All 12 Zodiac Signs in Arabic: Names, Script & Pronunciation

The zodiac signs in Arabic occupy a position no other language on this site holds. Arabic did not receive the zodiac from Europe. Europe received it back from Arabic.

When Ptolemy’s astronomical work was largely lost to the Latin West, it survived in Arabic translation, and it was from Arabic that medieval Europe recovered it. The Arabic names below are translations of the Greek ones, made by astronomers working in Baghdad and Córdoba, and they were the custodians of this material for centuries. Urdu inherited them directly. So did a surprising number of the star names English still uses.

The Arabic word for a zodiac sign is برج (burj) — a tower or mansion. The twelve together are الأبراج (al-abrāj).

All 12 Zodiac Signs in Arabic

Every name carries the definite article الـ. There is no indefinite version in use — Arabic does not say “a ram” here, only “the Ram”. And the dates above use the Gregorian calendar, though the Arabic month names themselves vary by region: Egypt and the Gulf use مارس for March, while the Levant uses آذار.

The الـ That Changes Its Own Sound

This is the piece of Arabic grammar that trips up every learner, and the zodiac list is an unusually clean way to learn it.

The definite article is always written الـ (al-). It is not always pronounced that way. Arabic letters divide into two groups, and the article behaves differently with each:

• Moon letters — the l is pronounced normally. الحمل is al-Ḥamal.
• Sun letters — the l disappears and the following consonant doubles instead. الثور is written al-Thawr but said ath-Thawr.

Four of the twelve signs begin with sun letters:

The other eight — الحمل, الجوزاء, الأسد, العذراء, الميزان, العقرب, القوس, الجدي, الحوت — all begin with moon letters and keep the l intact. Learn these twelve and you have learned the rule.

The Sign With Two Correct Arabic Names

Virgo in Arabic: العذراء or السنبلة

Arabic is the only language in this cluster where a sign has two names in genuine parallel use, and the two point at completely different things.

السنبلة (as-Sunbula) means an ear of grain — a wheat stalk. It is the classical astronomical name, and it comes from the brightest star in the constellation: Spica, whose Latin name also means “ear of grain”. The classical figure is a maiden holding a sheaf, and Arabic astronomers named the sheaf.

العذراء (al-ʿAdhrāʾ) means the virgin, and it is what modern Arabic horoscope columns overwhelmingly use.

The split matters practically. If you are reading classical or astronomical Arabic, expect as-Sunbula. If you are reading a horoscope in a Gulf newspaper, expect al-ʿAdhrāʾ. And this is exactly where Urdu forked off: Urdu took Sunbula, the older name, and kept it — which is why Urdu Virgo means “ear of grain” and modern Arabic Virgo does not. See the Virgo profile.

Arabic Sign Names Hiding Inside English Star Names

Here is the clearest proof of how this material travelled. When medieval Europe recovered Ptolemy through Arabic, it took the star names along with the astronomy — and it took them phonetically, without translating. Hundreds of the star names in English use today are Arabic worn down by Latin scribes.

Several of them contain the zodiac sign names above:

Hamal is the striking one. An English-speaking astronomer naming the brightest star in Aries is using the Arabic word for the sign itself, unaware of it. And Deneb Algedi preserves الجدي, the Arabic Capricorn — tail and all, which is more than most European languages managed with the sign.

Three Signs Where Arabic Named the Object

Arabic consistently chose the thing over the person, and Urdu followed it in all three cases.

Sagittarius in Arabic: القوس

Al-Qaws is a bow, or an arc — the same word behind قوس قزح (qaws quzaḥ), a rainbow. No archer, no centaur, no shooter: only the weapon. Arabic, Urdu and Hindi are the only languages on this site that name Sagittarius after the object alone, while German, Swedish, Chinese and Japanese all name the act of shooting. See the Sagittarius profile.

Aquarius in Arabic: الدلو

Ad-Dalw is a bucket or leather water-skin — the vessel you lower into a well. Every European language makes this sign a man who carries or pours water. Arabic, like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and Urdu, makes it the container, and picks the plainest one of the set. See the Aquarius profile.

