# Arabic language

| 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 Guinea Nigeria Cameroon Gabon Central African Republic |
| Ethnicity | Arabs and several other peoples of the Middle East and North Africa |
| Speakers | 380 million native speakers of all varieties (2024) 330 million L2 users of Modern Standard Arabic (2023) |
| Language family | Afroasiatic
* 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

Canadian |
| 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)
* 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
* 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
* Pakistan
 |
| Recognised minority language in |
List
* Cyprus
* Israel
* Mali
* Niger
* Philippines
* Senegal
* South Africa
 |
| 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 |
|

Arabic language poem
**Arabic** (اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ, *al-ʿarabiyyah*) is a Central 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. 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. 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.

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, cotton, magazine, algebra, alcohol and emir.

## List of places

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 28 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’) [ħ]
* خ (*khāʾ/khīth*, pronounced like ‘ch’ in ‘loch’) [χ]
* 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’) [sˤ]
* ض (*ḍād/ḍādhī*, pronounced like a heavy ‘d’) [dˤ]
* ط (*ṭāʾ/ṭīth*, pronounced like a heavy ‘t’) [tˤ]
* ظ (*ḍhāʾ/ḍhīth*, pronounced like a heavy ‘th’) [ðˤ]
* ع (*ʿayn*, sometimes pronounced like ‘euu’) [ʕ]
* غ (*ghayn*, pronounced like gargling water) [ɣ]
* 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) [q]
* 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’)
* و (*wāw*, pronounced like ‘w’ or ‘oo’)
* ي (*yāʾ/yūdh*, pronounced like ‘y’ or ‘ee’)