Word.ws English Dictionary

mullah

/ˈmʊ.lə/

mullah noun: an honorific title for a scholar of theology and sharia law. Also the alternative form of muller.

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.
  7. (Iran, dated) See also: ruhani

Also used as

mullah is also the alternative form of muller.

mullah meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi

mullah in Hindi

a Muslim religious scholar and teacher
मुल्ला mullā

mullah in Urdu

a Muslim religious scholar and teacher
مَولْوِی maulvī, مُلّا mullā

mullah in Bengali

a Muslim religious scholar and teacher
মোল্লা mōlla, আখন্দ akhondo

mullah in Punjabi

a Muslim religious scholar and teacher
ਮੁੱਲਾ mullā
More languagesFewer languages
mullah in Pashto
ملا məlã, molã
mullah in Arabic
مُلَّا mullā, مَوْلًى mawlan
mullah in Malay
mullah
mullah in Indonesian
mullah

Synonyms of mullah

Forms of mullah

Noun
pluralmullahs
Verb
third-person singular presentmullahs
present participlemullahing
past participlemullahed
pastmullahed

Plural of mullah: mullahs

Origin of mullah

Derived from Classical Persian مُلَّا (mullā), from Arabic مَوْلًى (mawlan, “vicar, guardian”).

Words formed from mullah

Questions about mullah

What does mullah mean?
Mullah means an honorific title for a scholar of theology and sharia law.
What is mullah in Hindi?
Mullah in Hindi is मुल्ला (mullā). See Mullah meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is mullah?
Mullah is a noun.
How do you pronounce mullah?
Mullah is pronounced /ˈmʊ.lə/.
What is the plural of mullah?
The plural of mullah is mullahs.

Words near mullah in the dictionary

  1. mull up
  2. mulla
  3. Mulla Creek
  4. mullagatawnies
  5. mullagatawny
  6. mullah
  7. mullahawn
  8. mullahcracies
  9. mullahcracy
  10. mullahcratic
  11. mullahed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.

Last updated:

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

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