An acronym of one English translation of one of the group's Arabic-language names, الدَّوْلَة الْإِسْلَامِيَّة فِي الْعِرَاق وَالشَّام(ad-dawla al-ʾislāmiyya fī l-ʿirāq waš-šām, literally “the Islamic State of/in Iraq and the Levant”). Compare ISIS, which translates شَام(šām) as “Syria” rather than “Levant”.