Arabic العَرَبِيَّة al-ʻarabiyyah al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script) Pronunciation /ˈʕarabiː/, /ʔalʕaraˈbijja/ Native to Countries of the Arab League, minorities in neighboring countries and some parts of Asia, Africa, Europe Native speakers 300 million - 422 million (2017)[1][2] Language family Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic languages Arabic Early form Proto-Arabic Old Arabic Classical Arabic Standard forms Modern Standard Arabic Dialects Western (Maghrebi) Central (incl. Egyptian, Sudanese) Northern (incl. Levantine, Mesopotamian) Peninsular (Gulf, Hejazi, Najdi, Yemeni) Judeo-Arabic Writing system Arabic alphabet Arabic Braille Syriac alphabet (Garshuni) Hebrew alphabet (Judeo-Arabic languages) Greek alphabet (Cypriot Maronite Arabic) Latin script (Romanized Arabic alphabet, Maltese alphabet) (Maltese, Lebanese Arabic, Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Libyan Arabic, Tunisian Arabic) Signed forms Signed Arabic (national forms) Official status Official language in Modern Standard Arabic is an official language of 28 states, the third most after English and French[3] List Algeria Bahrain Comoros Chad Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Malta (Maltese Arabic) Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar SADR Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Syria Tanzania (Zanzibar) Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Organizations African Union Arab League Eurasian Economic Union European Union (Maltese Arabic) Organisation of Islamic Cooperation United Nations Recognised minority language in List Brunei Cyprus Indonesia Iran Mali Niger Philippines Senegal South Sudan Turkey Regulated by List Arabic Language International Council Algeria: Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria Egypt: Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo Israel: Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel Iraq: Iraqi Academy of Sciences Jordan: Jordan Academy of Arabic Libya: Academy of the Arabic Language in Jamahiriya Morocco: Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat Saudi Arabia: Academy of the Arabic Language in Riyadh Somalia: Academy of the Arabic Language in Mogadishu Sudan: Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartoum Syria: Arab Academy of Damascus (the oldest) Tunisia: Beit Al-Hikma Foundation Language codes ISO 639-1 ar ISO 639-2 ara ISO 639-3 ara – inclusive code Individual codes: arq – Algerian Arabic aao – Algerian Saharan Arabic bbz – Babalia Creole Arabic abv – Baharna Arabic shu – Chadian Arabic acy – Cypriot Arabic adf – Dhofari Arabic avl – Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic arz – Egyptian Arabic afb – Gulf Arabic ayh – Hadrami Arabic acw – Hijazi Arabic ayl – Libyan Arabic acm – Mesopotamian Arabic ary – Moroccan Arabic ars – Najdi Arabic apc – North Levantine Arabic ayp – North Mesopotamian Arabic acx – Omani Arabic aec – Saidi Arabic ayn – Sanaani Arabic ssh – Shihhi Arabic ajp – South Levantine Arabic arb – Standard Arabic apd – Sudanese Arabic pga – Sudanese Creole Arabic acq – Taizzi-Adeni Arabic abh – Tajiki Arabic aeb – Tunisian Arabic auz – Uzbeki Arabic Glottolog arab1395[4] Linguasphere 12-AAC Dispersion of native Arabic speakers as the majority (green) or minority (chartreuse) population Use of Arabic as the national language (green), as an official language (dark blue), and as a regional/minority language (light blue)