Hegira

[hi-jahy-ruh, hej-er-uh]

See more synonyms for Hegira on Thesaurus.com

noun

Islam. Hijra.
(lowercase) Also hejira. any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place.

Origin of Hegira

< Medieval Latin < Arabic; see Hijra

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hegira

hike, trip, odyssey, expedition, flight, transfer, journey, shift, exodus, movement, retirement, evacuation, escape, removal, exit, separation, withdrawal, passage, takeoff, retreat

Examples from the Web for hegira

Historical Examples of hegira

This was the first Hegira, or flight of the persecuted Moslems.
A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihd'
Moulavi Gergh Ali
Since the Hegira, nothing has happened in Arabia, and before that was Moses, and before him the giants.'
Tancred
Benjamin Disraeli
Dating reverently from its era, as the Moslem from his Hegira.
Man of Uz, and Other Poems
Lydia Howard Sigourney
That wretched stone from the cavern where Mahommed slept in the Hegira!
The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton
Wardon Allan Curtis
The Hegira is completed,—we have all taken roost in the old Tower.
The Caxtons, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for hegira

Hegira

Hejira

noun

the departure of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 ad; the starting point of the Muslim era
the Muslim era itselfSee also AH
(often not capital) an emigration escape or flight

Also called: Hijrah

Word Origin for Hegira

C16: from Medieval Latin, from Arabic hijrah emigration or flight

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hegira

1580s, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (July 16, 622 C.E.), from which event the Islamic calendar reckons, from Medieval Latin hegira, from Arabic hijrah "departure," from hajara "to depart."