zakat
Syllables: za·kat/zəˈkɑːt/US/zəˈkɑt/
zakat noun: almsgiving, usually in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property which is then used for charitable purposes; the third of the five pillars of Islam.

Noun
zakat (usually uncountable, plural zakats)
- Almsgiving, usually in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property which is then used for charitable purposes; the third of the five pillars of Islam.
- Zakât is an ordinance of God, incumbent upon every perſon vvho is free, ſane, adult, and a Muſſulman, provided he be poſſeſſed, in full propriety, of ſuch eſtate or effects as are termed in the language of the lavv a Niſâb, and that he has been in poſſeſſion of the ſame for the ſpace of one...1791, [Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani], chapter I, in Charles Hamilton, transl., The Hedàya, or Guide; a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws: […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Bensley, →OCLC, book I (Of...
- The Mahometan law insists on the legal obligation of society to support their indigent fellow-citizens, the Hedaya or Mahometan Guide begins, "take zakat," said Mahomet, "from the rich Mussulmans, and bestow it upon the poor Mussulmans: zakat or charity," says the code, "signifies alms imposed by...1831, James Butler Bryan, chapter XII, in A Practical View of Ireland, from the Period of the Union; with Plans for the Permanent Relief of Her Poor, and the Improvement of Her Municipal...
zakat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
zakat in Hindi
- almsgiving in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property, which is used for charitable purposes
- ज़कात zakāt
zakat in Tamil
- almsgiving in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property, which is used for charitable purposes
- சகாத் cakāt
zakat in Urdu
- almsgiving in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property, which is used for charitable purposes
- زکات
zakat in Bengali
- almsgiving in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property, which is used for charitable purposes
- যাকাত jakat
More languagesFewer languages
- zakat in Telugu
- జకాత్ jakāt
- zakat in Malayalam
- സകാത്ത് sakāttŭ
- zakat in Kannada
- ಝಕಾತ್ jhakāt
- zakat in Punjabi
- ਜ਼ਕਾਤ zakāt
- zakat in Gujarati
- ઝકાત jhakāt
- zakat in Assamese
- জাকাত zakat
- zakat in Pashto
- زکات
- zakat in Arabic
- زَكَاة zakāh
- zakat in Malay
- zakat
- zakat in Indonesian
- zakat
- zakat in Persian
- زکات zakât
- zakat in Thai
- ซะกาต sá-gàat
- zakat in Vietnamese
- zakat
- Dhivehi
- ޒަކާތް zakāt̊
- Kashmiri
- زَکات zakāt
Examples of zakat in a sentence
- The Alcoran and all the subsequent teachings of the faithful enjoined a constant and liberal charity. […] The theory of the zakat, or tax, is that it is a voluntary gift.1886, William A[ddison] Phillips, “The Mahometan System, and the Governments and Forms of Society Founded on It”, in Labor, Land and Law: A...
- By tradition, zakat proceeds serve partly to deliver poor relief and partly to finance "praiseworthy activities," defined to include religious education and pilgrimage.2006, Timur Kuran, “Islam and Economics: Policy Prescriptions for a Free Society”, in Sohrab Behdad, Farhad Nomani, editors, Islam and the...
- In practice, the zakats seem to have varied a great deal with the context, the society, and local norms.2020 March, Thomas Piketty, “Ternary Societies and Colonialism: Eurasian Trajectories”, in Arthur Goldhammer, transl., Capital and...
Forms of zakat
| plural | zakats |
|---|---|
| alternative form | zakaah |
| alternative form | zakah |
| alternative form | zikat |
| alternative form | Zikat |
Origin of zakat
Borrowed from: * Persian زکات (zakât); * Turkish zekât, from Ottoman Turkish زكات (zekat); or * Urdu زَکَات (zakāt); all from Arabic زَكَاة (zakāh, “almsgiving, zakat; purification”), from زَكَوٰة (zakāh) (archaic), from Aramaic זכותא/ܙܟܘܬܐ (zākūṯā, “goodness, probity, uprightness; merit; victory”), from זכי (zəḵē, “to gain; to overcome, triumph over”).
Words that rhyme with zakat
Questions about zakat
- What does zakat mean?
- Zakat means almsgiving, usually in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property which is then used for charitable purposes; the third of the five pillars of Islam.
- What is zakat in Hindi?
- Zakat in Hindi is ज़कात (zakāt). See Zakat meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use zakat in a sentence?
- The Alcoran and all the subsequent teachings of the faithful enjoined a constant and liberal charity. […] The theory of the zakat, or tax, is that it is a voluntary gift.
- What part of speech is zakat?
- Zakat is a noun.
- How do you pronounce zakat?
- Zakat is pronounced /zəˈkɑːt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of zakat?
- The plural of zakat is zakats.
Words near zakat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zakat (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)-Vealhurl-zakat.wav.
Cite this entry: “zakat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zakat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
