Shi'a
/ˈʃiːə/noun
Shi'a is spelled S-H-I-A: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 63,645th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, Shi'a means “Synonym of Shiite” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of Shi'a is Shi'as.
How many letters and syllables are in Shi'a?
| Letters | 4: S-H-I-A |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 63,645th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is Shi'a?
Shi'a appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 63,645th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Shi'a?
- /ˈʃiːə/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Shi'a.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Shi'a.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of Shi'a
- Shi'as plural
- Shia
- Shiah
- Shi'ah
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Shi'a mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Synonym of Shiite.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does Shi'a come from?
From Arabic شِيعَة (šīʕa, “sect, faction, party; [collectively] followers, partisans”), as the word has been used in شِيعَة عَلِيّ (šīʕat ʕalī, “the faction of Ali; [collectively] the followers of Ali”) or الشِّيعَة (aš-šīʕa, “the Faction; the Followers”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).