Abdul

Abdul (also transliterated as Abdal, Abdel, Abdil, Abdol, Abdool, or Abdoul, Arabic: عبد ال‎, ʿAbd al-) is the most frequent transliteration of the combination of the Arabic word Abd (عبد, meaning "servant") and the definite prefix al / el (ال, meaning "the").

It is the initial component of many compound names, names made of two words. For example, عبد الحميد, ʿAbd el-Ḥamīd, usually spelled Abdel Hamid, Abdelhamid, Abd El Hamid or Abdul Hamid, which means "servant of The Praised" (God).

The most common use for Abdul by far, is as part of a male given name, written in English. When written in English, Abdul is subject to variable spacing, spelling, and hyphenation.

The meaning of Abdul literally and normally means "Slave of the", but English translations also often translate it to: "Servant of the".

Spelling variations

The spelling variation is primarily because of the variation in pronunciation. Arabic speakers normally pronounce and transcribe their names of Arabic origin according to their spoken Arabic dialects. Therefore it is pronounced /ʕabdel/ and written Abdel... or Abd El.... However, non-Arabic speakers or Arabic speakers may choose to transcribe the name according to the Literary Arabic pronunciation, which is the language of Quran, pronounced as /ʕabdul/ and written Abdul.... For other variations in spelling, see the Arabic grammar section.