Ashraf refers to someone who is a direct blood-line descendant from
Muhammad by way of his daughter
Fatimah. The word is the plural of
sharīf "noble", from
sharafa "to be highborn" if pronounced with long
ā in the second syllable (أشراف /ašrāf/), but with short
a (أشرف /ašraf/) is the intensive of
sharīf meaning "very noble", "nobler", "noblest".