Word.ws English Dictionary

alim

/ˈɑːlɪm/

alim noun: an educated scholar of Islamic law; a member of the ulema class.

Noun

alim (plural ulama or ulema or alims)

  1. An educated scholar of Islamic law; a member of the ulema class
    • Akram is a working alim, lecturing in mosques and universities and dispensing fatwas on issues like inheritance and divorce.2007 February 25, Carla Power, “A Secret History”, in New York Times

Proper noun capitalized: Alim

Alim

  1. A surname from Arabic.

alim meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Pashto

alim in Hindi

scholar of Islamic law
आलिम ālim

alim in Urdu

scholar of Islamic law
عالم 'ālim

alim in Bengali

scholar of Islamic law
আলিম alim

alim in Pashto

scholar of Islamic law
عالم 'ālim
More languagesFewer languages
alim in Arabic
عَالِم ʕālim
alim in Malay
alim
alim in Indonesian
alim
alim in Persian
عالم 'âlem

Forms of alim

Noun
pluralulama
pluralulema
pluralalims
Proper noun
alternative formAleem

Plural of alim: ulama or ulema

Origin of alim

From Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim), active participle of عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”).

Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Edward Lane (1801–1876), orientalist. Partly from Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim, “scholar, (specifically) expert in Islamic law and theology”), use as noun of the active participle of عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”), and partly from Arabic عَالِم (ʕālim, “knowing, learned, also (as noun) scholar”) from عَلِمَ (ʕalima, “to know”).

Questions about alim

What does alim mean?
Alim means an educated scholar of Islamic law; a member of the ulema class.
What is alim in Hindi?
Alim in Hindi is आलिम (ālim). See Alim meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is alim?
Alim can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce alim?
Alim is pronounced /ˈɑːlɪm/.
What is the plural of alim?
The plural of alim is ulama.

Words near alim in the dictionary

  1. Alikhan
  2. Alikhans
  3. Alikoirah
  4. alikreukel
  5. Alilem
  6. alim
  7. alimadol
  8. Aliman
  9. Alimathaa
  10. alimemazine
  11. aliment

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alim (page history and authors); Alim (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-alim.wav.

Cite this entry: “alim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.