The Arabic language, or simply Arabic, is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. It is spoken throughout the Arab world and is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world. Arabic has been a literary language since at least the 6th century and is the liturgical language of Islam.

"Arabic" may refer either to literary Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic or to the many localized varieties of Arabic commonly called "colloquial Arabic." Arabs consider literary Arabic as the standard language and tend to view everything else as mere dialects. Literary Arabic ("the most eloquent Arabic language"), refers both to the language of present-day media across North Africa and the Middle East and to the more articulate language of the Qur'an.

"Colloquial" or "dialectal" Arabic refers to the many national or regional varieties derived from Classical Arabic, spoken daily across North Africa and the Middle East, which constitute the everyday spoken language.

Arabic is spoken throughout the Arab world ( Al-Alam Al-Arabi), twenty-two countries stretching from Mauritania in the west to Oman in the east (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine (West Bank and Gaza), Western Sahara (SADR), Yemen by a majority, and in many other countries, such as Israel, as a minority language) . They have a combined population of 323 million people and their combined economies surpass 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars, and grow 5% annually.

Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (alongside English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Standard Mandarin).