Iraqi

How to spell iraqi

5 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce iraqi

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does iraqi mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Iraq, its people, or its culture.
2. nounA person who is a native or citizen of Iraq.

Iraqi in a sentence

• adjective

  The museum displayed ancient iraqi pottery from the river valleys.

• noun

  As a proud iraqi, he often spoke about his hometown near Basra.

• adjective

  She studied the iraqi economy for her dissertation on regional oil markets.

• noun

  The conference invited an iraqi to give the keynote on regional history.

Where does iraqi come from?

Language of origin: Arabic

This word is formed from the country name Iraq combined with the Arabic suffix -i, which attaches to a place name to mean 'belonging to' or 'native of', much as -ish or -ese work in English. The country name itself comes from the Arabic al-Iraq, a term used for the fertile lowland region around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and scholars often link it to an older root meaning the deeply rooted, well-watered, or low-lying land. English adopted the spelling Iraq, with its distinctive final q lacking the u that almost always follows q in native English words, directly from the Arabic transliteration, and the demonym Iraqi simply preserves that same qi cluster. That unusual q-without-u, plus the single versus doubled question over the r and the silent-feeling vowels, is the heart of the spelling trap. The word came into regular English use in the twentieth century as the modern state took shape after the First World War.

How the word is built

• Iraq (the country name)
• -i (Arabic adjective-forming suffix meaning 'belonging to' or 'of')