Abraham
English

Etymology
From Middle English Abraham, from Old English Abraham, from Late Latin Ābrahām, from Ancient Greek Ἀβρᾱᾱ́μ (Abrāā́m), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם ('aḇrāhām, “Abraham”). Glossed as אַב (aḇ, “father of”) + הֲמוֹן (hăˈmōn, “multitude of”) in Genesis 17:4–5; or from Hebrew אַבְרָם ('aḇrām, “Abram”). Doublet of Ibrahim and Avraham.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈeɪ.bɹə.hæm/, /ˈeɪ.bɹə.həm/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈeɪ.bɹəˌhæm/, /ˈeɪ.bɹə.həm/
- (poetic) IPA(key): /ˈeɪ.bɹæm/
Audio (US) (file)
Proper noun
Abraham (plural Abrahams)
- (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha'i) A prophet in the Old Testament, Qur'an and Aqdas; a Semitic patriarch son of Terah who practiced monotheism, father of the Jewish patriarch Isaac by Sarah and the Arab patriarch Ishmael by Hagar. [First attested prior to 1150.][1]
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 17:5, column 2:
- Neither ſhall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name ſhall bee Abraham: for a father of many nations haue I made thee.
- 1980, Werner Keller, chapter 7, in William Neil, transl., The Bible as History, page 93:
- As one would expect of caravan people around 1900 B.C., the caravan people depicted in the Khnum-hotpe grave had donkeys, whereas the Bible says that Abraham and his people, who according to the traditional interpretation are supposed to have lived at the same period, already possessed camels.
- A male given name from Hebrew. [First attested prior to 1150.][1]
- 1961, Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night, Dell, published 1975, page 28:
- "Lincoln wasn't a Jew, was he?" he said. "I'm sure not," I said. […] "The name Abraham is very suspicious, to say the least," said Goebbels. "I'm sure his parents didn't realize that it was a Jewish name," I said. "They must have just liked the sound of it. They were simple frontier people. If they'd known the name was Jewish, I'm sure they would have called him something more American, like George or Stanley or Fred."
- A surname originating as a patronymic. [First attested prior to 1150.][1]
- The 14th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Noun
Abraham (plural Abrahams)
References
- Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “Abraham”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.
- Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890) “Abraham”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volumes I (A–K), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, page 7.
- John S[tephen] Farmer, compiler (1890) “Abraham”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume I, [London: […] Thomas Poulter and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 9.
Catalan
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Late Latin Ābrahām, from Ancient Greek Ἀβρᾱᾱ́μ (Abrāā́m), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם ('aḇrāhām, “Abraham”).
Pronunciation
Derived terms
- abrahàmic
Cebuano
Etymology
From English Abraham and Spanish Abraham, from Late Latin Ābraham, from Ancient Greek Ἀβραάμ (Abraám), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם (avrahám, “Abraham”).
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: A‧bra‧ham
Czech
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈabraɦam]
Proper noun
Abraham m anim
- (biblical) Abraham (a prophet in the Old Testament)
- a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Abraham
Declension
Dutch
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin Ābrahām, from Ancient Greek Ἀβραάμ (Abraám), from Biblical Hebrew אַבְרָהָם.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈaː.braːˌɦɑm/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: Abra‧ham
Proper noun
Abraham m
- Abraham (Biblical character, presented as ancestral to many western Semitic peoples)
- a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Abraham
Derived terms
Ewe
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈæbræhæm/
Audio (file)
Quotations
- Eʋe Biblia (Bible Society of Ghana) — Eyata womagayɔ wò bena Abram akpɔ o, ke boŋ Abraham anye wò ŋkɔ. Mose I 17:5
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.bʁa.am/
Audio (Paris) (file)
German
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin Ābraham, from Ancient Greek Ἀβραάμ (Abraám), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם (aḇrāˈhām, “Abraham”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈaːbʁaˌha(ː)m/
- IPA(key): /ˈaːbʁa(ː)m/ (often in fluent speech, not usually in isolation)
Audio (file)
Proper noun
Abraham m (proper noun, strong, genitive Abrahams)
- (biblical) Abraham
- a male given name from Biblical Hebrew, equivalent to English Abraham
Icelandic
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Ἀβραάμ (Abraám).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈaː.bra.haːm/, [ˈäːbrä(ɦ)äːm]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈa.bra.am/, [ˈäːbräːm]
Proper noun
Ābrahām m (variously declined, genitive Ābrahām or Ābrahae); indeclinable, first declension
- (biblical) Abraham
- Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, Genesis 17:5:
- nec ultra vocabitur nomen tuum Abram, sed appellaberis Abraham quia patrem multarum gentium constitui te.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Declension
Indeclinable noun or first-declension noun (nominative/vocative singular in -ām), singular only.
