houri
/ˈhʊəɹi/US/ˈhʊɹ.i/
houri noun: a beautiful virgin girl supposed to dwell in Paradise for the enjoyment of the faithful.
Noun
houri (plural houris)
- A beautiful virgin girl supposed to dwell in Paradise for the enjoyment of the faithful.
- They went through the courtyard, past a naked copper houri tilting a water-jar that merely dripped[.]1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 53
- We cannot go into the technical details of his methodology but it allows Luxenberg, to the probable horror of all Muslim males dreaming of sexual bliss in the Muslim hereafter, to conjure away the wide-eyed houris promised to the faithful in suras XLIV.54; LII.20, LV.72, and LVI.22. Luxenberg's new...2002 January 12, Ibn Warraq, “Virgins? What virgins?”, in The Guardian
- Any voluptuous, beautiful woman.
- I would not exchange this one little English girl for the Grand Turk’s whole seraglio; gazelle-eyes, houri forms and all!1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IX, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 242
- “The town is full of temptations, sir,” continued Pen. The old gentleman thought of that houri, Mrs. O’Leary.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 74, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
houri meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Gujarati
houri in Hindi
- (Islam) a nymph in the form of a beautiful virgin
- हूर hūr
houri in Urdu
- houri, a beautiful virgin-nymph that resides in Paradise
- حور hūr
houri in Punjabi
- (Islam) a nymph in the form of a beautiful virgin
- ਹੂਰ hūr
houri in Gujarati
- (Islam) a nymph in the form of a beautiful virgin
- હૂરી hūrī, હૂર hūr
More languagesFewer languages
- houri in Arabic
- حَوْرَاء ḥawrāʔ
- houri in Indonesian
- haur
- houri in Persian
- حوری huri
Examples of houri in a sentence
- Luxenberg's new analysis, leaning on the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, yields "white raisins" of "crystal clarity" rather than doe-eyed, and ever willing virgins - the houris.2002 January 12, Ibn Warraq, “Virgins? What virgins?”, in The Guardian:
- The repetition of material about the houri suggests that the popularization of that figure occurred as early as the ninth century and continued well into the twelfth century.2009, Nerina Rustomji, The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 114:
- What if in paradise there are no houris waiting? / What if but all you get are grapes, succulent grapes? / What if it's all just a mistake in the translation?2013, “What If…?”, in Still Smiling, performed by Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld:
- Although the beauty of houris is described in terms of cosmic pureness and sumptuary materials, the qiyan are understood through attributes and affects.2017, Matthew S. Gordon, Kathryn A. Hain, Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN...
Forms of houri
| plural | houris |
|---|
Origin of houri
From French houri, from Persian حوری (hurî), from Arabic حُورِيّ (ḥūriyy) and Arabic حُورِيَّة (ḥūriyya), adjective and feminine singulative of حُور (ḥūr) from Classical Arabic حُورٌ عِينٌ (ḥūrun ʕīnun, “fair maidens, black-eyed ones”). See أَحْوَر m (ʔaḥwar), حَوْرَاء f (ḥawrāʔ) for the base adjective.
Words that rhyme with houri
Questions about houri
- What does houri mean?
- Houri means a beautiful virgin girl supposed to dwell in Paradise for the enjoyment of the faithful.
- What is houri in Hindi?
- Houri in Hindi is हूर (hūr). See Houri meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use houri in a sentence?
- Luxenberg's new analysis, leaning on the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, yields "white raisins" of "crystal clarity" rather than doe-eyed, and ever willing virgins - the houris.
- What part of speech is houri?
- Houri is a noun.
- How do you pronounce houri?
- Houri is pronounced /ˈhʊəɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of houri?
- The plural of houri is houris.
Words near houri in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: houri (page history and authors); حور (Urdu) (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-houri.wav.
Cite this entry: “houri.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/houri. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.