ل

See also: J, ك, , and

ل U+0644, ل
ARABIC LETTER LAM
ك
[U+0643]
Arabic م
[U+0645]
U+FEDD, ﻝ
ARABIC LETTER LAM ISOLATED FORM

[U+FEDC]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FEDE]
U+FEDE, ﻞ
ARABIC LETTER LAM FINAL FORM

[U+FEDD]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FEDF]
U+FEDF, ﻟ
ARABIC LETTER LAM INITIAL FORM

[U+FEDE]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FEE0]
U+FEE0, ﻠ
ARABIC LETTER LAM MEDIAL FORM

[U+FEDF]
Arabic Presentation Forms-B
[U+FEE1]

Acehnese

Pronunciation

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [lam]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [l]

Letter

ل (lam)

  1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Acehnese alphabet, written in the Arabic script.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

Arabic

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /laːm/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/, /ɫ/

Etymology 1

From the Nabataean Aramaic letter 𐢑 (l, lamadh), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤋 (l, lāmed), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌅. See also Classical Syriac ܠ (l, lāmadh), Hebrew ל (l, lamed), Ancient Greek Λ (L), Latin L.

Letter

ل / ل‍ / ‍ل‍ / ‍ل • (lām)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Arabic alphabet. It is preceded by ك (k) and followed by م (m).
See also

Symbol

ل / ل‍ / ‍ل‍ / ‍ل • (lām)

  1. The twelfth letter in traditional abjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is preceded by ك (k) and followed by م (m).

Etymology 2

From Proto-Semitic *lV-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /li./

Preposition

لِـ • (li-)

  1. to, for, belonging to
    Synonyms: إِلَى (ʔilā), عَلَى (ʕalā), حَتَّى (ḥattā), لَدَى (ladā), نَحْوَ (naḥwa)
    تَيَسَّرَ لِلسَّفَرِ
    tayassara li-s-safari
    Travel became easy.
    (literally, “It became easy for the travel.”)
Usage notes

When لِـ (li-) is followed by the definite article اَلْ (al-, the), the alif of the article is dropped from the spelling, resulting in the spelling لِلْ. However, if this would result in three lams in a row, because the first letter following the definite article is also lam, then the lam with sukun is also dropped, resulting in a spelling starting with لِلّـ, with only two lams; for example, لِلَّيْلَة (lil-layla, for tonight), لِلّٰهِ (li-llāhi, to God). The pronunciation is entirely regular in all of these cases.

Inflection
Inflected forms
base form لِـ (li-)
Personal-pronoun including forms
singular dual plural
m f m f
1st person لِي / لِيَ (lī / liya) لَنَا (lanā)
2nd person لَكَ (laka) لَكِ (laki) لَكُمَا (lakumā) لَكُمْ (lakum) لَكُنَّ (lakunna)
3rd person لَهُ (lahu) لَهَا (lahā) لَهُمَا (lahumā) لَهُمْ (lahum) لَهُنَّ (lahunna)
Derived terms
Descendants

(via third-person singular masculine form لَهُ (lahu)):

  • Azerbaijani: ləh
  • Persian: له (lah)

Preposition

لَـ • (la-)

  1. Used to express admiration
    يَا لَلْعَجَبِ!la-l-ʕajabi!How wonderful!
    يَا لَهُ مِنْ عَالَمٍ رَائِعٍ!
    lahu min ʕālamin rāʔiʕin!
    What a wonderful world!
  2. Used to call for help
    يَا لَلْأُمِّ لِلْأَطْفَالِ!
    lalʔummi lilʔaṭfāli!
    Oh for mother to the children! (Oh mother, help your children!)
Usage notes

It is often used in the form يَا لَهُ [مِنْ] ..., that is, يَا لَـ followed by an enclitic pronoun that does not refer to any previous noun. Rather the pronoun refers to what follows it, with an optional مِنْ in the middle.[1]

Inflection
Inflected forms
base form لَـ (la-)
Personal-pronoun including forms
singular dual plural
m f m f
1st person لِي / لِيَ (lī / liya) لَنَا (lanā)
2nd person لَكَ (laka) لَكِ (laki) لَكُمَا (lakumā) لَكُمْ (lakum) لَكُنَّ (lakunna)
3rd person لَهُ (lahu) لَهَا (lahā) لَهُمَا (lahumā) لَهُمْ (lahum) لَهُنَّ (lahunna)

