Hijab

How to spell hijab

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hijab

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hijab mean?

1. nounA headscarf worn by many Muslim women that covers the hair and neck.

Hijab in a sentence

• She chose a pale blue hijab to match her outfit for the meeting.

• The shop sells a wide range of fabrics suitable for a hijab.

Where does hijab come from?

Language of origin: Arabic

The word comes directly from the Arabic hijab, which means a cover, a curtain, a screen, or a partition. It is built on the three-consonant root h-j-b, carrying the verb hajaba, meaning 'to cover, conceal, or shield from view'. In its earliest religious use the term described any barrier that screens or separates, including the curtain that shields a private space, rather than a specific garment. Over time the sense narrowed toward the practice of modest covering, and in particular the headscarf worn by many Muslim women. English borrowed the word in the twentieth century, keeping the Arabic spelling almost untouched, which is why the simple, phonetic 'h-i-j-a-b' rarely trips up writers; the only mild surprise is the soft 'j' sounding like an English 'j' rather than a 'y'.

How the word is built

• hijab (from Arabic hijab: cover, veil, partition), built on the root h-j-b 'to cover or screen'