Standard Lemma guide

caliphate

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈkælɪfeɪt/
  • /ˈkeɪlɪfeɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Monarchical government based on a claim of succession to the Islamic State of Muhammad, ruled by a caliph.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the office of a caliph

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: position, post, berth, office, spot, billet, place, situation

3

noun

Meaning 3

the territorial jurisdiction of a caliph

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: jurisdiction

4

noun

Meaning 4

the era of Islam's ascendancy from the death of Mohammed until the 13th century; some Moslems still maintain that the Moslem world must always have a calif as head of the community

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • their goal was to reestablish the Caliphate

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: era, epoch

History

Etymology

From Medieval Latin calīphātus, equivalent to caliph + -ate.

Across languages

Translations

97 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kalifaat — Islamic government
  • Albanian: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Arabic: خِلَافَة (ḵilāfa) — Islamic government
  • Aragonese: califato — Islamic government
  • Armenian: խալիֆայություն (xalifayutʻyun) — Islamic government
  • Armenian: խալիֆաթ (xalifatʻ) — Islamic government
  • Asturian: califatu — Islamic government
  • Azerbaijani: xəlifəlik — Islamic government
  • Azerbaijani: xilafət — Islamic government
  • Bashkir: хәлифәлек (xəlifəlek) — Islamic government
  • Basque: kalifa-herri — Islamic government
  • Basque: kaliferri — Islamic government
  • Belarusian: халіфа́т (xalifát) — Islamic government
  • Bengali: খেলাফত (khelaphot) — Islamic government
  • Breton: kalifiezh — Islamic government
  • Bulgarian: халифа́т (halifát) — Islamic government
  • Catalan: califat — Islamic government
  • Chechen: халифат (xalifat) — Islamic government
  • Chinese Mandarin: 哈里發國 /哈里发国 (hālǐfāguó) — Islamic government
  • Czech: kalifát — Islamic government
  • Czech: chalífát — Islamic government
  • Danish: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Dutch: kalifaat — Islamic government
  • Esperanto: kalifujo — Islamic government
  • Estonian: kalifaat — Islamic government
  • Finnish: kalifaatti — Islamic government
  • French: califat — Islamic government
  • Galician: califato — Islamic government
  • Georgian: სახალიფო (saxalipo) — Islamic government
  • German: Kalifat — Islamic government
  • German: Kalifat — Islamic government
  • Greek: χαλιφάτο (chalifáto) — Islamic government
  • Hebrew: חֲלִיפוּת (khalifútֶ) — Islamic government
  • Hindi: ख़िलाफ़त (xilāfat) — Islamic government
  • Hindi: खिलाफत (khilāphat) — Islamic government
  • Hungarian: kalifátus — Islamic government
  • Icelandic: kalífadæmi — Islamic government
  • Ido: kalifeso — Islamic government
  • Indonesian: khilafah — Islamic government
  • Irish: cailifeacht — Islamic government
  • Italian: califfato — Islamic government
  • Javanese: khilafah — Islamic government
  • Kazakh: халифат (xalifat) — Islamic government
  • Central Kurdish: خەلافەت (xelafet) — Islamic government
  • Northern Kurdish: xelîfî — Islamic government
  • Northern Kurdish: xelîfetî — Islamic government
  • Kyrgyz: халифат (halifat) — Islamic government
  • Latvian: kalifāts — Islamic government
  • Lithuanian: kalifatas — Islamic government
  • Macedonian: халифат (halifat) — Islamic government
  • Malagasy: kalifaty — Islamic government
  • Malay: khilafah — Islamic government
  • Malayalam: ഖിലാഫത്ത് (khilāphattŭ) — Islamic government
  • Marathi: खिलाफत (khilāphat) — Islamic government
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Occitan: califat — Islamic government
  • Pashto: خلافت (xilāfát) — Islamic government
  • Dari: خِلَافَت (xilāfat) — Islamic government
  • Iranian Persian: خِلافَت (xelâfat) — Islamic government
  • Polish: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Portuguese: califado — Islamic government
  • Punjabi: ਖ਼ਿਲਾਫ਼ਤ (xilāfat) — Islamic government
  • Punjabi: خِلَافَت (xilāfat) — Islamic government
  • Romanian: califat — Islamic government
  • Russian: халифа́т (xalifát) — Islamic government
  • Scottish Gaelic: cèileafaid — Islamic government
  • Serbo-Croatian: калифа́т — Islamic government
  • Serbo-Croatian: халифа́т — Islamic government
  • Serbo-Croatian: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Serbo-Croatian: halifat — Islamic government
  • Sicilian: califfatu — Islamic government
  • Sindhi: خلافت (xelâfat) — Islamic government
  • Slovak: kalifát — Islamic government
  • Slovak: chalífát — Islamic government
  • Slovene: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Lower Sorbian: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Upper Sorbian: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Spanish: califato — Islamic government
  • Swedish: kalifat — Islamic government
  • Tajik: хилофат (xilofat) — Islamic government
  • Tatar: хәлифәлек (xälifälek) — Islamic government
  • Thai: รัฐเคาะลีฟะฮ์ (rát-kɔ́-lii-fá) — Islamic government
  • Turkish: hilafet — Islamic government
  • Turkish: halifelik — Islamic government
  • Ottoman Turkish: خلافت (ḫılâfet) — Islamic government
  • Turkmen: halifat — Islamic government
  • Ukrainian: халіфа́т (xalifát) — Islamic government
  • Urdu: خِلافَت (xilāfat) — Islamic government
  • Uyghur: خەلىپىلىك (xelipilik) — Islamic government
  • Uzbek: xalifalik — Islamic government
  • Uzbek: халифалик (xalifalik) — Islamic government
  • Vietnamese: vương triều Hồi giáo — Islamic government
  • Welsh: califfiaeth — Islamic government
  • Welsh: califfaeth — Islamic government
  • Yiddish: כאַליפֿאַט (khalifat) — Islamic government
  • Zazaki: xilafet — Islamic government
Real reading context

caliphate in complete knowledge articles