Conjunction

لِـ • (li-)

  1. to, in order to: followed by the subjunctive mood
    دَخَلْتُ ٱلْمَطْبَخَ لِأَشْرَبَ مَاءً.
    daḵaltu l-maṭbaḵa li-ʔašraba māʔan.
    I entered the kitchen to drink water.
  2. used with the verbs أَرَادَ (ʔarāda) and أَمَرَ (ʔamara)
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 33:33:
      إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللّٰهُ لِيُذُهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ
      ʔinnamā yurīdu llāhu liyuḏuhiba ʕankumu r-rijsa
      Allah only intends to purify you of impurity.
  3. only to (لَامُ الْعَاقِبَة (lāmu l-ʕāqiba))
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 28:8:
      فَالْتَقَطَهُ آلُ فِرْعَوْنَ لِيَكُونَ لَهُمْ عَدُوًّا وَحَزَنًا
      fāltaqaṭahu ʾālu firʿawna li-yakūna lahum ʿaduwwan wa-ḥazanan
      And so the family of the Pharaoh picked him up, only to become an enemy and a grief.
Synonyms

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Particle

لِـ • (li-)

  1. Used to introduce an imperative with a jussive verb; let
    • 9th century, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj, quoting Muhammad, “كتاب الحج”, in Sahih Muslim:
      لِتَأْخُذُوا مَنَاسِكَكُمْ فَإِنِّي لَا أَدْرِي لَعَلِّي لَا أَحُجُّ بَعْدَ حَجَّتِي هَذِهِ
      litaʔḵuḏū manāsikakum faʔinnī lā ʔadrī laʕallī lā ʔaḥujju baʕda ḥajjatī haḏihi
      Learn your rituals from me, for I do not know—perhaps this will be my last Hajj.
      (literally, “So that you may take your rituals, for I do not know—perhaps I will not perform Hajj after this Hajj of mine.”)
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 18:29:
      وَقُلِ ٱلْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ
      waquli l-ḥaqqu min rabbikum faman šāʔa falyuʔmin waman šāʔa falyakfur
      And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve."

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /la./

Particle

لَـ • (la-)

  1. (intensifying particle) truly, verily, certainly, surely
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 29:41:
      وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ ٱلْبُيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ ٱلْعَنْكَبُوتِ
      wa-ʔinna ʔawhana l-buyūti la-baytu l-ʕankabūti
      And indeed, the weakest of homes is the home of the spider.
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 89:14:
      إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ
      ʔinna rabbaka la-bi-l-mirṣādi
      Verily, thy Lord is on the lookout.
Usage notes

Frequently used after إِنَّ (ʔinna).

Derived terms

Etymology 5

Verb

لِ • (li) (form I) /li/

  1. second-person masculine singular imperative of وَلِيَ (waliya)

References

  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “ل”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
  1. ^ de Sacy, Silvestre (1831) Grammaire arabe[1] (in French), volume 1, pages 475-476

Balti

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /l/, [l~lʱ~ɭ~ɫ̥]

Letter

ل (transliteration needed)

  1. The thirty-seventh letter of the Balti alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

Burushaski

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /l/, [l]

Letter

ل (l)

  1. The thirty-eighth letter of the Burushaski alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

Egyptian Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic لِـ (li-, to; for), usupring the usages of إِلَى (ʔilā).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /li/
  • IPA(key): /l/ (after vowels)

Preposition

لـ • (li- or l-)

  1. to, towards
    Synonym: نحية (niḥyit)
  2. for
    عملت لأخويا كيكةʕamalt l-aḵūya kēkaI made a cake for my brother
  3. Marks the beneficiary of ditransitive verbs: to
    قلت لأخوياult l-aḵūyaI told my brother

Usage notes

After الـ (il-, the), produces للـ (li-l-), which also assimilates with following consonants (see الـ).

