ل

See also: J, ك, Ꭻ, and Ꮣ

Arabic

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

• (Arabic script letters) ا (ʔalif), ب (bāʔ), ت (tāʔ), ث (ṯāʔ), ج (jīm), ح (ḥāʔ), خ (ḵāʔ), د (dāl), ذ (ḏāl), ر (rāʔ), ز (zāy), س (sīn), ش (šīn), ص (ṣād), ض (ḍād), ط (ṭāʔ), ظ (ẓāʔ), ع (ʕayn), غ (ḡayn), ف (fāʔ), ق (qāf), ك (kāf), ل (lām), م (mīm), ن (nūn), ه (hāʔ), و (wāw), ي (yāʔ)
• Wikipedia article on the Arabic alphabet
• Search en.wiktionary.org for articles beginning with: ل

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

Cognate with Ugaritic 𐎍 (l), Hebrew לְ- (lə-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li./

Preposition

لِـ • (li-)

1. to, for, belonging to.

Inflection

Inflected forms
Base form					لِـ (li-)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	Singular		Dual	Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Common	Masculine	Feminine
First person	لِي / لِيَ (lī / liya)		لَنَا (lanā)
Second person	لَكَ (laka)	لَكِ (laki)	لَكُمَا (lakumā)	لَكُمْ (lakum)	لَكُنَّ (lakunna)
Third person	لَهُ (lahu)	لَهَا (lahā)	لَهُمَا (lahumā)	لَهُمْ (lahum)	لَهُنَّ (lahunna)

Preposition

لَـ • (la-)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

   يَا لَلْعَجَبِ!

   yā lalʕajabi!

   How wonderful!

Inflection

Inflected forms
Base form					لَـ (li-)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	Singular		Dual	Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Common	Masculine	Feminine
First person	لِي / لِيَ (lī / liya)		لَنَا (lanā)
Second person	لَكَ (laka)	لَكِ (laki)	لَكُمَا (lakumā)	لَكُمْ (lakum)	لَكُنَّ (lakunna)
Third person	لَهُ (lahu)	لَهَا (lahā)	لَهُمَا (lahumā)	لَهُمْ (lahum)	لَهُنَّ (lahunna)

Conjunction

لِـ • (li-)

2. to, in order to: followed by the subjunctive mood

   دَخَلْتُ ٱلْمَطْبَخَ لِأَشْرَبَ مَاءً.

   daḵaltu l-maṭbaḵa li-ʾašraba māʾan.

   I entered the kitchen to drink water.

3. used with the verbs أَرَادَ (ʔarāda) and أَمَرَ (ʔamara)
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 33:33:

     إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّٰهُ لِيُذُهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ

     ʔinnamā yurīdu llāhu liyuḏuhiba ʕankumu r-rijsa

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. only to (لَامُ الْعَاقِبَة (lāmu l-ʕāqiba))
   • Quran 28:8

     فَالْتَقَطَهُ آلُ فِرْعَوْنَ لِيَكُونَ لَهُمْ عَدُوًّا وَحَزَنًا

     fāltaqaṭahu ʾālu firʿawna liyakūna lahum ʿaduwwan waḥazanan

     And so the family of the Pharaoh picked him up, only to become an enemy and a grief.

Synonyms

• لِأَنْ (liʔan)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li./

Particle

لِـ • (li-)

1. Used to introduce an imperative with a jussive verb; let
   • 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 ٱلْعَنكَبُوتِ

     wa-ʾinna ʾawhana l-buyūti la-baytu l-ʿankabūti

     And indeed, the weakest of homes is the home of the spider,

Usage notes

Frequently used after إِنَّ (ʔinna).

