Hegira

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

/ hɪˈdʒaɪ rə, ˈhɛdʒ ər ə /

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See synonyms for Hegira on Thesaurus.com

noun

Islam. a variant spelling of Hijra.

(lowercase)Also he·ji·ra . any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place.

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Origin of Hegira

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Medieval Latin, from Arabic hijrah “emigration, flight, departure,” a derivative of the verb hajara “he departed”

Words nearby Hegira

hegemon, hegemonic, hegemonic masculinity, hegemonism, hegemony, Hegira, hegumen, heh, hehe, he-huckleberry, Heian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Hegira in a sentence

One has no recollection of things that happened before the Hegira.
The Secret Witness|George Gibbs
The snow-drifts were still deep on the hills when, in the first days of March, we commenced our hegira to the far West.
Mary and I|Stephen Return Riggs
The explanation of course was, that he had been brought as an infant on this famous Hegira of the Selkirk Colonists.
The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists|George Bryce
Then came the hegira, which ended, as all the world knows, at Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume I (of 2)|Wiliam Cabell Bruce

With this view, and under the modest title of the station of a caravan, he planted this colony in the fiftieth year of the Hegira.
The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Edward Gibbon

British Dictionary definitions for Hegira

Hegira

Hejira

/ (ˈhɛdʒɪrə) /

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