burka
US/ˈbɝkə/
burka is the alternative form of burqa.
Meaning of burqa
Noun
burqa (plural burqas)
- An enveloping Central Asian garment which covers the whole body, incorporating a netted screen to cover the eyes, chiefly worn by women in fundamentalist denominations of Islam to observe sartorial hijab (the practice of wearing concealing clothing in front of adult men after the age of puberty).
- He fished a sky blue burqa from the bag. The yards of pleated cloth spilled over his knees when he lifted it.2007, Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING (2018), page 69
- A garment incorporating a niqab (veil for the face).
- A hijab (traditional headscarf covering the hair and neck), such as a khimar or shayla .
Noun
burka (plural burkas)
Forms of burka
| plural | burkas |
|---|
Origin of burka
From Hindustani برقع / बुरक़ा (burqā), from Classical Persian برقع (burqa'), from Arabic بُرْقُع (burquʕ).
From Russian бу́рка (búrka); further etymology is disputed.
Questions about burka
- What does burka mean?
- Burka means a dress made from felt or karakul (the short curly fur of young lambs of the breed of that name), traditionally worn by men of the Caucasus region.
- What is burka the alternative form of?
- Burka is the alternative form of burqa.
- What part of speech is burka?
- Burka is a noun.
- How do you pronounce burka?
- Burka is pronounced /ˈbɝkə/ (US).
- What is the plural of burka?
- The plural of burka is burkas.
Words near burka in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: burka (page history and authors); burqa (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-burka.wav.
Cite this entry: “burka.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/burka. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.