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Glite Dictionary
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Arabism

Arabism

8.9
A word or phrase taken from Arabic into another language
  • noun
  • /ˈærəˌbɪzəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : arabismo
  • The linguist presented several examples of Arabism in the context of English language usage, highlighting words borrowed from Arabic.

Examples

  • But these particular Arabisms found in Aljamiado have not survived because the Spanish Islamic world to which they belonged has perished.

    Academic text (1995)

  • The Tafsira contains many adapted Arabisms; some, like muciminadamente (357) and fisabilado (374), are among those I have quoted earlier in the paper.

    Academic text (1995)

  • In her research, she noted that many Arabisms have enriched the vocabulary of the Spanish language over centuries.

  • The book explores how various Arabisms have influenced modern languages and their structures.

Surface Forms

Arabism singular
Arabisms plural

Morphology

Arabism = Arab (semi-transparent) = Arab + ism

The morphological parts are clear, but the specific linguistic meaning 'a word or feature borrowed from Arabic' is a specialized usage of '-ism' (as in 'Anglicism') that may not be predictable to all learners.

Etymology

Arabism as a language term comes from Arab and -ism and means 'a word or feature taken from Arabic', like 'safari' or 'algebra'. So an Arabism is a word or phrase in another language that originally came from Arabic.