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li/

Verb

1. second-person masculine singular active 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

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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

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Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lam]
• IPA^(key): [l]

Letter

ل / ل‍ / ‍ل‍ / ‍ل

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

See also

• (Arabic script letters) ا,‎ ب,‎ ت,‎ ة,‎ ث,‎ ج,‎ چ,‎ ح,‎ خ,‎ د,‎ ذ,‎ ر,‎ ز,‎ س,‎ ش,‎ ص,‎ ض,‎ ط,‎ ظ,‎ ع,‎ غ,‎ ڠ,‎ ف,‎ ڤ,‎ ق,‎ ک,‎ ݢ,‎ ل,‎ م,‎ ن,‎ و,‎ ۏ,‎ ه,‎ ء,‎ ي,‎ ى,‎ ڽ ^[edit]

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North Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

From Arabic لِ (li, “to, for, towards”). The initial syllable in suffixed forms is likely a contemporary development rather than influence from Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, “to, for, towards”), whose initial glottal stop would have naturally been lost as seen below; instead, compare the development of the initial syllable in إِجَا (ʾija, “to come”).

Preposition

ل • (la)

1. to, towards
2. for
3. by; made by; pertaining to

Usage notes

• Personal suffixes are attached to the stem ʾil-: إلي (ʾili, “to me”), إلك (ʾilak, “to you”), etc. Often, however, reduplicated forms from the stem laʾil- are used, thus لإلي (laʾili), لإلك (laʾilak).

Synonyms

• (towards): ع (ʿa); صوب (ṣawb)
• (for): كرمال (kirmāl) and synonyms there.

Conjunction

ل • (la)

1. in order that

Usage notes

• Also equivalent to the often-invisible English for as in for to.

Synonyms

• كرمال (kirmāl) and synonyms there.

Suffix

ـلـ • (-l-, -ill-)

1. to, for; dative suffix

   صِرت قَايلِتلَك مِليوْن مَرَّة مَا تدَعْوِسْلِي عَالأرض البَعدنَا منَضّفِينو!

   ṣirt ʾāylitlak milyōn marra ma tdaʿwisli ʿal-ʾarḍ l-baʿdna mnaḍḍfīno!

   I've told you a million times, don't step all over the floor if we've just cleaned it!

   (literally, “I've said to you a million times, don't step [for] me all over the floor that we've just cleaned!”)

Usage notes

• The dative suffix is immediately followed by a second, personal suffix. When transcribing or imitating Levantine speech, the dative suffix is sometimes written separated by speakers of Arabic varieties where an analogous preposition does not act as a suffix, but it very much affects the base word in ways an unbound morpheme would not be able to do. In particular, it observes the following ruleset, where it's demonstrated along with the first-person suffix ـي (-i):
  • As expected of a newly-developed derivational suffix, it avoids creating a heavy syllable CVVC by contracting the long vowel if attaching to a hollow verb. In particular, long ā, even when raised to ē as in Lebanon and urban Syria, always shortens to a rather than to i — and North Levantine varieties have overwhelmingly merged short u and short i here into i.

    جَاب (jāb (jēb), “he brought”) ⇒ جَبلِي (jabli, “he brought me”, literally “he brought to me”), not *جَابلِي (*jābli (*jēbli)).

    شُوف (šūf, “look at, check out”, masculine imperative) ⇒ شِفلِي (šifli, “look at [...] for me, check out for me”)

  • Some speakers extend this process of contraction to the plural ending -īn of active participles.

    قَايلِين (ʾāylīn, “have said”, pl) ⇒ قَايلِينلي (ʾāylīnli) or قَايلِنلي (ʾāylinli, “have told me”, plural, literally “have said to me”).

  • In order to avoid creating heavy syllables in all other contexts, it attaches as either -ill- or -all-. The -all- ending is used to attach to third-person masculine singular Form I biliteral verbs in the past tense, and the -ill- ending everywhere else.

    حَطّ (ḥaṭṭ, “he set down”, transitive) ⇒ حَطَّلِّي (ḥaṭṭalli, “he set down for me”, transitive)

    مشِيت (mšīt, “you walked”, masculine) ⇒ مشِيتِلَّك (mšītilli, “you walked to me; you walked for me”)

    كَتَبت (katabt, “you wrote”, masculine) ⇒ كَتَبتِلِّي (katabtilli, “you wrote to me; you wrote for me”)

  • In other cases, i.e. in environments where naively sticking -l- onto the end of the base would not create a final heavy syllable, it attaches as just that.