When attached before pronouns in a verbal sentence, produces ـلـ (-l-), attaching after the verb (or after the attached patient pronoun) and acting as part of it, lengthening the vowel it directly follows. Resulting /ll/ clusters often go unwritten (see Arabic diacritics § Shaddah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia ).

  • جالي وقالّيgā-li wi-ʔal-liHe came to me and said to me
  • عملتلك كيكةʕamalti-lak kēkaI made a cake for you
  • ادّتهالكiddithā-lakI gave it to you

Kashmiri

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /laːm/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل • (l)

  1. The thirty-sixth letter of the traditional alphabet chart of Kashmiri.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: گ (g)
  • Next letter: م (m)

Kazakh

Alternative scripts
Arabic ل
Cyrillic Л, л
Latin L, l

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /læm/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل • (l)

  1. The nineteenth letter of the Kazakh in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter Л.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: ڭ
  • Next letter: م

Khowar

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /lam/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل (lām)

  1. The thirty-ninth and first lam letter of the Khowar abjad.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: گ
  • Next letter: ڵ

Malay

Pronunciation

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [lam]
  • (Phoneme) IPA(key): [l]

Letter

ل / ل‍ / ‍ل‍ / ‍ل

  1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Arabic script.

See also

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

From Arabic لِـ (li-, to, for, toward), with the base form possibly suppleted by Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, to, for, toward). The suffixed forms continue Arabic لِـ (li-), however, not إِلَى (ʔilā).

This is surprising, as the إلـ (ʔil-) of suffixed forms like إلَك (ʔilak, to you) superficially resembles Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā) as well. However, the preposition's ending in North Levantine Arabic does not match the -ay- of forms like Arabic إِلَيْكَ (ʔilayka, to you). In fact, the actual descendants of the suffixed forms of إِلَى (ʔilā) lost their initial syllable إِ (ʔi-) entirely due to the general instability of ء (ʔ) in Arabic's history, and their North Levantine Arabic reflex is لَيْـ (lay-), as in ليك (layk, to you). See Etymology 2 below for the survival of this variant in North Levantine Arabic.

North Levantine Arabic إلـ (ʔil-) instead comes from Arabic لِـ (li-) via epenthesis, which may have been motivated by a phonetic constraint in early North Levantine Arabic against short monosyllables like *لَك (lak, to you). This is the same constraint that may have motivated the development of the initial syllable in إِجَا (ʔija, to come) and South Levantine Arabic إِشِي (ʔiši, something), which see.

Nevertheless, even if the suffixed form إلـ (ʔil-) reflects Arabic لِـ (li-, to, for, towards), the differing vowel of the base form لَـ (la-) indicates that it alone may still be from Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, to, for, toward).

Preposition

ل • (la)

  1. to, towards
  2. for
  3. by; made by; pertaining to
Usage notes
  • Personal suffixes are attached to the stem ʔil-: إلي (ʔili, to me), إلك (ʔilak, to you), etc. Often, however, reduplicated forms from the stem laʾil- are used, thus لإلي (laʔili), لإلك (laʔilak).
Synonyms

Conjunction

ل • (la)

  1. in order that
Usage notes
  • Also equivalent to the often-invisible English for as in for to.
Synonyms

Suffix

ـلـ • (-l-, -ill-)

  1. to, for; dative suffix
    صِرت قَايلِتلَك مِليوْن مَرَّة مَا تدَعْوِسْلِي عَالأرض وْصِبَّاطَك كِلًّو وَحْل!
    ṣirt ʾāylitlak milyōn marra ma tdaʿwisli ʿal-ʾarḍ w-ṣibbatak killo waḥl!
    I've told you a million times, don't step all over the floor when your shoes are all dirty!
    (literally, “I've said to you a million times, don't step [for] me all over the floor and your shoes are all mud[dy]!”)
Usage notes

Etymology 2

From Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, to, for, toward).

