Meanings
-
1
noun
a Semitic language spoken across North Africa and the Middle East and used as the liturgical language of Islam
She studied Arabic before beginning fieldwork in Jordan.
-
2
adj
of, in, or relating to the Arabic language, its script, or Arabic-speaking peoples and cultures
The archive contains Arabic manuscripts from the medieval period.
-
3
adj
designating the decimal digits 0 through 9 or the numeral system that uses them
Write the date in Arabic numerals rather than Roman numerals.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Latin Arabicus and Greek Arabikos, 'Arabian,' based on the ancient ethnonym for the Arabs. English uses Arabic chiefly for the language and script; Arabic numerals reached medieval Europe through Arabic mathematical scholarship, although the digits originated in India.