Given name & surname · also Libyan Arabic
Gaddafi
“hurler, flinger; catapult, mangonel, ballista”
Gaddafi is a surname from Libyan Arabic, ultimately from Arabic.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Gaddafi goes back to a word meaning “hurler, flinger; catapult, mangonel, ballista.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Gaddafi comes from Libyan Arabic, and ultimately from Arabic.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Libyan Arabic قدافي (gaddāfi, gaḏḏāfi), from Arabic قَذَّافِيّ.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Gaddafi’s family of names
In English usage, Gaddafi as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form Gheddafi. In English usage, Gaddafi as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the French form KADHAFI. In English usage, Gaddafi as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the Libyan Arabic form قدافي.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Gaddafi has relatives in 4 languages. Lines run from its Arabic roots to each of them.
4 related names in 4 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 16
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 11
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
- Kadafispelling
- Ghaddaffispelling
- Khaddafispelling
- Quaddafispelling
- Qadafispelling
- Gadaffispelling
- Gadhafispelling
- Kaddafispelling
Show 3 moreShow fewer
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
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