Libra in Arabic: الميزان

Al-Mīzān is a balance or set of scales, and it carries weight far beyond astronomy: it appears in Islamic theology as the scale on which deeds are weighed, and in modern Arabic it means a balance sheet. It is also the name of a chapter division in classical Arabic scholarship on measure. The Libra profile covers the sign.

The Remaining Eight Arabic Star Signs

Aries in Arabic: الحمل (al-Ḥamal) 

• الحمل (al-Ḥamal) — a lamb or young ram. The word for the animal, not a technical term. The Aries profile.

Taurus in Arabic: الثور (ath-Thawr)

• الثور (ath-Thawr) — a bull or ox. A sun letter, so the article assimilates. The Taurus profile.

Gemini in Arabic: الجوزاء (al-Jawzāʾ)

• الجوزاء (al-Jawzāʾ) — from a root meaning to pair or to lie at the centre. The same word gave al-Jawzāʾ as an old Arabic name for the Orion region, which is the ancestor of the English star name Betelgeuse. The Gemini profile.

Cancer in Arabic: السرطان (as-Saraṭān)

• السرطان (as-Saraṭān) — a crab, and, as in Latin, English, Italian and German, also cancer the disease. The Cancer profile.

Leo in Arabic: الأسد (al-Asad)

• الأسد (al-Asad) — a lion, and one of the most common given names in the Arabic-speaking world. The Leo profile.

Scorpio in Arabic: العقرب (al-ʿAqrab)

• العقرب (al-ʿAqrab) — a scorpion. Begins with ع (ʿayn), produced deep in the throat, with no English equivalent. The star Antares was known in Arabic as قلب العقرب, “the heart of the scorpion”. The Scorpio profile.

Capricorn in Arabic: الجدي (al-Jady)

• الجدي (al-Jady) — a young goat, a kid. Arabic dropped the fish tail entirely, taking the goat like the European languages and unlike Hindi’s Makar. The Capricorn profile.

Pisces in Arabic: الحوت (al-Ḥūt)

• الحوت (al-Ḥūt) — a large fish or whale, singular where the Latin Pisces is plural. The same word appears in the Quranic account of Yunus. The Pisces profile.

Talking About Zodiac Signs in Arabic

The phrases:

• ما هو برجك؟ — Mā huwa burjuk? — What’s your zodiac sign?
• برجي العقرب. — Burjī al-ʿAqrab. — My sign is Scorpio.
• حظك اليوم — literally “your luck today”, and the standard heading for a horoscope column across Arabic media.

Two terms are worth separating. علم الفلك (ʿilm al-falak) is astronomy — a serious science with a long and celebrated Arabic tradition. علم التنجيم (ʿilm at-tanjīm) is astrology. Classical Arabic scholarship distinguished the two sharply, and many Arabic astronomers were explicitly critical of the latter while advancing the former. Using the wrong term will read as a category error to an educated Arabic reader.

Al-Abraj Across the Arab World

Arabic is unusually convenient here. The twelve names above are Modern Standard Arabic and they are the same from Morocco to Oman — no regional substitutions, unlike Portuguese or Norwegian. Only the Virgo pair varies, and that varies by register rather than country.

Ḥaẓẓuk al-yawm columns run in the major Arabic dailies and satellite channels, and the format is generous — often several paragraphs per sign covering love, work and health. Note also that the Gulf states are meaningful markets by advertising value, which makes Arabic a more commercially interesting addition to this cluster than its position on a list of languages might suggest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Zodiac Signs in Arabic and the Language That Inherited Them

Read this page beside the zodiac signs in Urdu and the inheritance is unmistakable: Hamal, Saur, Jauza, Saratan, Asad, Sunbula, Meezan, Aqrab, Qaus, Jadi, Dalw, Hoot — the same twelve words, minus the Arabic article. Then compare the zodiac signs in Hindi, which shares a region with Urdu and not one name, having taken the Sanskrit route instead.

For the languages that received this material from Arabic hands and then translated it into their own words, see the German and Italian lists.

All languages: zodiac signs in different languages.