Word.ws English Dictionary

mulla

mulla is the archaic form of mullah.

Meaning of mullah

Noun

mullah (plural mullahs)

  1. An honorific title for a scholar of theology and sharia law.
    • Leading Republicans do not sympathize with the mullahs, do not repeat their talking points, and do not seek to appease them when they make outrageous claims about other countries.2024 April 15, Anne Applebaum, “Why Did U.S. Planes Defend Israel but Not Ukraine?”, in The Atlantic
    Synonyms:
    cleric
  2. An honorific title for a mosque leader.
    Synonyms:
    cleric
  3. A scholar and teacher of theology and sharia law, and an issuer of fatwas.
    • In the first week of March 2018, the Shia mullah issues a fatwa prohibiting vengeance killing and requiring reconciliation.2021, Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Renáta Katalin Nelson, Evaluating Interreligious Peacebuilding and Dialogue Methods and Frameworks, page 58
  4. (India, slang, slur) A conservative Muslim leader or cleric, especially one who is hostile against other religions.
  5. (India, broadly, slang, slur) A Muslim.
  6. (Iran, dated) A low-level cleric who specializes in telling stories of Ashura, rather than teaching or issuing fatwas.

See all 7 meanings of mullah

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Mulla

Mulla (plural Mullas)

  1. A surname from Arabic.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Mulla

Mulla

  1. A locality in the Bogan council area, central New South Wales, Australia.

Forms of mulla

Noun
pluralmullas
Proper noun
pluralMullas

Origin of mulla

Borrowed from Arabic ملا (mullā, “mullah”). This surname is predominantly found in India.

Unknown.

Phrases with mulla

Questions about mulla

What does mulla mean?
Mulla means a surname from Arabic.
What is mulla the archaic form of?
Mulla is the archaic form of mullah.
What part of speech is mulla?
Mulla is a proper noun.

Words near mulla in the dictionary

  1. Mull of Kintyre
  2. Mull of Kintyre rule
  3. Mull of Kintyre test
  4. mull over
  5. mull up
  6. mulla
  7. Mulla Creek
  8. mullagatawnies
  9. mullagatawny
  10. mullah
  11. mullahawn

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mulla (page history and authors); Mulla (page history and authors); mullah (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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Cite this entry: “mulla.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mulla. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.