related terms

* imamita
* imamizm

##### See also

* mufti

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

imam
* first-person singular present of imać

### Further reading

* imam in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* imam in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish امام (“imam”), from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /i.ˈmam/
* Rhymes: -am
* Hyphenation: i‧mam

### Noun

imam m (plural imami)
* (Islam) imam

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish امام (imam), from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

#### Noun

ìmām m (Cyrillic spelling ѝма̄м)
* (Islam) imam

##### Declension
### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

imam (Cyrillic spelling имам)
* first-person singular present of imati (I have)

## Slovene
### Verb

imam
* first-person singular present of imeti

## Spanish
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /iˈmam/ [iˈmãm]
** Rhymes: -am
** Syllabification: i‧mam
* IPA: /iˈman/ [iˈmãn]
** Rhymes: -an

### Noun

imam m (plural imames)
* (Islam) imam

### Further reading

* “imam”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swahili
### Pronunciation

* Audio (Kenya):(file)

### Noun

imam class IX (plural imam class X)
* Alternative form of imamu

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

### Noun

imam c
* (Islam) imam

#### Declension
### References

* imam in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* imam in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* imam in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

### Anagrams

* imma, mima

## Tagalog
### Alternative forms

* iman

### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”), possibly through English or Philippine languages spoken mostly by Muslims.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Tagalog)
** IPA: /ʔiˈmam/ [ʔɪˈmam] (prescriptive from Arabic)
*** Rhymes: -am
** IPA: /ˈʔimam/ [ˈʔiː.mɐm]
*** Rhymes: -imam
* Syllabification: i‧mam

### Noun

imám or imam (Baybayin spelling ᜁᜋᜋ᜔) (Islam, theology)
* imam

#### See also

* binyag
* heke
* katib
* siyak

### References

* “imam”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

### Anagrams

* mami

## Turkish
### Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish امام (imam), from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

### Noun

imam (definite accusative imamı, plural imamlar)
* (Islam) imam

#### Declension

singular
plural
nominative
imam
imamlar
definite accusative
imamı
imamları
dative
imama
imamlara
locative
imamda
imamlarda
ablative
imamdan
imamlardan
genitive
imamın
imamların
Possessive forms
nominative
singular
plural
1st singular
imamım
imamlarım
2nd singular
imamın
imamların
3rd singular
imamı
imamları
1st plural
imamımız
imamlarımız
2nd plural
imamınız
imamlarınız
3rd plural
imamları
imamları
definite accusative
singular
plural
1st singular
imamımı
imamlarımı
2nd singular
imamını
imamlarını
3rd singular
imamını
imamlarını
1st plural
imamımızı
imamlarımızı
2nd plural
imamınızı
imamlarınızı
3rd plural
imamlarını
imamlarını
dative
singular
plural
1st singular
imamıma
imamlarıma
2nd singular
imamına
imamlarına
3rd singular
imamına
imamlarına
1st plural
imamımıza
imamlarımıza
2nd plural
imamınıza
imamlarınıza
3rd plural
imamlarına
imamlarına
locative
singular
plural
1st singular
imamımda
imamlarımda
2nd singular
imamında
imamlarında
3rd singular
imamında
imamlarında
1st plural
imamımızda
imamlarımızda
2nd plural
imamınızda
imamlarınızda
3rd plural
imamlarında
imamlarında
ablative
singular
plural
1st singular
imamımdan
imamlarımdan
2nd singular
imamından
imamlarından
3rd singular
imamından
imamlarından
1st plural
imamımızdan
imamlarımızdan
2nd plural
imamınızdan
imamlarınızdan
3rd plural
imamlarından
imamlarından
genitive
singular
plural
1st singular
imamımın
imamlarımın
2nd singular
imamının
imamlarının
3rd singular
imamının
imamlarının
1st plural
imamımızın
imamlarımızın
2nd plural
imamınızın
imamlarınızın
3rd plural
imamlarının
imamlarının
Predicative forms
singular
plural
1st singular
imamım
imamlarım
2nd singular
imamsın
imamlarsın
3rd singular
imam imamdır
imamlar imamlardır
1st plural
imamız
imamlarız
2nd plural
imamsınız
imamlarsınız
3rd plural
imamlar
imamlardır :

## Zazaki
### Etymology

From Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [iˈmɑm]
* Hyphenation: i‧mam

### Noun

imam
* (Islam) imam
* (literary) leader