different between hejira vs hijra

English

Noun

hejira (plural hejiras)

1. Alternative form of hegira

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?d???/

Etymology 1

From Hindi ?????? (h?j??).

Alternative forms

• hejra, hijada, hijara, hijrah

Noun

hijra (plural hijras)

1. A eunuch in South Asia, especially one who dresses as a woman. [from 19th c.]
   • 1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, Penguin 2004, page 172:

     When the Mughal court was disbanded, Muslim hijras were exposed for the first time to the other, Hindu, tradition of eunuchry.

2. A (typically biologically male or intersex, but sometimes biologically female) member of a somewhat feminine third gender found in India and Pakistan.
   • 1995, Gayatri Reddy, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, & Culture), ?ISBN [1]:

     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.

   • 2011, AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories from India ?ISBN, page 111:

     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.

   • 2013, Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies ?ISBN, page 280:

     Nanda profiles […] an uncastrated hijra who is married to a man and has an adopted son; and a hermaphrodite hijra […]

Usage notes

This term is sometimes considered offensive in Pakistan. A polite alternative is the Urdu ????? ???? (khwaja sara, khwaja sira), although this term is rare in English.

Gender activists in Pakistan have promoted khwaja sira as a politically correct alternative to hijra.

Translations

See also

• zenana

References

Etymology 2

From Arabic ???????? (hijra, “departure, exodus”). Doublet of hegira.

Alternative forms

• hijrah

Noun

hijra (plural hijras)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Hijra
2. Any similar flight or emigration to a better place.
3. (Islam) Emigration from a non-Muslim country to a Muslim one.

Usage notes

Usually capitalized in reference to the specific event or the Islamic calendar based upon it.

Translations