Arabic

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This article is about the general language (macrolanguage). For specific varieties
of Arabic and other uses, see Arabic (disambiguation).

Arabic

ُ‫اَ ْل َع َربِيَّة‬
al-ʿarabiyyah

al-ʿarabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)

Pronunciation /ˈʕarabiː/, /alʕaraˈbijːa/

Native to Countries of the Arab League, minorities in

neighboring countries and some parts of Asia,
Africa, Europe

Ethnicity Arabs, Arab-Berbers, Afro-Arabs, among others

Native 310 million, all varieties (2011–2016)[1]

speakers 270 million L2 speakers of Standard (Modern)
Arabic[1]

Language Afro-Asiatic
family
 Semitic
o West Semitic
 Central
Semitic
 No
rth
Ar
abi
an
 Arab
ic

Early form Proto-Arabic

 Old Arabic
Old Hijazi
Classical Arabic

Standard Modern Standard Arabic

forms

Dialects  Western (Maghrebi)

 Northern (Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Leva
ntine)
 Southern (Peninsular Gulf, Hejazi, Najdi 
and Yemeni)

Writing system •Arabic Alphabet

•Arabic Braille
•Arabizi

Signed forms Signed Arabic (different national forms)

Official status

Official show
language in
26 states
show

International Organizations

Recognised show
minority
List
language in

Regulated by show

List

Language codes
ar
ISO 639-1
ara
ISO 639-2
ara  – inclusive code
ISO 639-3
Individual codes:
arq  – Algerian Arabic
aao  – Algerian Saharan Arabic
xaa  – Andalusian Arabic
bbz  – Babalia Creole Arabic
abv  – Baharna Arabic
shu  – Chadian Arabic
acy  – Cypriot Arabic
 adf  – Dhofari Arabic
avl  – Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic
arz  – Egyptian Arabic
afb  – Gulf Arabic
ayh  – Hadrami Arabic
acw  – Hijazi Arabic
ayl  – Libyan Arabic
acm  – Mesopotamian Arabic
ary  – Moroccan Arabic
ars  – Najdi Arabic
apc  – North Levantine Arabic
ayp  – North Mesopotamian Arabic
acx  – Omani Arabic
aec  – Saidi Arabic
ayn  – Sanaani Arabic
ssh  – Shihhi Arabic
sqr  – Siculo Arabic
ajp  – South Levantine Arabic
arb  – Standard Arabic
apd  – Sudanese Arabic
pga  – Sudanese Creole Arabic
acq  – Taizzi-Adeni Arabic
abh  – Tajiki Arabic

arab1395
Glottolog
12-AAC
Linguasphere

Dispersion of native Arabic speakers as the majority (dark green) or

minority (light green) population
 Use of Arabic as the national language (green), as an official language
(dark blue) and as a regional/minority language (light blue)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without
proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or
other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory
guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Arabic (‫اَ ْل َع َر ِبي َُّة‬, al-ʿarabiyyah [al ʕaraˈbijːa] ( listen) or  ّ‫ َع َر ِبي‬, ʿarabīy [ˈʕarabiː] (

listen) or [ʕaraˈbij]) is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th
centuries CE.[3] It is now the lingua franca of the Arab world.[4] It is named after
the Arabs, a term initially used to describe peoples living in the Arabian
Peninsula bounded by eastern Egypt in the west, Mesopotamia in the east, and
the Anti-Lebanon mountains and Northern Syria in the north, as perceived
by ancient Greek geographers[5] The ISO assigns language codes to thirty varieties
of Arabic, including its standard form, Modern Standard Arabic,[6] also referred to as
Literary Arabic, which is modernized Classical Arabic. This distinction exists
primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not
distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer
to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā (]7[‫اَل َع َر ِبي َُّة ْٱلفُصْ َح ٰى‬ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-
fuṣḥā (‫)اَ ْلفُصْ َح ٰى‬. Modern Standard Arabic is an official language of 26 states and 1
disputed territory, the third most after English and French. [8]
Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities and is used to varying degrees
in workplaces, government and the media. Arabic, in its standard form, is the
official language of 26 states, as well as the liturgical language of the religion
of Islam, since the Quran and Hadith were written in Arabic.
During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in Europe, especially
in science, mathematics and philosophy. As a result, many European languages
have also borrowed many words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is
seen in European languages—mainly Spanish and to a lesser
extent Portuguese, Catalan, and Sicilian—owing to both the proximity of Christian
European and Muslim Arab civilizations and the long-lasting Arabic culture and
language presence mainly in Southern Iberia during the Al-Andalus era.
The Maltese language is a Semitic language developed from a dialect of Arabic
and written in the Latin alphabet.[9] The Balkan languages,
including Greek and Bulgarian, have also acquired a significant number of Arabic
words through contact with Ottoman Turkish.