hijra

[ hij-ruh ]

noun(in South Asia, especially India)
  1. a person whose gender identity is neither male nor female, typically a person who was assigned male at birth but whose gender expression is female.

  2. a person who is transgender.

Origin of hijra

1
First recorded in 1835–40; from Hindi: “eunuch, hermaphrodite”

Words Nearby hijra

Other definitions for Hijra (2 of 2)

Hijra
[ hij-ruh ]

noun(sometimes lowercase)Islam.
  1. the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution a.d. 622: regarded as the beginning of the Muslim Era.

  2. the Muslim Era itself.

Origin of Hijra

2
From the Arabic word hijrah flight, departure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hijra in a sentence

  • The two sects founded by Sur and Zahar became extinct in the eighth century of the hijra.

    The Faith of Islam | Edward Sell

British Dictionary definitions for hijra

hijra

/ (ˈhɪdʒrə) /


noun
  1. (in India) a person who adopts a gender role that is neither male nor female

Origin of hijra

1
Urdu: eunuch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012