Muslim

/ˈmʊz.lɪm/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern Ireland/ˈmʉz.lɪm/

Muslim noun: an adherent of Islam.

Noun

Muslim (plural Muslims)

An adherent of Islam.
- It was gouerned by Macuac, which conditioned with Amrus that euery Egyptian should pay an Egyptian peece of Gold, and to entertaine three dayes euery Muslim which passed that way.1626, Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World, fourth edition, page 1019: lines 19-21
- Muslims invented the concept of zero, which is a foundation for the numbering system used throughout the world.2006, Howard Greenstein, Kendra G. Hotz, John Kaltner, What Do Our Neighbors Believe?, →ISBN
A person who internalizes the Islamic cultural tradition, or way of thinking, as a frame of reference.
- These secular Muslims, identified on the basis of cultural origin, are recognized neither by devout Muslims nor by average citizens or mainstream media in the West.2009, Haideh Moghissi, Saeed Rahnema, Mark Goodman, Diaspora by Design: Muslim Immigrants in Canada and Beyond, →ISBN, page 9
- Of course, the ⟨five⟩ pillars of faith do not represent all rituals important to Muslims; and ways were developed in which they could subsume other rituals under the politically safe rubrics of nationalism or culture, which from the earliest times until the 1980s were not generally topics attacked...2012, Cara Aitchison, Mei-Po Kwan, Peter Hopkins, Geographies of Muslim Identities: Diaspora, Gender and Belonging, →ISBN, page 147
(historical) A member of a predominantly Muslim South Slavic ethnic group (usually a Bosniak), irrespective of actual religious beliefs (used historically in Yugoslavia but persisting to some degree in some former Yugoslav states).

Synonyms:

Abdul, asslifter, carpet kisser, children of Ishmael, goatfucker, hajji, Ishmaelite, Islamist, katwa, kebab

Adjective

Muslim (comparative more Muslim, superlative most Muslim)

Being or relating to a believer of Islam.
- The notion of blood purity was first elaborated in Europe, where it was used to separate Old Christians from Spain’s New Christians—women and men of Jewish and Muslim origin whose ancestors had converted to Christianity.2009, Irene Silverblatt, “Foreword”, in Andrew B. Fisher, Matthew D. O'hara, editors, Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America, page xi
- Kaplan-Miller said she first joined the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an interfaith organization that was founded by a Muslim and a Jewish woman in suburban New Jersey, shortly after the 2016 election.2023 November 22, Brammhi Balarajan, “US interfaith communities draw on decades-long bonds to navigate Israel-Hamas War”, in CNN, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2025
Synonyms:

Islamic

Proper noun

Muslim

A barangay of Guindulungan, Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines.

Muslim meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

Muslim in Hindi

believer of Islam: मुस्लिम muslim, मुसलमान musalmān, मुसलमानी musalmānī, मुसलिम muslim, मुहम्मदी muhammadī, मौसुल mausul
relating to believers of Islam: मुस्लिम muslim, मुसलमान musalmān, मुसलमानी musalmānī, मौसुल mausul

Muslim in Tamil

believer of Islam: முஸ்லிம் muslim, முசல்மான் mucalmāṉ, சோனகன் cōṉakaṉ
relating to believers of Islam: முஸ்லிம் muslim

Muslim in Marathi

believer of Islam: मुस्लिम muslim, मुसलमान musalamān
relating to believers of Islam: मुस्लिम muslim, मुसलमान musalamān

Muslim in Urdu

believer of Islam: مُسَلْمان musalmān, مُسْلِم muslim
relating to believers of Islam: مسلم muslim, مسلمان musalmān, مسلمانی musalmānī

More languagesFewer languages

Muslim in Bengali: মুসলিম muslim, মুসলমান musolman
Muslim in Telugu: ముస్లిం musliṁ, మొస్లెం mosleṁ
Muslim in Malayalam: മുസ്ലിം musliṁ
Muslim in Kannada: ಮುಸ್ಲಿಮ್ muslim
Muslim in Punjabi: ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ muslamān
Muslim in Gujarati: મુસ્લિમ muslim, મુસલમાન musalmān, મુસલમાની musalmānī
Muslim in Odia: ମୁସଲମାନ musalamāna
Muslim in Sanskrit: मौसुल mausula
Muslim in Sinhala: මුස්ලිම් muslim
Muslim in Assamese: মুছলমান musolman
Muslim in Nepali: मुसलमान musalmān
Muslim in Pashto: مسلمان mosalmān, مسلم mosalam
Muslim in Arabic: مُسْلِم muslim, مُسْلِمَة muslima, إِسْلَامِيّ ʔislāmiyy
Muslim in Malay: orang Muslim, Muslim
Muslim in Indonesian: orang Muslim, Muslim
Muslim in Persian: مسلمانی mosalmâni
Muslim in Thai: มุสลิม mút-sà-lim
Muslim in Vietnamese: người Islam, người Hồi, người Hồi giáo, muslim
Muslim in Myanmar: မွတ်စလင် mwatca.lang
Sindhi: مسلم mslm, مسلمان mslmā̃
Dzongkha: ཁ་ཆེ kha che

Examples of Muslim in a sentence

“At the end of the day, Jews and Muslims are cousins,” Alhomsi said.2023 November 22, Brammhi Balarajan, “US interfaith communities draw on decades-long bonds to navigate Israel-Hamas War”, in CNN, archived...
From this practice the concepts of 'cultural Muslim', 'ethnic Muslim' and, less frequently, 'nationalist Muslim' evolved.2012, Cara Aitchison, Mei-Po Kwan, Peter Hopkins, Geographies of Muslim Identities: Diaspora, Gender and Belonging, →ISBN, page 147:
Unfortunately, unlike “secular Jew” or “cultural Jew”, the term “cultural Muslim” isn’t widely understood.2020 July 6, Kia Abdullah, The i Paper:

Synonyms of Muslim

29 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of Muslim

Forms of Muslim

Noun
plural	Muslims
alternative form (dated)	Moslem
Adjective
comparative	more Muslim
superlative	most Muslim

Origin of Muslim

Borrowed around 1615 from Arabic مُسْلِم (muslim, “one who submits”), the active participle of أَسْلَمَ (ʔaslama, “he submitted”), verb form IV from the triliteral root س ل م (s l m), "to be whole, intact". The verbal noun إسْلام (ʔislām) means literally "submission". In a religious sense, الْإِسْلَام (al-ʔislām) translates to "faith, piety", and مُسْلِم (muslim) to "one who has (religious) faith or piety".

Phrases with Muslim

Questions about Muslim

What does Muslim mean?: Muslim means an adherent of Islam.
What is Muslim in Hindi?: Muslim in Hindi is मुस्लिम (muslim), मुसलमान (musalmān), मुसलमानी (musalmānī). See Muslim meaning in Hindi.
How do you use Muslim in a sentence?: “At the end of the day, Jews and Muslims are cousins,” Alhomsi said.
What part of speech is Muslim?: Muslim can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Muslim?: Muslim is pronounced /ˈmʊz.lɪm/ (UK).
What is the plural of Muslim?: The plural of Muslim is Muslims.

Words near Muslim in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Muslim (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-Muslim.ogg.

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