Ali

See also: -ali, Alì, ali, ali-, alî, and áli

English

Etymology 1

From Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy, literally “high, exalted”), from the Arabic root ع ل ي‎ (ʕ-l-y).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑːli/
• Rhymes: -ɑːli

Proper noun

Ali (plural Alis)

1. A male given name from Arabic.
2. The Muslim caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, considered by Shias to be Muhammad's successor.
3. A surname from Arabic.

Translations

male given name from Arabic

• Amharic: ዓሊ (ʿali)
• Arabic: عَلِيّ‎ (ar) m (ʕaliyy)
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: 𐡏𐡋𐡉‎ (ʿly)

  Syriac: ܥܠܝ‎

• Azerbaijani: Əli (az)
• Bashkir: Ғәли (Ğäli)
• Bengali: আলী (bn) (alī)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阿里 (zh) (Ālǐ)

• Dutch: Ali (nl)
• Esperanto: Eljo
• Finnish: Ali (fi)
• French: Ali (fr) m
• German: Ali (de) m
• Hausa: Ali m
• Hebrew: עֵלִי‎ (he) m (Elí)
• Hindi: अली (hi) m (alī)
• Italian: Alì m
• Japanese: アリ (ja) (Ari)
• Kazakh: Әли (Äli)
• Korean: 알리 (Alli)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Elî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Аалы (Aalı), Али (Ali)
• Malay: Ali
• Marathi: अली m (alī)
• Old South Arabian: 𐩲𐩡𐩺‎ (ʿly)
• Pashto: علي‎
• Persian: علی‎ (fa) ('ali)
• Portuguese: Ali m
• Russian: Али́ (ru) m (Alí)
• Somali: Cali
• Spanish: Alí m
• Swahili: Ali
• Telugu: అలీ (alī)
• Turkish: Ali (tr)
• Ukrainian: Алі́ f (Alí)
• Urdu: علی‎ (ur) m
• Uyghur: ئەلى‎ (eli)

Etymology 2

Shortening.

Alternative forms

• Aly, Alee, Allie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæli/
• Rhymes: -æli

Proper noun

Ali (plural Alis)

1. A diminutive of the female given name Alison or of its variants.
2. A diminutive of the male given name Alistair or of its variants.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Ali is the 559th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 60,002 individuals. Ali is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (42.91%), Black (30.71%) and White (17.33%) individuals.

Anagrams

• -ial, IAL, LIA, Lai, ail, lai

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːli/, (less common) /aːˈli/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ali
• Rhymes: -aːli

Etymology 1

From Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Proper noun

Ali m

1. a male given name from Arabic, equivalent to English Ali

Derived terms

• Ali Chemicali
• Ali en Fatima

Etymology 2

From Adelheid.

Proper noun

Ali f

1. a female given name, most common in the mid-twentieth century
   • 1956, Annie M.G. Schmidt (lyrics), Cor Lemaire (music), “Ali Cyaankali”, in De Familie Doorsnee‎^[1], performed by Lia Dorana:

     Ik ben Ali Cyaankali / De gevaarlijke vrouw van Rotterdam / En kijk ik es fijn gaan / Op de Lijnbaan / Ik zet iedereen in vuur en vlam

     I am Cyanide Ali / The dangerous woman of Rotterdam / And look at me swaggering / About the Lijnbaan / I set everyone's heart on fire

Anagrams

• Lia

Finnish

Etymology

From Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy) as a Muslim name. Also a rare diminutive form of Finnish Aleksanteri.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑli/, [ˈɑli]
• Rhymes: -ɑli
• Syllabification^(key): A‧li

Proper noun

Ali

1. a male given name

Declension

Inflection of Ali (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		Ali	Alit
genitive		Alin	Alien
partitive		Alia	Aleja
illative		Aliin	Aleihin
		singular	plural
nominative		Ali	Alit
accusative	nom.	Ali	Alit
	gen.	Alin
genitive		Alin	Alien
partitive		Alia	Aleja
inessive		Alissa	Aleissa
elative		Alista	Aleista
illative		Aliin	Aleihin
adessive		Alilla	Aleilla
ablative		Alilta	Aleilta
allative		Alille	Aleille
essive		Alina	Aleina
translative		Aliksi	Aleiksi
instructive		—	Alein
abessive		Alitta	Aleitta
comitative		—	Aleineen

Possessive forms of Ali (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	Alini	Alimme
2nd person	Alisi	Alinne
3rd person	Alinsa

German

Etymology

Eventually from Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːli/

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Ali m (proper noun, strong, genitive Alis)

1. Ali (name)

Noun

Ali m (strong, genitive Alis, plural Alis)

1. (informal, usually derogatory) a Muslim, especially Turkish, immigrant (or descendant of immigrants)

Usage notes

• The use of Ali as a placeholder name for an average Muslim immigrant is not necessarily pejorative, but the use as a common noun (as in irgendein Ali, die Alis) usually is.

See also

• Aische (female equivalent)

Hausa

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔà.lí/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [ʔà.lɪ́]

Proper noun

Àli m

1. Ali (son-in-law of Muhammad)
2. a male given name, equivalent to English Ali

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Proper noun

Alī m sg (variously declined, genitive Alis or Alī); indeclinable, third declension

1. (post-Classical) Ali (son-in-law of Muhammad)
2. (post-Classical) a male given name, equivalent to English Ali

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, accusative singular in -im, ablative singular in -ī) or indeclinable noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Alī
Genitive	Alis Alī
Dative	Alī
Accusative	Alim Alī
Ablative	Alī
Vocative	Alī

For genitive and accusative see e.g. D. Anton Friedrich Büsching, Magazin für die neue Historie und Geographie, vol. 17 (at Google Books, pages 14, 57 and 62)

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese Ali, from Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aˈli/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐˈli/

Proper noun

Ali m

1. a male given name from Arabic, equivalent to English Ali

Swahili

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Proper noun

Ali

1. a male given name

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish علی‎ (Ali), from Arabic عَلِيّ‎ (ʕaliyy).

Proper noun

Ali

1. a male given name from Arabic