Ali

//ˈɑːli// name

name ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A male given name from Arabic.
  2. 2
    A diminutive of the female given name Alison or of its variants.
  3. 3
    Synonym of Ngari: the Mandarin Chinese-derived name.

    "The Ngari area is now known as the Ali Prefecture of the TAR. Commonly called Ali, the Chinese-built town of Shiquanhe is the administrative center of the area.[…] Although the area of Ali Prefecture is around the same size as Italy or the state of Arizona (300,000 sq km), it is dominated by the barren Changthang Plateau and is sparsely populated with only approximately 70,000 people."

  4. 4
    The Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, considered by Shias to be Muhammad's first successor (imam).
  5. 5
    A diminutive of the male given name Alistair or of its variants.
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    A surname from Arabic.

Example

More examples

"It seems that Ali is very interested in Myrmecology."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Arabic عَلِيّ (ʕaliyy, literally “high, exalted”), from the Arabic root ع ل ي (ʕ l y).

Etymology 2

Shortening.

Etymology 3

From Mandarin 阿里 (Ālǐ).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.