Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A member of a third gender found in India and Pakistan.
  • noun Alternative capitalization of Hijra

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Arabic هجرة (híjra, "departure, exodus"), referring to Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE; from the verb هجر (hájara, "emigrate, to abandon")

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Urdu ہیجڑا (hījṛā) / Hindi हीजड़ा (hījṛā).

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Examples

Comments

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  • “Outside the hall where the Naz Foundation news conference was held, dozens of young men and women gathered to celebrate, along with a group of hijras, men who dress and act like women who classify themselves as belonging to neither gender.”

    The New York Times, Indian Court Overturns Gay Sex Ban, by Heather Timmons and Hari Kumar, July 2, 2009

    July 2, 2009

  • there's something transfixing in the phrase gay sex ban. it's just...*eye bulge*

    July 3, 2009