Classical Dictionary

Classical Arabic (CA), also known as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or al-Fusha, dates back to the founding of Islam in the 7th century and subsequent centurings, during which a concerted effort was made to document and codify what was seen as the language of the Qur’an. Today, there are no native speakers of al-Fusha, and it remains the language of formal situations – including sermons, formal speeches, literature, and news. This split between al-Fusha and the dialects creates what is commonly called diglossia.

The CA dictionary was one of the first posted on the website, starting with 10,000 words with examples I had collected during my time as a graduate student. Since then, the dictionary has grown to over 30,000 unique words.