moulvi
/ˈmuːlvi
/(also maulvi, molvi)
noun (plural moulvis)
(Especially in South Asia) a Muslim doctor of the law.A maulvi here or a madrasa student there might have been arrested on some charges, but how can you blame the madrasa to which he belongs, or the madrasas as a whole, for that matter?...
- He would have been beheaded along with the other prisoners, had it not been for the intercession of Tipu's mother and her maulvi.
- My father's non-Muslim friends recount proudly incidents and anecdotes of maulvis and madrasas much in the same manner as we remember our school and teachers.
Origin
From Urdu maulvī, from Arabic mawlawī 'judicial' (adjective used as a noun), from mawlā 'mullah'.