halal

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic حلال (ḥalāl, “that which is permissible or lawful”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from حل (ḥalla, “to untie, free; to be permissible”).^[4] In Arabic the noun was used especially for ritually slaughtered meat.^[2] The OED's first quotation, from a 1797 translation of Niebuhr's travels, came through German, where the passage translated (1772) has halâl.^[2] Its opposite is haram.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of food or diet, conforming to Islamic dietary law, and of meat, slaughtered and prepared accordingly: 1797.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1858,^[6][3] and Dictionary.com to 1850–55.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The OED, revised in 2019, finds the adjective first of food (1797), then of conduct, products or services in accordance with Islamic law (1845), a sense that developed within English.^[2] The verb, to slaughter an animal in the Islamic way, is recorded from 1819, mostly in the passive;^[2][3] the noun, first for whatever conforms to Islamic law (1860), was used for the slaughter itself from 1888 and for halal meat from 1904.^[2] The adjective came to describe butchers' shops and restaurants that sell such food in 1970.^[2] In British slang, halal is also used for "acceptable, correct" (2006, in Malkani's Londonstani).^[8]

Timeline

• 1797 – of food, conforming to Islamic dietary law.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1858.^[6][3]
• 1819 – verb, to slaughter an animal as Islamic law prescribes.^[2]
• 1845 – of conduct, products or services, in accordance with Islamic law.^[2]
• 1860 – noun, that which conforms to Islamic law.^[2]
• 1888 – noun, the slaughter of an animal by the Islamic method.^[2]
• 1904 – noun, halal food, especially meat.^[2]
• 1970 – of a butcher's shop or restaurant, selling halal food.^[2]
• 2006 – slang, acceptable, correct.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Permitted by Islamic law; especially of food, meat from animals slaughtered and prepared as that law prescribes: The school canteen now offers halal chicken.^[9][3][2]
2. Of a butcher, shop or restaurant, selling or serving such food.^[9][2]
3. Of conduct, products or services, in accordance with Islamic law.^[2][3]
4. (slang) Acceptable, correct.^[8]

Noun

1. Meat from animals slaughtered according to Islamic law, or other food that conforms to it.^[9][2][10]

Verb

1. To slaughter an animal in the manner Islamic law prescribes.^[9][3][2]

Related words

• haram

Usage notes

It is also spelled hallal.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press