Arabic vocabulary
مَلَكٌangels in Arabic
مَلَكٌ is how you say “angels” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root م ل ك (m-l-k)nounPronounced malak
Meaning of angels in Arabic
- angel — the ordinary word for 'angel'; Lane cross-refers it to مَأْلَكٌ
- water — a rarer sense recorded by Sībawayh (S.) for the same word
مَلَكٌ (malak) is the singular noun behind the English gloss 'angels'. It shares its root ملك with the whole family of 'possession/dominion' words below — مُلْك (dominion), مَلِك (king), مَمْلَكَة (kingdom) — since the root's core sense is having possession, command, or authority over something.
Words from the same root
- مَلَكَhe possessed, owned, or had authority over (something)
- مُلْكٌdominion, sovereignty, kingship, authority
- مَلِكٌking
- مَمْلَكَةٌkingdom, realm
- مَالِكٌpossessor, owner, master
- مَمْلُوكٌa slave, bondman (lit. 'one possessed')
- مَلَكُوتُkingdom, dominion (e.g. God's kingdom)
- مَلَكَةٌa faculty; a quality firmly rooted in the mind
Common questions
- How do you say "angel" in Arabic?
- مَلَكٌ (malak).
- What does the root م ل ك (m-l-k) mean?
- It centers on possession, ownership, and authority — giving words like مُلْك 'dominion', مَلِك 'king', and مَمْلَكَة 'kingdom', alongside مَلَكٌ 'angel'.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
كل ليلة ينزل سبعون ألف ملك من السماء إلى الأرض إلى مسجد بيت المقدس
Every night, seventy thousand angels descend from the sky to the earth, to the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis.
مَلَكٍ — angels. malak means 'angel'; the '-in' ending — the singular noun counted (Arabic uses the singular after such numbers): 'thousand angels'.
From: Angels at al-Aqsa →فأصول دين السلف الإيمان بالله وكتبه ورسله وملائكته،
The fundamentals of the religion of the predecessors were faith in Allah, His books, His messengers, His angels,
وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ — His angels. A further coordinated item — 'angels' plus 'His' — still hanging off the original 'faith in'. The genitive carries over by coordination. Arabic lets one preposition govern a long string of joined nouns like this.
From: Scripture Over Speculation →
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