name
Meaning 1
A surname from Arabic.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
imam
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.
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/ˈiːmɑːm/
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/ɪˈmɑːm/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɑːm
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CMU ARPABET: AY1 M AE0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: Islam, lifestyle, religion
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: capitalized, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cleric
noun
Meaning 4
A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.
One of the Twelve imams, descendants of Muhammad from the seventh to ninth centuries CE who lived exemplary lives.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: capitalized, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cleric
noun
Meaning 5
(Islam) the man who leads prayers in a mosque; for Shiites an imam is a recognized authority on Islamic theology and law and a spiritual guide
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: imaum
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: leader, Muslim, Moslem
History
Etymology
Occupational surname, borrowed from Arabic إمام (ʔimām). This surname is mostly found in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).
Across languages
Translations
97 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: imam — Muslim leader
- Afrikaans: imaam — Muslim leader
- Albanian: imam — Muslim leader
- Amharic: ኢማም (ʾimam) — Muslim leader
- Arabic: إِمَام (ʔimām) — Muslim leader
- Aramaic: ܐܝܡܡ — Muslim leader
- Armenian: իմամ (imam) — Muslim leader
- Azerbaijani: imam — Muslim leader
- Azerbaijani: има́м — Muslim leader
- Bashkir: имам (imam) — Muslim leader
- Belarusian: іма́м (imám) — Muslim leader
- Bengali: ইমাম (imam) — Muslim leader
- Bulgarian: има́м (imám) — Muslim leader
- Catalan: imam — Muslim leader
- Chechen: имам (imam) — Muslim leader
- Chinese: ахун (ahun) — Muslim leader
- Chinese Mandarin: 伊瑪目 /伊玛目 (yīmǎmù) — Muslim leader
- Chinese Mandarin: 教長 /教长 (jiāozhǎng, jiàozhǎng) — Muslim leader
- Chinese Mandarin: 阿訇 (āhōng) — Muslim leader
- Crimean Tatar: imam — Muslim leader
- Czech: imám — Muslim leader
- Danish: imam — Muslim leader
- Dhivehi: އިމާމް (imām̊) — Muslim leader
- Dutch: imam — Muslim leader
- Esperanto: imamo — Muslim leader
- Estonian: imaam — Muslim leader
- Finnish: imaami — Muslim leader
- French: imam — Muslim leader
- Georgian: იმამი (imami) — Muslim leader
- German: Imam — Muslim leader
- Greek: ιμάμης (imámis) — Muslim leader
- Hausa: liman — Muslim leader
- Hebrew: אִימָאם (imám) — Muslim leader
- Hindi: इमाम (imām) — Muslim leader
- Hungarian: imám — Muslim leader
- Indonesian: imam — Muslim leader
- Irish: iomám — Muslim leader
- Italian: imam — Muslim leader
- Japanese: イマーム (imāmu) — Muslim leader
- Kazakh: имам (imam) — Muslim leader
- Khmer: អ៊ីម៉ាម (ʼiimaam) — Muslim leader
- Korean: 이맘 (imam) — Muslim leader
- Northern Kurdish: mela — Muslim leader
- Central Kurdish: مەلا (mela) — Muslim leader
- Central Kurdish: پێشنوێژ (pêşinwêj) — Muslim leader
- Kyrgyz: имам (imam) — Muslim leader
- Latvian: imāms — Muslim leader
- Lithuanian: imamas — Muslim leader
- Macedonian: и́мам (ímam) — Muslim leader
- Malay: imam — Muslim leader
- Malayalam: ഇമാം (imāṁ) — Muslim leader
- Maranao: imam — Muslim leader
- Minangkabau: imam — Muslim leader
- Norwegian Bokmål: imam — Muslim leader
- Pashto: امام (emām) — Muslim leader
- Dari: اِمَام (imām) — Muslim leader
- Dari: آخُونْد (āxūnd) — Muslim leader
- Iranian Persian: اِمام (emâm) — Muslim leader
- Iranian Persian: آخونْد (âxund) — Muslim leader
- Polish: imam — Muslim leader
- Portuguese: imã — Muslim leader
- Portuguese: imame — Muslim leader
- Rohingya: imam — Muslim leader
- Romanian: imam — Muslim leader
- Russian: има́м (imám) — Muslim leader
- Salar: aqunbo — Muslim leader
- Salar: aqun — Muslim leader
- Samogitian: imams — Muslim leader
- Serbo-Croatian: ѝма̄м — Muslim leader
- Serbo-Croatian: ìmām — Muslim leader
- Spanish: imán — Muslim leader
- Swahili: imamu — Muslim leader
- Swedish: imam — Muslim leader
- Sylheti: ꠁꠝꠣꠝ (imam) — Muslim leader
- Tajik: имом (imom) — Muslim leader
- Tajik: охунд (oxund) — Muslim leader
- Tamil: இமாம் (imām) — Muslim leader
- Tatar: имам (imam) — Muslim leader
- Telugu: ఇమామ్ (imām) — Muslim leader
- Thai: อิหม่าม (ì-màam) — Muslim leader
- Tigrinya: ኢማም (ʾimam) — Muslim leader
- Turkish: imam — Muslim leader
- Ottoman Turkish: امام (imam) — Muslim leader
- Turkmen: imam — Muslim leader
- Ukrainian: іма́м (imám) — Muslim leader
- Urdu: اِمام (imām) — Muslim leader
- Urdu: آخُونْد (āxūnd) — Muslim leader
- Uyghur: ئىمام (imam) — Muslim leader
- Uyghur: ئاخۇن (axun) — Muslim leader
- Uzbek: imom — Muslim leader
- Uzbek: oxund — Muslim leader
- Welsh: imâm — Muslim leader
- Yiddish: אימאַם (imam) — Muslim leader
- Yoruba: lèmọ́mù — Muslim leader
- Yoruba: ìmáàmù — Muslim leader
- Yoruba: afaa — Muslim leader
- Yoruba: alufaa — Muslim leader