Arabic vocabulary
مَلَائِكَةٌangels in Arabic
مَلَائِكَةٌ is how you say “angels” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root ا ل ك (ʾ-l-k)noun (broken plural)Pronounced malāʾikah
Meaning of angels in Arabic
- angels — plural of مَلَكٌ (malak, 'angel'); Lane's records the alternative plural مَلَائِكُ as well
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
- مَلَكٌangel (the singular that malāʾikah is the plural of)
- أَلَكَto convey/send a message, act as a messenger (also: to champ a horse's bit)
- أَلُوكٌa message; a messenger
- أَلِكْنِى'be my messenger, carry my message' — an imperative used by poets
- اسْتَأْلَكَto bear or deliver a message
- مَأْلَكٌa message; said to be the original form behind مَلَكٌ (angel)
- مَأْلَكَةٌa message
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'.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
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.
From: Where Angels Gather →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.
From: Adam and the Rebel →
Related words
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