Abd (Arabic)
Arabic word for slave or servant
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ʿAbd ( Arabic : عبد ) is an Arabic word meaning one who is subordinated as a slave or a servant, and it means also to worship. [1] [2] [3] The word can also be transliterated into English as 'Abd, where the apostrophe indicates the ayin , denoting a voiced pharyngeal fricative consonant or some reflex of it. In Western ears, it may be perceived as a guttural 'a' sound.
It appears in many common Arab names followed by Al (the) in form of "Abd ul", "Abd ul-", etc.; this is also commonly transliterated as "el-," in the form "Abd el-", meaning "servant of the-". This is always followed by one of the names for God. These names are given in List of Arabic theophoric names and 99 Names of God .
A widespread name Abdullah (name) (or ʿAbd Allah) means " servant of God " or "worshipper of God".
- Abd Rabbuh ("slave of his Lord" or "servant of his Lord")
- Abduh ("His slave" or "His servant")
Though this is regarded as shirk by Sunnis, it is also used with humans, in the names:
- Abdul Nabi ("slave of the Prophet" or "servant of the Prophet")
- Abdul Zahra (slave of Fatimah—daughter of Muhammad)
- Abdul Hussein (slave of Hussein—grandson of Muhammad)
It can also be used by Arab Christians and Arabic-speaking Christians , just as long as it is associated to their religion:
- Abdul Masih ("slave of the Messiah" or "servant of the Messiah")
- Abdul Salib ("slave of the Cross" or "servant of the Cross")
- Abdul Shahid ("slave of the Martyr [i.e. Jesus Christ]" or "servant of the Martyr")
- Abd Yasu ("slave of Jesus" or "servant of Jesus")
- Abida
- Abidi
Abdullah can be also used by Arab Christians, as they refer to God as Allah.
Further notes
ʿĀbid ( Arabic : عابد ) is a given name meaning "worshipper". It is based on the Arabic word "ʿIbādah", i.e. "worship". The female version of the name is ʿĀbidah .
The Hebrew cognate word with ʻabd is "ʻeved" (עבד), meaning slave.
See also
From the same word family
From the word family based on the root 'abd:
- Abeed /abīd, the plural of ʿabd , used as a slur for Black people
- Ibadah , service or servitude
- 'ubeid/ubeid/ubaid/ Al-Ubaid , a diminutive derivate of ' abd , meaning "little slave/servant"
- Ubeidiya , place-name derived from ʿubeid
- Ubayd Allah , also as Obaidullah/Obaydullah/Obeidallah/Ubaydullah, name that means "little servant of God"