Arabic

Arabic is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā (اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ الْفُصْحَى "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā (اَلْفُصْحَى). Arabic is the third–most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and the liturgical language of Islam.