Tools that serve Arabic

Tools that serve Arabic in one of its parts rather than teach it: dictionaries and corpora, word-by-word Quran readers, writing, calligraphy, vowelling and typing tools, and aids for memorising and conjugation. Each was checked against its official site or app-store listing.

These are tools, not courses: learners, teachers and researchers use them alongside their study. Anything whose aim is to teach Arabic is under «Apps and websites». Prices are not given — only free or paid.

Know a dictionary or tool for Standard Arabic that is not here? Add it — it is published after review. Add a tool

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Dictionaries and corpora6

Doha Historical Dictionary of Arabic

Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies

App and website

Traces each Arabic word from its earliest attestation in inscriptions and texts, with dated meanings, a searchable corpus, and entries that can be read aloud.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Arabic
  • Level: Advanced
  • Explained in: Arabic
  • Runs on: iPhone, Android, Web browser
Free Visit site

Riyadh Dictionary of Contemporary Arabic

King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language

App and website

A modern dictionary of contemporary standard Arabic, written for native and non-native readers alike, with examples, synonyms and antonyms, and English equivalents for headwords.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic
  • Level: Intermediate to advanced
  • Explained in: Arabic
  • Runs on: iPhone, Web browser
Free Visit site

Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language (Sharjah)

Sharjah Academy of the Arabic Language, with the Union of Arab Language Academies

Website

Traces Arabic words by root from pre-Islamic inscriptions to modern usage, with dated quotations from original sources; a reference for advanced students and readers of classical texts.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Arabic
  • Level: Advanced
  • Explained in: Arabic
  • Runs on: Web browser
Free Visit site

Almaany

Almaany.com

App and website

Large multilingual online dictionary: Arabic–Arabic plus Arabic paired with English, French, Spanish, Turkish and more, with example sentences and subject-specific terms.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic
  • Level: All levels
  • Explained in: Arabic, English
  • Runs on: iPhone, Web browser
Free Visit site

Reverso Context — Arabic–English

Reverso

App and website

Shows words and phrases translated inside real bilingual sentences, with flashcards and quizzes built from your own searches.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic
  • Level: Intermediate to advanced
  • Explained in: English
  • Runs on: iPhone, Web browser
Free, with paid options Visit site

Tools for reading and understanding the Quran3

Quranic Arabic Corpus

University of Leeds; maintained by the quran.com team

Website

Word-by-word grammar of the whole Quran: transliteration, English gloss, part of speech and morphology for every word, plus a syntactic treebank.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Classical Arabic
  • Level: Intermediate to advanced
  • Explained in: English
  • Runs on: Web browser
Free Visit site

Quran.com — word-by-word reading

Quran Foundation

App and website

A reading tool rather than a course: tap any word to hear it and see its meaning, which makes it a good daily companion for Quranic vocabulary.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Classical Arabic
  • Level: All levels
  • Explained in: English, Arabic, French, Urdu, Indonesian
  • Runs on: iPhone, Android, Web browser
Free Visit site

QuranWBW

Marwan (open-source project)

Website

Reads the Quran word by word, with audio for each word, transliteration and a detailed morphological breakdown of every word.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Classical Arabic
  • Level: All levels
  • Explained in: English
  • Runs on: Web browser
Free Visit site

Writing, calligraphy, vowelling and typing2

Mishkal — automatic diacritisation

Taha Zerrouki

App and website

Paste unvowelled Arabic and it adds the short-vowel marks, which helps learners read difficult text; the vowelling is automatic, so it should be checked rather than trusted.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Arabic
  • Level: All levels
  • Explained in: Arabic
  • Runs on: Android, Web browser
Free Visit site

Typing Academy (Tybaa)

Tybaa (أكاديمية الطباعة)

Website

Arabic touch-typing lessons row by row, including the vowel marks, with a speed test and practice texts.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic
  • Level: Beginner
  • Explained in: Arabic
  • Runs on: Web browser
Free, with paid options Visit site

Other study aids2

Qutrub — Arabic verb conjugator

Taha Zerrouki (Arabeyes project)

Website

Open-source conjugator: type a vowelled verb and get past, present, imperative, passive, subjunctive, jussive and emphatic forms; interface is in Arabic.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic
  • Level: All levels
  • Explained in: Arabic
  • Runs on: Web browser
Free Visit site

Anki

Ankitects Pty Ltd and open-source contributors

App and website

A spaced-repetition flashcard program that shows each card just before you would forget it; learners build their own vocabulary decks with audio and images.

  • Kind of Standard Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic
  • Level: All levels
  • Explained in: English
  • Runs on: iPhone, Android, Web browser
Free, with paid options Visit site

Tool names belong to their owners; listing them here is information, not endorsement or partnership.