Wali
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A provincial governor in certain Muslim contexts.
"For much of the last century, the mountainous region of Swat was ruled as a princely kingdom where a benign autocrat, the wali, bestowed schools for girls, health care for everyone and the chance to get a degree abroad for the talented."
- 2 A saint or prophet.
"You see the shrine was founded in memory of a great Wali, seer, holy man – but apparently a Mohammedan."
- 1 A surname from Arabic.
Example
More examples"For much of the last century, the mountainous region of Swat was ruled as a princely kingdom where a benign autocrat, the wali, bestowed schools for girls, health care for everyone and the chance to get a degree abroad for the talented."
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic وَالٍ (wālin).
From Arabic وَلِيّ (waliyy).
Borrowed from Arabic وَلِيّ (waliyy, “prophet, saint”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.