الجزائر

Arabic

Etymology

The broken plural of جَزِيرَة (jazīra, island) has come to be the proper name for Algeria, its capital, and the islands in its bay, as there were once several small islands in the Bay of Algiers. Most of these islands are now connected to the shore or have been removed. الْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir) is itself a truncated form of the city's older name of جَزَائِر بَنِي مَزْغَنَّى (jazāʔir banī mazḡannā, the islands of (the tribe) Ait Mazghanna), which was used by early medieval geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /al.d͡ʒa.zaː.ʔir/
    • (Algerian) IPA(key): /(ɪ)d.dzaː.jir/
    • (Morocco) IPA(key): /(ɪ)l.ʒa.zaː.ʔir/, /(ɪ)l.ʒa.zaː.jir/
  • Audio:(file)

Proper noun

الْجَزَائِر • (al-jazāʔirf pl

  1. Algeria (a country in North Africa)
  2. Algiers (the capital and largest city of Algeria)

Declension

Declension of noun الْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir)
singular basic singular diptote
indefinite definite construct
informal الْجَزَائِر
al-jazāʔir
nominative الْجَزَائِرُ
al-jazāʔiru
accusative الْجَزَائِرَ
al-jazāʔira
genitive الْجَزَائِرِ
al-jazāʔiri

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܓܲܙܵܐܝܼܪ (gazzāˀīr)
  • Azerbaijani: Əlcəzair
  • English: Algeria, Algiers
  • Malay: Aljazair
  • Spanish: Argelia
  • Turkish: Cezayir
  • Urdu: الجزائر (aljaza'ir)

References

  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “جزر”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

اَلْجَزَائِر • (aljaza'irm (Hindi spelling अल-जज़ाइर)

  1. Algeria (a country in North Africa)
    • 2004, ایوب صابر [Ayyūb Ṣābir], معترضین اقبال : معترضین و مخالفین کے مختلف گروہ [Muʻtariz̤īn-i Iqbāl : muʻtariz̤īn o muxālifīn ke muxtalif giroh], New Delhi: انترنیشنل اردو پبلیکیشنز [International Urdu Publications], →OCLC, page 84:
      چناچہ الجزائر میں اسلامک سالویشن فرنٹ کو اقتدار میں نہ آ نے دیا گیا اور ترکی میں رفاہ پارٹی کی بساط لپیٹ دی گئی۔
      cunācih aljazā'ir meṉ islāmik sālveśan franṭ ko iqtidār meṉ na ā ne diya giya aur turkī meṉ rifāh pārṭī kī bisāt̤ lapeṭ dī ga'ī.
      Therefore, the Islamic Salvation Front was not allowed to come to power in Algeria and the Welfare Party in Turkey was overthrown.
  • الجزائری (aljaza'irī)

Further reading

  • الجزائر”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.