hijra
/ˈhiːd͡ʒɹə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
India/ɦɪd͡ʒ.ɽɑː/
hijra noun: a eunuch in South Asia, especially one who dresses as a woman. Also the alternative letter-case form of Hijra.
Noun (1)
hijra (plural hijras)
- A eunuch in South Asia, especially one who dresses as a woman.
- When the Mughal court was disbanded, Muslim hijras were exposed for the first time to the other, Hindu, tradition of eunuchry.1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, Penguin, published 2004, page 172
- A (typically biologically male or intersex, but sometimes biologically female) member of a somewhat feminine third gender found in India and Pakistan.
- The subjects of this study are hijras or the "third sex" of India, individuals who occupy a unique, liminal space between male and female, sacred and profane.1995, Gayatri Reddy, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, & Culture)...
- Even more surprisingly, there are female hijras, women who were born women, who are drawn into the gharanas by the attraction and apparent safety of the hierarchies' substitute for family life.2011, AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories from India, →ISBN, page 111
Noun (2)
hijra (plural hijras)
- Any similar flight or emigration to a better place.
- Emigration from a non-Muslim country to a Muslim one.
- Hijrah means Moving from a land of Shirk to a land of Islaam.2007, Abu Maryam Isma’eel Alarcon, transl., The Three Fundamental Principles of Imaam Muhammad bin ‘Abdil-Wahhaab, Al-Ibaanah E-Books, page 17
Proper noun capitalized: Hijra
IPA/ˈhɪd͡ʒɹə/
Hijra
- The flight of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib (later Medina) in 622 ce, which forms the first year of the Islamic era (ah 1).
- AH: the Islamic era, dated from the Hijra.
- Since the Muslim lunar year contains only 354 days, the year 2005 is approximately equivalent to Hijra 1426.
- The Islamic calendar, dated from the Hijra.
Also used as
hijra is also the alternative letter-case form of Hijra.
hijra meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hijra in Hindi
- third gender
- हिजड़ा m हीजड़ा hijṛā, ख़्वाजा सिरा xvājā sirā, खस्सी khassī, खुसरा khusrā, नपुंसक napunsak
hijra in Tamil
- third gender
- திருநங்கை tirunaṅkai
hijra in Marathi
- third gender
- हिजडा hijḍā
hijra in Urdu
- third gender
- ہجڑا hijṛā, ہیجڑا hījṛā, خواجہ سرا xājā sarā
More languagesFewer languages
- hijra in Bengali
- হিজড়া hijoṛa
- hijra in Punjabi
- ਹਿਜੜਾ hijṛā, ਹੀਜੜਾ hījṛā, ਖੁਸਰਾ khusrā, ਖ਼ੁਸਰਾ xusrā
- hijra in Gujarati
- હીજડો hījḍo
- hijra in Odia
- ହିଜଡ଼ hijaṛa
- hijra in Sinhala
- හීජිරො hījiro
- hijra in Arabic
- هِجْرَة hijra
Examples of hijra in a sentence
- While videographers were shooting him as he sat on the floor among a group of male and female sex workers, two transgender (male-to-female) hijras came to sit next to him, one on either side.2013, Raymond A. Smith, Global HIV/AIDS Politics, Policy, and Activism, →ISBN, page 208:
- Nanda profiles […] an uncastrated hijra who is married to a man and has an adopted son; and a hermaphrodite hijra […]2013, Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies, →ISBN, page 280:
Forms of hijra
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hijras |
| alternative form | hejra |
| alternative form | hijada |
| alternative form | hijara |
| alternative form | hijrah |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | Hijrah |
| alternative form | Hidjra |
| alternative form | Hegira |
| alternative form | Hejira |
| alternative form | hijra |
Origin of hijra
From Hindi हीजड़ा (hījṛā).
From Arabic هِجْرَة (hijra, “departure, exodus”). Doublet of hegira.
From Arabic هِجْرَة (hijra, “departure, exodus”), used in reference to Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, from the verb هَجَرَ (hajara, “emigrate, to abandon”). Doublet of Hegira, which went through Latin.
Words formed from hijra
Questions about hijra
- What does hijra mean?
- Hijra means a eunuch in South Asia, especially one who dresses as a woman.
- What is hijra in Hindi?
- Hijra in Hindi is हिजड़ा m हीजड़ा (hijṛā), ख़्वाजा सिरा (xvājā sirā), खस्सी (khassī). See Hijra meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use hijra in a sentence?
- While videographers were shooting him as he sat on the floor among a group of male and female sex workers, two transgender (male-to-female) hijras came to sit next to him, one on either side.
- What part of speech is hijra?
- Hijra can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce hijra?
- Hijra is pronounced /ˈhiːd͡ʒɹə/ (US).
- What is the plural of hijra?
- The plural of hijra is hijras.
Words near hijra in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hijra (page history and authors); Hijra (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)-Flame, not lame-hijra.wav.
Cite this entry: “hijra.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hijra. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.