Arab word

Arabic
العَرَبِيَّة / عَرَبِيّ ʻarabī / al-ʻarabiyyah
al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)
Pronunciation	/ˈʕarabiː/, /ʔalʕaraˈbij.ja/
Native to	Countries of the Arab League, minorities in neighboring countries and some parts of Asia, Africa, Europe etc.
Native speakers	290 million (2017)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic languages Arabic
Standard forms	Modern Standard Arabic
Dialects	Western (Maghrebi) Central (incl. Egyptian, Sudanese) Northern (incl. Levantine, Mesopotamian) Peninsular (Gulf, Hejazi, Najdi, Yemeni)
Writing system	Arabic alphabet Arabic Braille Syriac alphabet (Garshuni) Hebrew alphabet (Judeo-Arabic languages) Greek alphabet (Cypriot Maronite Arabic) Latin script (Romanized Arabic alphabet, Maltese alphabet) (Maltese, Lebanese Arabic, Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Libyan Arabic, Tunisian Arabic)
Signed forms	Signed Arabic (national forms)
Official status
Official language in	Modern Standard Arabic is an official language of 28 states, the third most after English and French List Algeria Bahrain Comoros Chad Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Malta (Maltese Arabic) Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar SADR Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Syria Tanzania (Zanzibar) Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Organizations African Union Arab League European Union (Maltese Arabic) Organisation of Islamic Cooperation United Nations
Recognised minority language in	List Cyprus Iran Mali Niger Senegal South Sudan
Regulated by	List Arabic Language International Council 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
ISO 639-3	– inclusive code Individual codes: arq – Algerian Arabic aao – Algerian Saharan Arabic bbz – Babalia Creole Arabic aby – Baharna Arabic shu – Chadian Arabic acy – Cypriot Arabic adf – Dhofari Arabic avl – Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic arz – Egyptian Arabic afb – Gulf Arabic ayh – Hadrami Arabic acw – Hijazi Arabic ayl – Libyan Arabic acm – Mesopotamian Arabic ary – Moroccan Arabic ars – Najdi Arabic apc – North Levantine Arabic ayp – North Mesopotamian Arabic acx – Omani Arabic aec – Saidi Arabic ayn – Sanaani Arabic ssh – Shihhi Arabic ajp – South Levantine Arabic arb – Standard Arabic apd – Sudanese Arabic pga – Sudanese Creole Arabic acq – Taizzi-Adeni Arabic abh – Tajiki Arabic aeb – Tunisian Arabic auz – Uzbeki Arabic
Glottolog	arab1395
Linguasphere	12-AAC
Dispersion of native Arabic speakers as the majority (green) or minority (chartreuse) population
Use of Arabic as the national language (green), as an official language (dark blue), and as a regional/minority language (light blue)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Arabic (Arabic: العَرَبِيَّة‎‎, al-ʻarabiyyah [ʔalʕaraˈbij.ja] or Arabic: عَرَبِيّ‎‎ ʻarabī [ˈʕarabiː, ʕaraˈbij]) is a Central Semitic language complex that first emerged in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. It is named after the Arabs, a term initially used to describe peoples living from Mesopotamia in the east to the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the west, in northwestern Arabia, and in the Sinai peninsula.

Classical Arabic is the liturgical language of 1.7 billion Muslims and Modern Standard Arabic is one of six official languages of the United Nations. It is spoken by perhaps as many as 422 million speakers (native and non-native) in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world.

The modern written language (Modern Standard Arabic) is derived from Classical Arabic. It is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic (fuṣḥā), which is the official language of 26 states and the liturgical language of Islam. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties, and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Classical era, especially in modern times.