مَلَائِكَةٌ angels in Arabic
مَلَائِكَةٌ is how you say “angels” in Arabic.
Root ا ل ك ʾ-l-k. noun (broken plural). malāʾikah.
Arabic
English
The audio uses AI voices.
Meaning of angels in Arabic
- angels plural of مَلَكٌ (malak, 'angel'); Lane's records the alternative plural مَلَائِكُ as well
Example sentence
إن لله تعالى ملائكة يطوفون في الطرق يلتمسون أهل الذكر،
Indeed, Allah, the Exalted, has angels who wander the roads seeking the people of remembrance.
مَلَائِكَةً angels
This is the subject of 'indeed' — 'angels' — and it wears the accusative because the emphatic forced that case, even though it is the thing possessed ('God has angels'). It came after the fronted 'for God'. A relative clause describing the angels follows.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
مَلَائِكَةٌ is the plural of مَلَكٌ (malak), 'angel' — a being who conveys God's message. Lane traces malak back through the forms مَأْلَك and مَلْأَك to أَلُوك, 'a message,' the hemza eventually being dropped from frequent use and then restored in the plural مَلَائِكَة/مَلَائِك. It is the standard word for 'angels' in Qur'anic and classical Arabic.
Words from the same root
- مَلَكٌ angel (the singular that malāʾikah is the plural of)
- أَلَكَ to convey/send a message, act as a messenger (also: to champ a horse's bit)
- أَلُوكٌ a message; a messenger
- أَلِكْنِى 'be my messenger, carry my message' — an imperative used by poets
- اسْتَأْلَكَ to bear or deliver a message
- مَأْلَكٌ a message; said to be the original form behind مَلَكٌ (angel)
- مَأْلَكَةٌ a message
More example sentences
إن قالت الملائكة نحن أهل التسبيح والتقديس،
If the angels said, "We are the people of glorification and sanctification."
الْمَلَائِكَةُ the angels
Placed after its verb, this definite noun is the real speaker and stands in the plain subject ending. The 'the' marks the angels as known, and its post-verb position follows normal Arabic order; as a non-human plural it draws the feminine-singular verb seen before.
قَالَ فَقَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ ذَاكَ عَدُوُّ الْيَهُودِ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ
Then Abdullah said, "That one is the enemy of the Jews from among the angels."
الْمَلَائِكَةِ the angels
A definite plural 'the angels' in the 'of'-type ending set by the partitive preposition, naming the group the figure is drawn from. The ending marks it as the whole-set out of which one is singled.
Common questions
- How do you say "angels" in Arabic?
- مَلَائِكَةٌ (malāʾikah) — the plural of مَلَكٌ (malak, 'angel').
- What is the singular of ملائكة؟
- مَلَكٌ (malak), 'angel', traced by Lane to a form derived from أَلُوك, 'a message'.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).