# الله

| ﷲ | U+FDF2, &#65010; ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM |
| ← ﷱ [U+FDF1] | Arabic Presentation Forms-A | ﷳ → [U+FDF3] |

## Arabic
### Etymology

From the root ء ل ه (ʔ l h). Widely theorized to be a contraction of الٱِلٰه (al-ilāh, “God”), from الإلٰه (al-ʔilāh, “the deity”) with loss of initial hamza after the definite article ال (al-). Others suggest it is a variant spelling of the more ancient ألّٰه (allāh), the extra ل (l) serving as an emphatic marker to emphasize distinction, first attested in the Mecca and Taif region, and later in the Quran. Both proposed roots were current in pre-Islamic usage, particularly الإلٰه (al-ilāh) in Nabataean macaronic Arabic-Aramaic usage from which the singular use has presumably spread. Ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʔil-. Cognate with Classical Syriac ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ (ʾalāhā), Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ (allāhā), Aramaic אֱלָהָא (ʾĕlāhā), Hebrew אֱלוֹהַּ (ʾelōah), and Old South Arabian 𐩱𐩡𐩠 (ʾlh).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aɫ.ɫaː(h)/ (in isolation)
* IPA: /aɫ.ɫaːh/ (phonemic, in isolation or before a pausa)
* IPA: /aɫ.ɫaː.hu/ (classical, nominative form)
    Egypt, Levant, Sudan: IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑː]
    Central Arabia: IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑː]
    Western Arabia: IPA: [aɫˈɫaː]
    Eastern Arabia: IPA: [ˈɑɫɫɐ]
    Morocco, Tunisia: IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑːh]
    Classical: IPA: [ʔalˤlˤaːh], [ʔalːˤaːh]
* (after a or u): /ɫ.ɫaːh/
    Egypt, Levant, Sudan: IPA: [ɫɫɑː]
    Central Arabia: IPA: [ɫɫɑː]
    Eastern Arabia: IPA: [ɫɫɐ]
    Morocco, Tunisia: IPA: [ɫɫɑːh]
* (after i): /l.laːh/
    Egypt, central Arabia: IPA: [llæː]
    Levant, Sudan, Western Arabia: IPA: [llaː]
    Tunisia: IPA: [llɛːh]
    Morocco: IPA: [llæːh]
* This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

### Proper noun

اللّٰه • (allāh) m
* (monotheism) God
** 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 112:1-4:قُلْ هُوَ ٱللّٰهُ أَحَدٌ ٱللّٰهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌqul huwa llāhu ʔaḥadun llāhu ṣ-ṣamadu lam yalid wa-lam yūlad wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ʔaḥadunSay, “He is God, [who is] One, God, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.”
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 3:16:لِأَنَّهُ هٰكَذَا أَحَبَّ ٱللهُ ٱلْعَالَمَ حَتَّى بَذَلَ ٱبْنَهُ ٱلْوَحِيدَ، لِكَيْ لَا يَهْلِكَ كُلُّ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِهِ، بَلْ يَكُونُ لَهُ الْحَيَاةُ ٱلْأَبَدِيَّةُ.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
** 1865 CE, Bible (SVD), Gospel of John, 11:4:فَلَمَّا سَمِعَ يَسُوعُ قَالَ: هٰذَا ٱلْمَرَضُ لَيْسَ لِلْمَوْتِ بَلْ لِأَجْلِ مَجْدِ اللّٰهِ لِيَتَمَجَّدَ ٱبْنُ اللّٰهِ بِهِ.fa-lammā samiʕa yasūʕu qāla: hāḏā l-maraḍu laysa li-l-mawti bal li-ʔajli majdi llāhi li-yatamajjada bnu llāhi bihi.When Jesus heard it, he said: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
* (Islam) Allah

#### Usage notes

* In Islamic contexts, this word may alternatively be translated into English as Allah. Note, however, that the Arabic word is just as neutral and general as English God, and does not express any particularly Islamic notion at all. الله (allāh) is the Arabic word used by Christians, Jews, and other monotheists to describe the God of their own religions, and is cognate to the words used in Hebrew and Syriac. The Jewish sage Saadia Gaon even used الله (allāh) to translate the Tetragrammaton in his Arabic translation of the Torah.

