Hegira
Americannoun
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Islam. a variant spelling of Hijra.
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(lowercase) Also hejira any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place.
noun
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the departure of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 ad ; the starting point of the Muslim era
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the Muslim era itself See also AH
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(often not capital) an emigration escape or flight
Etymology
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”
Explanation
A hegira is an arduous journey taken by people who are fleeing a dangerous situation. After what is often a difficult hegira, refugees then have to go through the long process of gaining asylum in a new country. The word hegira is derived from the Arabic hajara, "to depart." The original hegira, or hijra, was the Islamic founder Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Medina in 622. He and his followers traveled to escape religious persecution, and the date of the voyage marks the start of the Islamic calendar. The word can also be used for less fraught journeys: "It was such a hegira getting to the beach, with all that summer traffic!"
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My own Hegira is a two-block schlep to a neighborhood bagel place, so I’m not the ideal audience for this heady Kerouacian stuff.
From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2021
The great Hegira, led by Charles E. Hughes, was at the cordial invitation of the Bench and Bar of England.
From Time Magazine Archive
This point, the Hegira, is the beginning of the Moslem calendar.
From Time Magazine Archive
He has told an interviewer that they understand their stay there to be similar to the Prophet Muhammad's Hegira, or migration from Mecca to Medina.
From Time Magazine Archive
This lean class, which penetrates everything—industry, commerce, the administration—mighty by encompassing the people, so vigorous, so ready in the first days of our Hegira, will it not, as in 1792, rise for the common weal?
From History of the Commune of 1871 by P. Lissagary
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