Preposition

ل • (la)

  1. to, toward; alternative form of لـَ
Usage notes
  • Its suffix-base form is lay-, similarly to عَلَى (ʕala). This distinguishes it from the variant above when constructed with a personal suffix.
  • Some dialects prefer this form to the above one in all situations. In dialects that don't, speakers may still use it in the phrases مِنُّو لَيه (minno lē, in its entirety; altogether, literally from it to it), قِدِر لَ (ʔidir la, to be able to handle, literally to be able toward), فِيه لَ (fī la, can handle, literally can toward), and إِجَا لَ (ʔija la, to come for). Other verbs of motion may also be substituted for إِجَا (ʔija) in the last sense, in which case the ل (la) retains the narrowed sense of “intent to apprehend or cause harm” suggested by come for.

Pashto

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /lɑm/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل • (lâm)

  1. The thirty-fourth letter of the Pashto alphabet.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: ګ
  • Next letter: م

Persian

Pronunciation

  • Audio (Iran):(file)

Letter

ل / لـ / ـلـ / ـل • (lâm)

  1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. It is preceded by گ and followed by م. Its name is لام.

Punjabi

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /läːm/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/, [l̪]

Letter

ل • (lām)

  1. The thirtieth letter of Punjabi in the Shahmukhi script.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: ک (kāf)
  • Next letter: (aḷām)

Sindhi

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /lam/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل • (lām)

  1. The forty-sixth letter of the Sindhi abjad.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic لِ (li).

Preposition

لـ • (la-)

  1. to (someone); belonging to; for
  2. to (a place)
    Synonym: على (ʕala)
  3. until, up to
    Synonyms: حتّى (ḥatta), لحدّ (la-ḥadd)

Conjunction

لـ • (la-)

  1. so that (before a subjunctive verb)
    Synonyms: حتّى (ḥatta-), عشان (ʕašan), منشان (minšān)

Suffix

ـلـ • (-l-, il, -ill-)

  1. to; for (indirect object suffix with an attached enclitic pronoun)
    Synonym: (detached version for emphasis) إلـ (ʔil-)

Usage notes

  • This suffix is attached to a verb expressing the indirect object.
  • If the verb ends in a consonant cluster, the "-l-" is geminated and the stress shifts before an enclitic pronoun starting with a vowel.

Inflection

Inflection of ل
base form ـلـ (-l-)
Personal-pronoun including forms
singular plural
m f
1st person ـلي (-li, -illi) ـلنا (-lna, -ilna)
2nd person ـلك (-lak, -illak) ـلك (-lek, -illek) ـلكم (-lkom, -ilkom)
3rd person ـله (-lo, -illo) ـلها (-lha, -ilha) ـلهم (-lhom, -ilhom)
Examples
Vowel One consonant Two consonants
Example حكى (ḥáka, he talked) كتب (kátab, he wrote) كتبت (katábt, I/you wrote)
1st singular حكالي (ḥakā-li) كتبلي (katáb-li) كتبتلي (katabt-ílli)
plural حكالنا (ḥakā-lna) كتبلنا (katab-ílna) كتبتلنا (katabt-ílna)
2nd masculine حكالك (ḥakā-lak) كتبلك (katáb-lak) كتبتلك (katabt-íllak)
feminine حكالك (ḥakā-lek) كتبلك (katáb-lek) كتبتلك (katabt-íllek)
plural حكالكم (ḥakā-lkom) كتبلكم (katab-ílkom) كتبتلكم (katabt-ílkom)
3rd masculine حكاله (ḥakā-lo) كتبله (katáb-lo) كتبتله (katabt-íllo)
feminine حكالها (ḥakā-lha) كتبلها (katab-ílha) كتبتلها (katabt-ílha)
plural حكالهم (ḥakā-lhom) كتبلهم (katab-ílhom) كتبتلهم (katabt-ílhom)

Urdu

Pronunciation

Letter

ل • (lām)

  1. The thirtieth letter of the Urdu abjad.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: گ (g)
  • Next letter: م (m)

Uyghur

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /le/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل • (le)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Uyghur alphabet.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: ڭ (ng)
  • Next letter: م (m)

Yoruba

Pronunciation

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /lí/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/

Letter

ل (l)

  1. The thirteenth letter of the Yoruba alphabet in the ajami script, equivalent to Latin script l.

Forms

Isolated form Final form Medial form Initial form
ل ـل ـلـ لـ

See also

  • Previous letter: ك
  • Next letter: م