#### Derived terms

* اللَّٰهُمَّ (allāhumma, “God; O God”)
* الله أبهى (allāhu ʔabhā, “God is most glorious”)
* اللّٰهُ أَكْبَرُ (allāhu ʔakbaru, “God is greater”)
* بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ (bi-smi llāhi, “in the name of God”)
** بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ (bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi)
* إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللّٰهُ (ʔin šāʔa llāhu, “if God wills”)
* سُبْحَانَ ٱللّٰهِ (subḥāna llāhi, “glory be to God”)
* أَسْتَغْفِرُ ٱللّٰهَ (ʔastaḡfiru llāha, “I seek forgiveness from God”)
* ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ (l-ḥamdu lillāhi, “all praise is for God”)
* آيَةُ الله (ʔāyatu llāh, “ayatollah, sign of God”)

#### Descendants

* Maltese: Alla, alla
Borrowings:
* → Adyghe: Алахь (Alaḥ)
* → Afrikaans: Allah
* → Albanian: Allah, Allahu
* → Amharic: አላህ (ʾälah)
* → Armenian: Ալլահ (Allah)
* → Assamese: আল্লাহ (allah)
* → Avar: Аллагь (Allah)
* → Bashkir: Алла (Alla)
* → Belarusian: Ала́х (Aláx)
* → Bengali: আল্লাহ (allah)
* → Bulgarian: Алла́х (Alláh)
* → Burmese: အလ္လာဟ် (allah)
* → Catalan: Al·là
* → Central Kurdish: ئەڵڵا (elllla)
* → Chechen: Аллахӏ (Allah)
* → Chinese:
** Cantonese: 阿拉 (aa$^3$ laa$^1$), 安拉 (on$^1$ laai$^1$)
** Hakka: 阿拉 (Â-lâ)
** Mandarin: 安拉 (Ānlā), 阿拉 (Ālā)
    Dungan: Анла (Anla), Анлахў (Anlahw)
** Min Nan: 阿拉 (A-la)
* → Crimean Tatar: Alla
* → Czech: Alláh
* → Danish: Allah
* → Dhivehi: އައްލާހު (allāhu)
* → English: Allah
* → Estonian: Allah
* → Finnish: Allah
* → Galician: Alá
* → Georgian: ალაჰი (alahi)
* → German: Allah
* → German Low German: Allah
* → Greek: Αλλάχ (Allách)
* → Gujarati: અલ્લાહ (allāh)
* → Hausa: Allah
* → Hebrew: אללה (allá)
* → Hindi: अल्लाह (allāh)
* → Hungarian: Allah
* → Indonesian: Allah
* → Irish: Allah
* → Japanese: アッラーフ (Arrāfu)
* → Javanese: ꦄꦭ꧀ꦭꦃ (allah)
* → Kannada: ಅಲ್ಲಾಹ (allāha)
* → Karaim: аллахъ (allax)
* → Kazakh: Аллаһ (Allah)
* → Khmer: អាឡា (ʼaalaa)
* → Korean: 알라 (Alla)
* → Kumyk: Аллагь (Allah)
* → Kyrgyz: Алла (Alla), Аллах (Allah)
* → Lao: ອັນເລາະ (ʼan lǫ)
* → Latvian: Allāhs
* → Lezgi: Аллагь (Allah)
* → Lithuanian: Alachas
* → Macedonian: Алах (Alah)
* → Malay: Allah
* → Malayalam: അല്ലാഹു (allāhu)
* → Marathi: अल्लाह (allāh)
* → Mongolian:
    Cyrillic script: Аллах (Allax)
    Mongolian script: ᠠᠯᠯᠠᠾ (allah)
* → Northern Kurdish: Ellah
* → Norwegian: Allah
* → Odia: ଅଲ୍ଲାହ (allāha)
* → Old Anatolian Turkish: اَلله (allāh)
** Azerbaijani: Allah
** Gagauz: Allaa
** Ottoman Turkish: الله (Allâh)
*** Turkish: Allah
* → Pashto: الله (əllɑ)
* → Persian:
    → Classical Persian: اَلله (allāh)
    → Dari: اَلله (allāh)
    → Iranian Persian: اَلله (allâh)
* → Polish: Allach, Allah, Ałłach
* → Portuguese: Alá
* → Punjabi:
    → Gurmukhi script: ਅੱਲਾਹ (allāh), ਅੱਲ੍ਹਾ (allhā), ਅੱਲਾ (allā)
    → Shahmukhi script: اَللہ (allāh)
* → Romanian: Allah
* → Russian: Алла́х (Alláx), Алла́хъ (Alláx)
* → Sanskrit: अल्लाह् (allāh)
* → Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: Аллах, Алах
    Latin script: Allah, Alah
* → Sinhalese: අල්ලාහ් (allāh)
* → Slovak: Alah
* → Slovene: Alah
* → Somali: Allaah
* → Spanish: Alá
* → Classical Syriac: ܐܠܠܐ / ܐܠܠܘ (allāh / allā) (chiefly Garshuni)
* → Tajik: Аллоҳ (Alloh)
* → Tamil: அல்லாஹ் (allāh)
* → Tatar: Аллах (Allax)
* → Telugu: అల్లాహ్ (allāh)
* → Thai: อัลลอฮ์ (an-lɔɔ)
* → Tibetan: ཨ་ལ (a la)
* → Tigrinya: አላህ (ʾälah)
* → Turkmen: Allah
* → Ukrainian: Алла́х (Alláx)
* → Urdu: اَللّٰہ (allāh)
* → Urum: аллах (allah)
* → Uyghur: ئاللاھ (allah)
* → Uzbek: Alloh
* → Vietnamese: A-la
* → Yakut: Аллаах (Allaaq)
* → Yiddish: אַלאַ (ala)
* → Yoruba: Allah
* → Zazaki: Allah, Alla
From يَا اللّٰه (yā llāh, “O God”): (see also the descendants at يَاٱللَّٰه (yāllāh))
* → Afar: Yálla
* → Saho: Yalla
* → Wolof: Yàlla