    كَتَبِت (katabit, “she wrote”) ⇒ كَتَبَِتلِي (katabatli, katabitli, “she wrote to me; she wrote for me”)

• Unlike in Egyptian Arabic, the Levantine form of this suffix can only attach to the base word, not to any preceding suffixes. This causes it to shift object-pronoun suffixes onto the carrier يَاـ (yā-, yyā-). (And for speakers who don't use this carrier, the separated object-pronoun suffixes instead manifest as subject pronouns.)
• Being dative in meaning, the suffix generally cannot express the possessive meaning of the unbound preposition above. However, the unbound form can occasionally be merged into a word it frequently collocates with, taking the same shape as the dative suffix. See صَار (ṣār).
• The suffix is most-commonly seen attaching to verbs and their active participles, followed in commonness by elatives, then passive participles of verbs, and finally other parts of speech.
  • Its occurrence with other parts of speech, such as in the word بَعدِلّـ (baʿdill-, “(of time) remaining for”), can only result from the grammaticalization of an originally-unbound لَ (la). That particular term is composed of بَعْد (baʿd, “still; remaining”, adverb, literally “[there is] still [time]”) + لـ (l-, “for; belonging to”).
  • Suffixation to passive participles is also rare and often formed anew, which may nullify the historical merger of contracted ū into contracted ī. Two somewhat-common examples are مَسمُحلـ (masmuḥl-, “permitted for”) and مقَدَّرلـ (mʾaddarl-, “fated for, preordained for”).
  • It only attaches to elatives, in the context of a choice, that express a defining positive characteristic of a given option. For example, أَريَحَلِي (ʾaryaḥli, “more/most comfortable for me”) and أَنضَفلنَا (ʾanḍaflna, “cleaner/cleanest for us”) are both valid uses. To instead use it on an elative that describes a negative trait, such as *أَوْسَخلَك (*ʾawsaḵlak, “dirtier/dirtiest for you”) or *أصعَبلَك (ʾaṣʿablak, “more/most difficult for you”), is generally invalid, but will necessarily impart a positive slant if forced. Contrast to عَلَى (ʿala, “in relation to”), which an elative can similarly be construed with, but which does not require or carry any value judgment: أَهيَن علَيك (ʾahyan ʿlēk, “easier for you”) is synonymous with أَهيَنلَك (ʾahyanlak, “easier for you”), but as indicated prior, the only proper way to construct an antonym is as أَصعَب علَيك (ʾaṣʿab ʿlēk, “more/most difficult for you”, literally “more/most difficult in relation to you”).

Etymology 2

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

Preposition

ل • (la)

1. to, toward

Usage notes

• Its suffix-base form is lay-, similarly to عَلَى (ʿala). This distinguishes it from the preposition above when constructed with a personal suffix.
• For the most part, only used in the phrases مِنُّو لَيه (minno lē, “in its entirety; altogether”, literally “from it to it”), قِدِر لَ (ʾidir la, “to be able to handle”, literally “to be able toward”), فِيه لَ (fī la, “can handle”, literally “can toward”), and إِجَا لَ (ʾija la, “to come for”). However, it is also uncommonly used to construe other verbs of motion as a generalized sense of the last phrase, where it retains the sense of intending “to apprehend or cause harm” suggested by come for:

  وَاللَّه حَإِضهَر لَيك

  waḷḷa ḥaʾiḍhar lēk

  I swear, I'm going to come out there and come for you.

  (literally, “I swear I'm going to come out toward you”)

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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

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Persian

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (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.

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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

• Previous letter: ڱ
• Next letter: م

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Urdu

Pronunciation

• (letter name): (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /lɑːm/
• (phoneme): (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /l/

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)

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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)