عُبُودِيَّة
ʕubūdiyyafeminine
Slavery in Arabic is expressed as عُبُودِيَّة (ʕubūdiyya) or رِقّ.
Meaning: institution or practice of owning human beings (noun)
Ways to say it
| Arabic | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| عُبُودِيَّة | ʕubūdiyya | feminine |
| رِقّ | riqq | masculine |
The term عُبُودِيَّة is the standard term for the institution of slavery and can also be used in a more abstract sense to mean servitude or subjection.
Which one should you use?
The term رِقّ refers specifically to the legal or social state of bondage or the condition of being a slave, whereas عُبُودِيَّة is more commonly used to describe the social institution or the concept of slavery itself.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun for a male slave is عَبْد, which is the root from which the term for slavery (عُبُودِيَّة) is derived. The feminine form of the word for slave is عَبْدَة.
How do you pronounce it?
ʕubūdiyya
Did you know?
- The word عَبْد is also a very common proper name for males in many Arabic-speaking regions, often as part of a compound name like 'Abdullah' meaning 'Servant of God'.
- The term رِقّ shares a root with words meaning 'thinness' or 'softness'. This likely refers to the fragile or precarious legal status of the person in bondage.
- The root of عُبُودِيَّة (ʿ-b-d) is fundamentally tied to the concept of 'worship', creating a linguistic link between the act of bowing/serving and the state of being enslaved.
Examples in context
- في الماضي، كانت العبودية منتشرة في العديد من الثقافات والمجتمعات.In the past, slavery was prevalent in many cultures and societies.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “slavery” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
