a person whose gender identity is neither male nor female, typically a person who was assigned male at birth but whose gender expression is female.
a person who is transgender.
the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution a.d. 622: regarded as the beginning of the Muslim Era.
the Muslim Era itself.
First recorded in 1835–40; from Hindi: “eunuch, hermaphrodite”
From the Arabic word hijrah flight, departure
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This hijra, meaning “emigration,” was a watershed moment for Muhammad’s early community.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
Aruvi, a transgender person in Hyderabad, started a “transkitchen” with the help of three friends from the queer community, who cooked food and delivered it to the hijra community and other marginalized groups.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 8, 2022
Many readers will remember that Arundhati Roy explored the lives of hijra in her swirling 2017 novel, “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.”
From Washington Post • Jun. 15, 2020
And, in an oral retelling of the story of Lord Ram, the Hindu god is so moved by the steadfast devotion of his hijra subjects that he promises, “Never again shall you be invisible.”
From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2019
She says her hope is that people will stop reacting negatively to the word hijra and start treating them as the "third sex".
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2014
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