### See also

* أَلَّهَ (ʔallaha, “to deify”)
* إلٰه (ʔilāh, “god, deity”)
* الرَّبّ (ar-rabb, “the Lord”)

### References

* Jeffery, Arthur (1938) “اَللّٰه”, in The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, page 66
* Nehmé, Laïla (2017) “New dated inscriptions (Nabataean and pre-Islamic Arabic) from a site near al-Jawf, ancient Dūmah, Saudi Arabia”, in Arabian Epigraphic Notes‎, volume 3, pages 121–164
* Wehr, Hans (1979) “ءله”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

### Further reading

* Allah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* هلال

## Egyptian Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic الله (allāh).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [(ʔ)ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)]

### Proper noun

الله • (allā) m
* (monotheism) God
    Synonym: ربّنا (rabbina)

#### Derived terms

* والله (wallāhi, “by God”)

### Interjection

الله • (allā)
* Signals amazement, approval, or admiration: wow, amazing!

## Hijazi Arabic
### Etymology

Inherited from Arabic الله (allāh).

### Pronunciation 1

* IPA: /aɫ.ɫaː(h)/

#### Proper noun

الله • (aḷḷā) m
* (monotheism) God

#### Interjection

الله • (aḷḷā)
* oh my God (to something beautiful and exciting)

### Pronunciation 2

* IPA: /aɫ.ɫa(h)/

#### Interjection

الله • (aḷḷa)
* oh my God (to something shocking)

##### Usage notes

The pronunciation with the final long vowel is used as an interjection to something beautiful and exciting, while the pronunciation with the short vowel is used as an interjection to something shocking.

#### See also

* إله (ilāh, “deity”)

## Khalaj
### Noun

اَللّٰه (Allâh) (definite accusative اَللّٰه‌ؽ)
* Arabic spelling of Allâh (“God”)

#### Declension
## Malay
### Proper noun

الله
* Jawi spelling of Allah‎

## North Levantine Arabic
### Etymology

Inherited from Arabic الله (allāh).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈʔɑlˤlˤɑ/

### Proper noun

الله • (ʾAlla) m
* (monotheism) God
    هوه ملحد، ما بيآمن بشي اسمو اللهHuwi mulḥid, ma biʾāmin bi-ši ismu Alla.He’s an atheist, he doesn’t believe in such a thing as God.

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اللّٰه (allāh); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.

### Noun

الله • (Allah)
* (Islam) Allah, God

#### Descendants

* Turkish: Allah

### See also

* تكری (tañrı)

## Pashto
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اللّٰه (allāh); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.

### Proper noun

الله • (allāh)
* Allah

### See also

* خدای

## Persian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اَللّٰه (allāh); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [ʔal.ˈlɑːh]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [ʔäl.lɑ́ːʱ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [ʔäl.lɑ́ːʱ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [ʔäl.lɑ́ː]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [ʔäl.lɔ́ː]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [ʔæl.lɒ́ːʰ]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [ʔäl.lɔ́ʱ]

### Noun

اَلله • (allâh)
* (usually Islam) God, Allah
    Synonym: خُدا (xodâ)
** c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 122:ای دل از غیر مجو یاری واز خصم مترس دولت و سلطنت آنست که الله دهدay dil az ğayr majō yārī w-az xasm matars dawlat u saltanat ān ast ki allāh dihadO heart, seek no support from others and fear not the adversary; Sovereignty and kingship are what is given by Allah.(Classical Persian transliteration)

### Further reading

* Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “الله”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

## South Levantine Arabic
### Etymology

Inherited from Arabic الله (allāh).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʔalˤ.lˤa/, [ˈʔɑlˤ.lˤɑ]
* IPA: /ʔalˤ.lˤaːh/, [ʔɑlˤˈlˤɑːh]
* Audio (Ramallah):(file)

### Proper noun

الله • (ʔaḷḷa, ʔaḷḷāh) m
* (monotheism) God, Allah

#### Derived terms

* يلا (yaḷḷa)
* والله (waḷḷa)
* لألله (laʔaḷḷa)

## Ushojo
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الله (ʔaḷḷāh).

### Noun

الله (allāh)
* (Islam) Allah, God