Hadeeth
/hæˈdiːθ/noun
A report describing a saying, action, or practice attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.
Did you know?In Arabic, ḥadīth can mean both a transmitted report and something new or recent, while in Islamic studies it specifically denotes remembered accounts of Muhammad’s words and actions.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*ḥ-d-th
“A reconstructed Semitic root associated with becoming new, occurring, or happening.”
Quranic Arabic
Arabic
ḥadīth
“Speech, discourse, account, or report; the word also carried the sense of something new.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
ḥadīth
“A transmitted report, especially one recounting a saying or action attributed to Muhammad.”
Medieval Islamic scholarship
Arabic
ḥadīth
“A formal body of reports studied, classified, and authenticated by Muslim scholars.”
19th Century
English
hadith
“An English scholarly loanword for an Islamic prophetic report or the collected tradition of such reports.”
Modern English
English
hadeeth
“A less standardized transliteration variant of hadith, retaining the same meaning.”