alif
Americannoun
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the first letter of the Arabic alphabet.
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the glottal stop consonant represented by this letter.
Etymology
Origin of alif
From Arabic; aleph
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the centre of the cloth is a single Arabic word, intricately woven, four letters: an alif, two lams and a ha.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Line after line, an entire page was filled with the letter alif.
From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed
Yes, and a single alif were the clue— Could you but find it—to the treasure house, And, peradventure, to THE MASTER, too.
From The Light of Egypt; or, the science of the soul and the stars — Volume 2 by Burgoyne, Thomas H.
C. L. N. A. B. I. Musa and 'Isa are often written without the alif i maksur.
From The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam by Khayyam, Omar
Note the alif i wasls in lines 1 and 2.
From The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam by Khayyam, Omar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
