Standard Lemma guide

madrasa

noun · 2 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.

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

1

noun

Meaning 1

A school for any kind of teaching, at any grade level; usually specifically a school that teaches Islamic theology.

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

2

noun

Meaning 2

Muslim schools in Bangladesh and Pakistan

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the Pakistan government decided to close down madrasas that provided military training for their students
  • many madrasas in Bangladesh are supported with money from Saudi Arabia

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: madrasah

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: religious school

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَدْرَسَة f (madrasa, “school”), a noun of place from the verb دَرَسَ (darasa, “to learn, to study”).

Across languages

Translations

66 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: medrese — school for Islamic theology
  • Amharic: ማድራሳ (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Arabic: مَدْرَسَة إِسْلَامِيَّة (madrasa ʔislāmiyya) — school for Islamic theology
  • Arabic: مَدْرَسَة (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Armenian: մեդրեսե (medrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • Azerbaijani: mədrəsə — school for Islamic theology
  • Bashkir: мәҙрәсә (məźrəsə) — school for Islamic theology
  • Belarusian: медрэсэ́ (mjedresé) — school for Islamic theology
  • Bengali: মাদ্রাসা (madraśa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Bulgarian: медресе́ (medresé) — school for Islamic theology
  • Catalan: madrassa — school for Islamic theology
  • Chechen: хьуьжар (ḥrüžar) — school for Islamic theology
  • Chinese Mandarin: 伊斯蘭學校 /伊斯兰学校 (Yīsīlán xuéxiào) — school for Islamic theology
  • Crimean Tatar: medrese — school for Islamic theology
  • Finnish: madrassa — school for Islamic theology
  • French: médersa — school for Islamic theology
  • Georgian: მედრესე (medrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • German: Medresse — school for Islamic theology
  • German: Madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Greek: μεντρεσές (mentresés) — school for Islamic theology
  • Hebrew: מַדְרַסַה (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Hindi: मद्रसा (madrasā) — school for Islamic theology
  • Hindi: मदरसा (madarsā) — school for Islamic theology
  • Hungarian: medresze — school for Islamic theology
  • Indonesian: madrasah — school for Islamic theology
  • Italian: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Japanese: マドラサ (madorasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Kazakh: медресе (medrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • Korean: 마드라사 (madeurasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Kumyk: мадраса (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Central Kurdish: مەدرەسە (medrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • Northern Kurdish: medrese — school for Islamic theology
  • Kyrgyz: медресе (medrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • Macedonian: ме́дреса (médresa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Malay: madrasah — school for Islamic theology
  • Norwegian Bokmål: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Pashto: مدرسه (madrasá) — school for Islamic theology
  • Persian: مَدْرَسَه (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Dari: مَدْرَسَه (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Iranian Persian: مَدْرِسِه (madrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • Polish: medresa — school for Islamic theology
  • Polish: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Portuguese: madraça — school for Islamic theology
  • Portuguese: madraçal — school for Islamic theology
  • Punjabi: ਮਦਰੱਸਾ (madrassā) — school for Islamic theology
  • Punjabi: مَدْرَسَہ (madrasah) — school for Islamic theology
  • Romanian: medresă — school for Islamic theology
  • Russian: медресе́ (medrɛsé, medrɛsɛ́) — school for Islamic theology
  • Serbo-Croatian: медрѐса — school for Islamic theology
  • Serbo-Croatian: medrèsa — school for Islamic theology
  • Spanish: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Spanish: madraza — school for Islamic theology
  • Swahili: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Tajik: мадраса (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Tatar: мәдрәсә (mädräsä) — school for Islamic theology
  • Thai: มาดราซาห์ (maa-draa-saa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Tigrinya: ማድራሳ (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Turkish: medrese — school for Islamic theology
  • Ottoman Turkish: مدرسه (medrese) — school for Islamic theology
  • Turkmen: medrese — school for Islamic theology
  • Ukrainian: медресе́ (medresé) — school for Islamic theology
  • Urdu: مَدْرَسَہ (madrasa) — school for Islamic theology
  • Uyghur: مەدرىسە (medrise) — school for Islamic theology
  • Uzbek: madrasa — school for Islamic theology
  • Yoruba: ilé kéwú — school for Islamic theology
Real reading context

madrasa in complete knowledge articles