harem
pronunciation
How to pronounce harem in British English:
UK [ˈhɑ:ri:m]
How to pronounce harem in American English:
US [ˈhærəm]
-
- Noun:
- living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim household
Word Origin
- harem
- harem: [17] Etymologically, Arabic harīm is a ‘forbidden place’. It is a derivative of the verb harama ‘prohibit’ (whence also harmattan, literally ‘the forbidden one’, the name of a dry dusty Saharan wind). Hence it came to be applied to a part of a Muslim house reserved for women, and by extension to the women who lived there – the wives and concubines of the master of the household.Synonymous terms in English include seraglio, which comes via Italian and Turkish from Persian serāi ‘residence, palace’, and forms the second element of caravanserai, and zenana, which is derived ultimately from Persian zan ‘woman’, a relative of Greek guné ‘woman’ (as in English gynaecology).
- harem (n.)
- 1630s, "part of a Middle Eastern house reserved for women," from Turkish harem, from Arabic haram "wives and concubines," originally "women's quarters," literally "something forbidden or kept safe," from root of harama "he guarded, forbade." From 1784 in English as "wives, female relatives and female slaves in a Middle Eastern household." The harem-skirt was introduced in fashion 1911. Harem pants attested from 1921; fashionable c. 1944.
Example
- 1. Jews fleeing the spanish inquisition were welcomed to istanbul . Christian converts became key figures in the bureaucracy , armed forces and the harem .
- 2. The heroine , zhen huan ( sun li ) , initially a kind and innocent young lady , enters the emperor 's harem of concubines .
- 3. The berliner kurier claimed that for years burke had been a secret agent of the sublime porte that in exchange for the rifles he was promised a principality of his own and a fully stocked harem .
- 4. It distributed bribes liberally : the merchants offered to provide an english virgin for the sultan of achin 's harem , for example , before james I intervened .
- 5. In one recent survey , 47 % of women reported the fantasy of seeing themselves as a striptease dancer , harem girl , or other performer .