ال

العربية

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ال

/al-/
/-l-/

Where it comes from

Uncertain; Rubin posits that this is a reduced form of the lost singular of Arabic أُولَى (ʔulā, “these”); compare rare Hebrew אֵל (el, “these”) and Akkadian 𒌌𒇻𒌑𒌝 (ullûm, “that”). In this hypothesis, original initial /u/ would be lost due to low stress; the initial /a/ found in phrase-initial position would thus be prothetic.

article اَلْ · al- · اَمْ

In English

the article
most forming the superlative
-est superlative of adjectives and adverbs

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Cite this

MLA

"ال." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

ال. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84

Chicago

"ال." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84.

BibTeX

@misc{micwyn_2026,
  title = {ال},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}