ayatollah

English

Alternative forms

• ayatolla

Etymology

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیَتُ‌اللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh), from Classical Persian آیَةُاللّٰه (āyatu-l-lāh), from Arabic آيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ (ʔāyatu llāhi, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) +‎ اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /aɪ.əˈtoʊl.ə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

ayatollah (plural ayatollahs)

2. (Shia Islam) A religious leader in Twelver Shi'ism.
3. (colloquial) An authority on any subject.
   • 1983 February 5, Shiva, “SM/Feminism/Antisemitism”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 28, page 4:

     P.S. This writer does NOT speak as the Ayatollah of SM. (There isn't one.) If you really want to know more, talk to sadomasochists, or at least do some reading if you're too scared to ask.

Translations

a religious leader

• Albanian: ajatollah m
• Arabic: آيَةُ اللّٰه f (ʔāyatu llāh)
• Armenian: այաթոլլա (hy) (ayatʻolla)
• Azerbaijani: ayətullah
• Bengali: আয়াতুল্লাহ (bn) (aẏatullah)
• Bulgarian: аятола́х m (ajatoláh)
• Catalan: aiatol·là (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阿亞圖拉 / 阿亚图拉 (zh) (āyàtúlā)

• Czech: ajatolláh m
• Danish: ayatollah (da) c
• Dutch: ayatollah (nl) m
• Esperanto: ajatolo
• Finnish: ajatollah (fi)
• French: ayatollah (fr) m
• Georgian: აიათოლა (aiatola)
• German: Ajatollah (de) m
• Greek: αγιατολάχ (el) m (agiatolách)
• Hebrew: אייתוללה
• Hindi: आयतुल्लाह m (āytullāh)
• Hungarian: ajatollah (hu)
• Indonesian: ayatullah (id)
• Italian: ayatollah (it) m
• Japanese: アヤトラ (ayatora)
• Kazakh: аятолла (ayatolla)
• Korean: 아야톨라 (ko) (ayatolla)
• Malay: ayatollah
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آیَت‌ُالله (âyato-llâh), آیَةُ‌اللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh)

• Polish: ajatollah (pl) m
• Portuguese: aiatolá (pt) m
• Russian: аятолла́ (ru) m (ajatollá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ајатолах m

  Latin: ajatolah (sh) m

• Spanish: ayatolá (es) m
• Swedish: ayatolla (sv) c
• Tajik: оятуллоҳ (tg) (oyatulloh)
• Thai: อายะตุลลอหฺ (aa-yá-dtun-lɔɔ)
• Turkish: ayetullah

  Ottoman Turkish: آیَتُ‌اللّٰه (ayetullah)

• Ukrainian: аятола́ m (ajatolá)
• Urdu: آیَتُ ٱللہ m (āyatu llāh)
• Uyghur: ئايەتۇللا (ayetulla)
• Uzbek: oyatulloh

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیت‌الله (âyatollâh), Derived from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh, “sign of God”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɑjaˈtʌla]

Noun

ayatollah c (singular definite ayatollahen, plural indefinite ayatollaher)

1. (Islam) ayatollah

Inflection

Declension of ayatollah

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ayatollah	ayatollahen	ayatollaher	ayatollaherne
genitive	ayatollahs	ayatollahens	ayatollahers	ayatollahernes

References

• “ayatollah” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیت‌الله (âyatollâh), from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh, “sign of God”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌaː.jaːˈtɔ.laː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: aya‧tol‧lah

Noun

ayatollah m (plural ayatollahs, diminutive ayatollaatje n)

1. (Islam) a religious leader in Twelver Shi'ism
2. highest grade of theological scholarship in Shi'ism
3. (by extension) a (thought) leader or key figure in general
   • 2017, Alain Mouton, Het geld is op! De financiële putten van België:

     Van de ayatollah van de begrotingssanering die de Gentenaar in de jaren tachtig was, bleef er niet veel over.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیت‌الله (âyatollâh), from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) +‎ اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ja.tɔ.la/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

ayatollah m (plural ayatollahs)

1. (Islam) ayatollah
2. (figuratively, derogatory) strong proponent of something; person behaving tyrannically and despotically in a particular matter

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیت‌الله (âyatollâh), from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) +‎ اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ja.tolˈla/^**
• Rhymes: -a

Noun

ayatollah m (invariable)

1. ayatollah

Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیَتُ‌اللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh), from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh).

Noun

ayatollah (Jawi spelling آيةالله, plural ayatollah-ayatollah or ayatollah²)

1. (Shia Islam) ayatollah (a religious leader in Twelver Shi'ism)

Alternative forms

• ayatullah (Indonesia)

Further reading

• "ayatollah" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

ayatollah m

1. form removed by a 1984 spelling decision; superseded by ayatolla

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

ayatollah m

1. (pre-1984) alternative form of ayatolla

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ayatollah, from Iranian Persian آیت‌الله (âyatollâh), from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) +‎ اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).

Noun

ayatollah m (plural ayatollahi)

1. ayatollah

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	ayatollah	ayatollahul		ayatollahi	ayatollahii
genitive-dative	ayatollah	ayatollahului		ayatollahi	ayatollahilor
vocative	ayatollahule			ayatollahilor