Alibi

In Arabic, the word "al" means "the". In Arabic, the "the" tends to stick more closely with the nouns it precedes. Words and placenames borrowed from Arabic often include the initial "al", and, conversely, words with an initial "al" often have an Arabic origin. Purists sometimes are dismayed at the repetition inherent in calling something "The Alhambra", for instance.

Note that this kind of confusion can work both ways. The city of Alexandria, in Egypt, became in Arabic al-Iskandariyya, taking the first part of Alexander's name to be "the"!

• albacore, Arabic al-bukr, the young camel;
• albatross, Spanish alcatras, Arabic al-gattas, the white-tailed sea eagle;
• Alcatraz, Spanish alcatras, Arabic al-gattas, the white-tailed sea eagle;
• alcaide, (the governor of a Spanish fort), Arabic al-qa'id, the commander;
• alcalde, (mayor of a Spanish town), Arabic al-qadi, the judge;
• alcazar, (a Spanish palace), Arabic al-qasr, the castle;
• alchemy, Arabic al-kimiya, the chemistry;
• alcohol, Arabic al-kuhl, the kohl, the powder of antimony;
• alcove, Spanish alcoba, Arabic al-qubbah, the vault;
• Aldebaran, Arabic, al-dabaran, the follower (of the Pleiades);
• alembic, Arabic, al-ambiq, the still;
• alfalfa, Arabic, al-fasfasah;
• algarroba, Arabic al-Kharrubah, the carob;
• algebra, Arabic al-jebr, the rejoining;
• Algeciras, Arabic al-Jaza'ir AlKhadra, the island that is green;
• Algeria, Arabic al-Jaza'ir bani mazghanna, the islands...of the tribe of Ait Mazghanna;
• Algol, Arabic al-gul, the ghoul;
• algorithm, Arabic al-Khwarazmi, the native of Khwarazm, a nickname of a 9th century Arabic mathematician;
• alguazil, Arabic al-wazir;
• the Alhambra, Arabic al-hamra, the red (house);
• Alicante, Arabic, city of lights;
• alidade, Arabic al-idadah, the revolving radius;
• alizari, Arabic al-acarah, the juice pressed out;
• alkali, Arabic al-qaliy, the ashes;
• almacantar, Arabic al-qantarah, the bridge;
• The Almagest, Arabic al-majist, the greatest;
• almanac, Arabic al-manakh,the calendar;
• Altair, Arabic al nasr attair, the eagle flying;
• apricot, French abricot, Spanish albaricoque, Arabic al birquq, possibly derived from Latin praecoquus or "precocious", because the apricot blooms and ripens early;
• artichoke, Italian articiocco, Spanish alcarchofa, Arabic al harshaf or al karshuf, meaning...the artichoke. (The plant called "Jerusalem artichoke" gets its name from a misunderstanding of the Italian girasole or "turning-to-the-sun"; also, it's not an artichoke.)

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