Abdullah

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine first name of Arabic origin meaning servant of God, widely used across the Muslim world
2. A male personal name of Arabic origin, derived from words meaning slave or servant of the Creator
3. A traditional Arabic masculine given name borne by many people, often combined with a divine attribute

Etymology: "Abdullah" is a name rather than a common noun, and its meaning is written into its parts. It comes from Arabic "ʕabdu llāh", built from "ʕabd", meaning "servant", and "allāh", meaning "God", so the whole thing reads literally as "servant of God". The construction is a classic Arabic naming pattern, in which "ʕabd" joins with one of the divine names to form a personal name, a practice that marks the bearer as devoted to God. The name entered English as a borrowing from Arabic, so its spelling and sound stay close to the original form. Its first element, "ʕabd", is the same word that appears in many other Arabic names, which is why the pattern is so easy to recognise once you know it. Each element keeps its own meaning, so the name is transparent in a way that many English names are not.