‎العربية ┃ Arabic ▢𓏺｜appendage｜___｜20260628185154-01-•

Arabic	…
اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ (al-ʿarabiyyah)	…
al-ʿarabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)	…
Pronunciation	[ˈʕɑrɑbiː] [æl ʕɑrɑˈbɪj.jæ]
Native to	Arab world and surrounding regions
Ethnicity	Arabs, and other ethnic groups of the Arab world
Speakers	411 million native speakers of all varieties (2020–2024)1 70 million L2 users of all varieties (2020–2024)1
Language family	Afro-Asiatic • Semitic • West Semitic • Central Semitic • Arabic
Early forms	Proto-Afroasiatic • Proto-Semitic • Proto-Arabic • Old Arabic • Pre-classical Arabic
Standard forms	• Modern Standard Arabic
Dialects	• Central Asian • Chadian • Egyptian • Levantine • Maghrebi • Mesopotamian • Peninsular • Saʽidi • Shirvani • Sudanese
Writing system	Arabic alphabet Other official scripts • Latin script (Maltese alphabet)
Official status	…
Official language in	24 states and territories • Algeria • Bahrain • Chad • Comoros • Djibouti • Egypt • Iraq • Jordan • Kuwait • Lebanon • Libya • Mali • Mauritania • Morocco • Oman • Palestine • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • Somalia • Sudan • Syria • Tunisia • United Arab Emirates • Yemen States and territories with limited recognition • Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic • Somaliland • Zanzibar (Tanzania) International Organizations • African Union • Arab League • Organisation of Islamic Cooperation • United Nations Special status in Constitution • Iran 2 • Israel 3 • Pakistan 4
Recognised minority language in	List • Cyprus 5 • Israel 6 • Mali 7 • Niger 8 • Philippines 9 • Senegal 10 • South Africa 11
Regulated by	List • • Algeria : Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria • Egypt : Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo • Israel : Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel • Iraq : Iraqi Academy of Sciences • Jordan : Jordan Academy of Arabic • Libya : Academy of the Arabic Language in Jamahiriya • Morocco : Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat • Saudi Arabia : Academy of the Arabic Language in Riyadh • Somalia : Academy of the Arabic Language in Mogadishu • Sudan : Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartoum • Syria : Arab Academy of Damascus (the oldest) • Tunisia : Beit Al-Hikma Foundation
Language codes	…
ISO 639-1	ar
ISO 639-2	ara
ISO 639-3	ara – inclusive code Individual codes: arq – Algerian Arabic xaa – Andalusi Arabic abv – Bahrani Arabic avl – Bedawi Arabic shu – Chadian Arabic acy – Cypriot Arabic adf – Dhofari Arabic arz – Egyptian Arabic acm – Gelet Iraqi Arabic afb – Gulf Arabic ayh – Hadhrami Arabic mey – Hassaniya Arabic acw – Hejazi Arabic apc – Levantine Arabic ayl – Libyan Arabic ary – Moroccan Arabic ars – Najdi Arabic acx – Omani Arabic ayp – Qeltu Iraqi Arabic aao – Saharan Arabic aec – Saʽidi Arabic ayn – Sanʽani Arabic ssh – Shihhi Arabic sqr – Siculo-Arabic arb – Standard Arabic apd – Sudanese Arabic acq – Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic abh – Tajiki Arabic aeb – Tunisian Arabic auz – Uzbeki Arabic
Glottolog	arab1395
Linguasphere	12-AAC
Sole official language, Arabic-speaking majority Co-official language, Arabic-speaking majority Co-official language, Arabic-speaking minority Not an official language, Arabic-speaking minority	…

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. Arabic at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025) ↩ ↩²

2. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes the Arabic language as the language of Islam, giving it a formal status as the language of religion, and regulates its spreading within the Iranian national curriculum. The constitution declares in Chapter II: (The Official Language, Script, Calendar, and Flag of the Country) in Article 16 “Since the language of the Qur`an and Islamic texts and teachings is Arabic,…, it must be taught after elementary level, in all classes of secondary school and in all areas of study.”${}^{[3]}$ ↩

3. The basic law of Israel states that “The Arabic language has a special status in the state; Regulating the use of Arabic in state institutions or by them will be set in law.”${}^{[4]}$ ↩

4. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan states in Article 31 No. 2 that “The State shall endeavour, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan (a) to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language…”${}^{[5]}$ ↩

5. “Implementation of the Charter in Cyprus”. Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2013. ↩

6. “Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People” (PDF). Knesset. 19 July 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021. ↩

7. “Mali”. www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca. Retrieved 29 April 2023. ↩

8. “Niger: Loi n° 2001-037 du 31 décembre 2001 fixant les modalités de promotion et de développement des langues nationales”. www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca (in French). Retrieved 29 April 2023. ↩

9. Constitution of the Philippines, Article XIV, Sec 7: For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. ↩

10. “Decret n° 2005-980 du 21 octobre 2005”. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2021. ↩

11. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (PDF) (2013 English version ed.). Constitutional Court of South Africa. 2013. ch. 1, s. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 August 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2020. ↩