Case | Singular |
---|---|
Nominative | Ābrahām |
Genitive | Ābrahām Ābrahae |
Dative | Ābrahām Ābrahae |
Accusative | Ābrahām |
Ablative | Ābrahām Ābrahā |
Vocative | Ābrahām |
References
- “Abraham”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Abraham in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Maltese
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian Abramo, from Latin Ābrahām, from Ancient Greek Ἀβραάμ (Abraám), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם (ʾaḇrāhām). The insertion of the mute -h- in the spelling directly after the Hebrew form; compare Għesaw (“Esau”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /abˈraːm/
- Rhymes: -aːm
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English Abraham.
Proper noun
Abraham
- Abraham (prophet)
- c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.), published c. 1410, Matheu 1:1–2, page 1r, column 2, lines 1–5; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
- The book of þe generacıoū of ıhū crıſt .· þe ſone of dauıd þe ſone of abꝛaham / abꝛaham bıgat yſaac / yſaac bıgat ıacob / ıacob bıgat ıudas ⁊ hıſe bꝛıþ̇en /
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Abraham
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /²aːbra(h)am/
Old English
Alternative forms
- Habraham
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɑːb.rɑˌxɑːm/, [ˈɑːb.rɑˌhɑːm]
Declension
Polish

Etymology
Learned borrowing from Late Latin Ābrahām. Doublet of Abram.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /abˈra.xam/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -axam
- Syllabification: Ab‧ra‧ham
Proper noun
Abraham m pers (related adjective Abrahamowy or Abrahamowski)
- (uncountable, biblical, Qur'an) Abraham (prophet in the Old Testament, Qur'an and Aqdas; a Semitic patriarch son of Terah who practiced monotheism, father of the Jewish patriarch Isaac by Sarah and the Arab patriarch Ishmael by Hagar)
- Synonym: Abram
- (countable, rare) a male given name from Late Latin [in turn from Ancient Greek, in turn from Hebrew], equivalent to English Abraham
- (countable) a male surname from Late Latin
Declension
Derived terms
- Abrahamek
- Abrahamita
- Abrahamitka
- abrahamizm
- Abrahamczyk
- Abrahamowicz
Further reading
- Abraham in Polish dictionaries at PWN
- Abraham in PWN's encyclopedia
- Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “Abraham”, in Słownik języka polskiego, volume 1, page 3
- “Abraham”, in Internetowy słownik nazwisk w Polsce [Internet dictionary of surnames in Poland], 2022
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English Abraham, from Old English Abraham, from Late Latin Ābrahām.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɑːbrəhɑm/
References
- “Abraham” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Spanish
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aˈbɾam/ [aˈβ̞ɾãm]
- Rhymes: -am
- IPA(key): /abɾaˈam/ [a.β̞ɾaˈãm]
- Rhymes: -am
- Syllabification: A‧bra‧ham
Proper noun
Abraham m
- (biblical) Abraham
- 1602, La Santa Biblia (antigua versión de Casiodoro de Reina), Génesis 17:5:
- Y no se llamará más tu nombre Abram, sino que será tu nombre Abraham, porque te he puesto por padre de muchedumbre de gentes.
- Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
- a male given name of rare usage, equivalent to English Abraham
Further reading
- “Abraham”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish
Proper noun
Abraham c (genitive Abrahams)
- a male given name, equivalent to English Abraham
- (biblical) Abraham