Abd (Arabic)


ʿAbd is an Arabic word meaning one who is subordinated as a slave or a servant, and it means also to worship.
The word can also be transliterated into English as 'Abd, where the apostrophe indicates the ayin, denoting a voiced pharyngeal fricative consonant or some reflex of it. In Western ears, it may be perceived as a guttural 'a' sound.
It appears in many common Arab names followed by Al in form of "Abd ul", "Abd ul-", etc.; this is also commonly translitated as "el-," in the form "Abd el-", meaning "servant of the-".
This is always followed by one of the names for God. These names are given in List of Arabic theophoric names and 99 Names of God.
A widespread name Abdullah means "servant of God" or "worshipper of God".
It can also refer to humans, such as:
It can also be used by Arab Christians and Arabic-speaking Christians, just as long as it is associated to their religion:
Abdullah can be also used by Arab Christians, as they refer to God as Allah.

Further notes

ʿĀbid is a given name meaning "worshipper". It is based on the Arabic word "ʿIbādah", i.e. worship. The female version of the name is ʿĀbidah.
The Hebrew cognate word with Abd is "ʻEved", meaning slave.