English
Etymology
From colloquial Arabic ARchar|عا��ة (��lima) �singer�, originally a feminine adjective meaning �learned, knowledgeable�, from ARchar|ع�� (�alima) �to know�.
Pronunciation
IPA|/�ælm�/
Noun
en-noun2|almah|almahs or almah
- an Egyptian singer or dancing-girl used for entertainment or as a professional mourner
#:*1998: Nostalgia is almah, the Arab dancing girl. She tells me stories of the drowned, the deadest of this world's dead. � Hélène Cixous, Firstdays of the Year, tr. Catherine Gillivray (Minnesota 1998, p. 157)
Alternative spellings
alma
io:almah
ru:almah
vi:almah
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