kafir

• kâfir, kāfir

Borrowed from Arabic كَافِر (kāfir, “denier, unbeliever”). Doublet of kaffir.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkæfə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæfɚ/
• Rhymes: -æfə(ɹ)

kafir (countable and uncountable, plural kuffar or kafirs)

1. (Islam, countable, offensive, religious slur, politics) A disbeliever, a denier: someone who rejects or disbelieves in Allah or the tenets of Islam; or more broadly any non-Muslim.

   Antonym: Muslim

   • 2024 August 21, “Investigation Into Bangladeshi Preacher Amir Hamza’s Sermon in Singapore on 9 August 2024”, in Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore)‎^[4]:

     In his sermon, Amir Hamza espoused extremist and segregationist views. He inferred that non-Muslims are “kafir” (infidels).

3. (uncountable) Ellipsis of kafir corn.
   • 1914, Omar Orlando Churchill, Forage and Silage Crops for Oklahoma, page 10:

     Kafir makes better forage than the duras.

   • 1918, Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, page 568:

     Kafir is confined practically to the Southwestern States where, owing to its drought resistant character, it has become an important crop.

• Some people use the term to refer to any non-Muslim,^[1] but others consider this an error.^[2][3] The term is sometimes derogatory.^[4][5][6]

• kufr
• Kufra

• kufr
• takfir
• kaffir
• kefir

• fakir, farik

kafir m or f by sense (plural kafirs)

1. alternative form of kâfir

• “kafir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Malay kafir, from Classical Malay kafir (“infidel”), from Arabic كَافِر (kāfir, “denier, unbeliever”).

• The sense “non-Jew” is a semantic loan from Hebrew גּוֹי (goi, “nation”) and semantic loan from Ancient Greek ἐθνικός (ethnikós).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈkafir/ [ˈka.fɪr]
• Rhymes: -afir
• Syllabification: ka‧fir

kafir (plural kafir-kafir)

1. (in general senses) unbeliever, non-believer, infidel
2. (Islam) a kafir, a disbeliever, a denier, someone who denies the truths from Allah; or more broadly any non-Muslim
3. (Christianity) non-Christian
4. (Christianity, Jewish) gentile, non-Jew

This term is sometimes derogatory.

• “kafir” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from Arabic كَافِر (kāfir, “denier, unbeliever”).

• (Johor-Riau) IPA^(key): /ˈkafe(r)/ [ˈka.fe(r)]
  • Rhymes: -afe(r), -fe(r), -e(r)

• (Baku) IPA^(key): /ˈkafir/ [ˈka.fir]
  • Rhymes: -afir, -fir, -ir
• Hyphenation: ka‧fir

kafir (Jawi spelling کافير, plural kafir-kafir)

1. (Islam, offensive, religious slur) A kafir, a disbeliever, a denier: someone who denies the truths from Allah; or more broadly any non-Muslim.

• This term is considered offensive by non-Muslims.
• To avoid offence, terms such as orang bukan Islam and orang bukan Muslim, respectively meaning a person who is "non-Islam" and a person who is "non-Muslim", are often used instead.

• > Indonesian: kafir (inherited)

• “kafir” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.fir/
• Rhymes: -afir
• Syllabification: ka‧fir

kafir m pers

1. (Islam) kafir

• kafir in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Arabic كَافِر (kāfir).

kafir c

1. (Islam) kafir
   • 1910, Sven Hedin, Öfver land till Indien I‎^[5], Albert Bonnier, accessed at Litteraturbanken.se, courtesy of Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek, archived from the original on 30 March 2025, page 157:

     Men jag är »kafir» i deras ögon och muhamedanerna äta icke från samma fat som en hedning.

     But I'm a "kafir" in their eyes, and Mohammedans don't eat from the same plate as a pagan.

   • 2015 June 8, Maria Rashidi, “'När får vi vårt första svenska förortskalifat?'”, in Göteborgs-Posten‎^[6], archived from the original on 6 April 2024:

     Egentligen talar hon om islamister som – till skillnad från många liberala, demokratiska och sekulära muslimer – anser att västerlänningar/kafirer är fiender till deras Gud.

     In reality, she's talking about islamists who – in contrast to many liberal, democratic, and secular Muslims – think that Westerners/kafirs are enemies of their God.

   • 2017 May 15, Magda Gad, “Kan bli de värsta striderna hittills”, in Expressen‎^[7], archived from the original on 25 April 2024:

     Saudis kungahus [...] välkomna[de] [...] amerikanska soldater, kafirer som inte tror på islam, till saudisk helig mark.

     The Saudi royal family welcomed American soldiers, kafirs who don't believe in Islam, to Saudi holy ground.

• icke-muslim (“non-Muslim”)

• kafir in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Kāfir in Nordisk familjebok (1st ed., 1884)