Word.ws English Dictionary

Shi'a

/ˈʃiːə/

Shi'a proper noun: shi'a Islam.

Proper noun

Shi'a

  1. (usually) Shi'a Islam.
    • In Islam, Sunni is a more triumphant version of the faith than Shia, which stresses the importance of suffering, following the founder Ali, who was persecuted.1998, Geert H. Hofstede, Masculinity and Femininity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures, page 205
    • Shi’a is one of the two larger divisions of Islam, […]2008, J. Gordon Melton, The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena, Visible Ink Press, page 181
    Synonyms:
    Shi'i Islam, Shi'ism
  2. (collective) The followers of this branch of Islam; the Shiites.
    • Throughout the Umayyad period, the Shi'a were confined to southern 'Iraq [...]2013, Robert Brenton Betts, The Sunni-Shi'a Divide, page 17

Noun

Shi'a (plural Shi'as or Shi'a)

  1. Synonym of Shiite.
    Synonyms:
    Shiite

Shi'a meaning in Hindi, Bengali and Arabic

Shi'a in Hindi

branch of Islam
शिया śiyā

Shi'a in Bengali

branch of Islam
শিয়া śiẏa

Shi'a in Arabic

branch of Islam
شِيعَة عَلِيّ šīʕat ʕalī, الشِّيعَة aš-šīʕa

Synonyms of Shi'a

Forms of Shi'a

Proper noun
alternative formShia
alternative formShiah
alternative formShi'ah
alternative form (obsolete)Schiah
Noun
pluralShi'as
pluralShi'a

Origin of Shi'a

From Arabic شِيعَة (šīʕa, “sect, faction, party; [collectively] followers, partisans”), as the word has been used in شِيعَة عَلِيّ (šīʕat ʕalī, “the faction of Ali; [collectively] the followers of Ali”) or الشِّيعَة (aš-šīʕa, “the Faction; the Followers”).

Words formed from Shi'a

Phrases with Shi'a

Words that rhyme with Shi'a

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Shi'a

What does Shi'a mean?
Shi'a means shi'a Islam.
What is Shi'a in Hindi?
Shi'a in Hindi is शिया (śiyā). See Shi'a meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Shi'a?
Shi'a can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Shi'a?
Shi'a is pronounced /ˈʃiːə/.

Words near Shi'a in the dictionary

  1. shhh
  2. shhing
  3. shhs
  4. shi
  5. shi shi
  6. Shi'a
  7. Shi'a Islam
  8. Shi'a Muslim
  9. Shi'a Muslims
  10. Shi'a-centric
  11. Shi'as

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Shi'a (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-Shi'a.wav.

Cite this entry: “Shi'a.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shi%27a. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.