The Arabic word Ṣaḥrāʾ gives the Sahara Desert its name and literally means “desert.”
The modern English name comes through Arabic al-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā, meaning “the Great Desert.” In Arabic, ṣaḥrāʾ is the feminine form of ṣaḥr, a word meaning desert or barren land. The plural ṣaḥārāʾ is also related to the name used in English.
The Sahara is not one uniform landscape. It includes gravel plains, rocky plateaus, mountains, salt flats and sand seas. Sand dunes cover only part of its total area, although they are the image most often associated with the desert.
“Desert” here refers to extreme aridity rather than the absence of all life. The Sahara supports specially adapted plants, animals and human communities, especially around oases and seasonal watercourses.