1. a spiritual leader of Islam, claiming succession from Muhammad. 2. any of the former Muslim rulers of Baghdad (until 1258) and of the Ottoman Empire (from 1571 until 1924). Origin of caliph.
Means "prince" from Persian میرزا (mirza), earlier امیرزاده (amirzadeh), which is ultimately from Arabic أمير (amir) "commander" combined with Persian زاده (zadeh) "offspring".
