Etymology

mallam

mal·lam
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Today it means: In Africa, a teacher of the Qur'an. Full definition →

Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim)
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The story

  1. Arabicعَلَّمَ (ʕallama)
  2. Arabicمُعَلِّم (muʕallim)
  3. English todaymallam

Borrowed from Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim, “teacher”). First attested in the 1820s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.