Aswad
/ˈas.wad/noun
An Arabic masculine name and adjective meaning “black” or “dark-colored,” also used as a personal name and proper noun in English.
Did you know?The same Arabic color-root appears in al-Sūdān, the historical Arabic phrase meaning “the lands of the Black people,” which gave English the name Sudan.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*swad-
“Reconstructed root associated with blackness or dark color; the exact proto-form is uncertain.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
aswad (أَسْوَد)
“Black or dark-colored; the masculine form of the Arabic adjective.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
sūdān (سُودَان)
“Blacks or black people, the plural of aswad in the relevant historical usage.”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
Bilād al-Sūdān
“The lands or countries of the Black people, a regional term for much of sub-Saharan Africa.”
17th–19th Century
European languages
Soudan / Sudan
“European forms adopted from Arabic for the African region; Sudan became the standard English spelling.”
20th Century
English
Aswad
“Used in English chiefly as an Arabic personal name, surname, and proper name, including the British reggae group Aswad.”