zenana

American  

[zuh-nah-nuh] / zəˈnɑ nə /

Or zanana

noun

1. the part of the house in which the women and girls of a family are secluded.

2. its occupants collectively.

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zenana British  

/ zɛˈnɑːnə /

noun

1. (in the East, esp in Muslim and Hindu homes) part of a house reserved for the women and girls of a household

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Etymology

Origin of zenana

First recorded in 1755–65; from Hindi, from Persian zanāna, “female, pertaining to women,” adjective derivative of zan “woman”; cognate with Sanskrit jani “woman, wife,” Greek gynḗ, Old Church Slavonic žena, Old English cwēn “woman, wife”; see queen

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

zenana

The buzzing sound of UAVs has been ubiquitous in Gaza since 2006, and drones are called zenana, an Arabic word referring to the sound using the slang term for a nagging wife.

From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2024

A male doctor attending a zenana lady would put his hand between the purdah to feel her pulse.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 "Haller, Albrecht" to "Harmonium" by Various

It will be your voice and not our sister's that will hold the attention of the zenana.

From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny

As Viceroy he was admitted to the zenana, though of course other men could not enter.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers

Here the seclusion of the Turkish harem and the Hindoo zenana does not exist, and the women are probably the freest, most independent of the women of the East.

From Oriental Women by Edward Bagby Pollard