hajj

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic حَجّ (ḥajj, “pilgrimage”),^{[2][3][4][5][1]} especially the full pilgrimage to Mecca as distinct from the umrah,^[2] from the Arabic verb meaning to go on a pilgrimage.^[2][3][1] The Oxford English Dictionary takes the sense "person who has made the pilgrimage" partly from the Arabic active participle of the same verb.^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford give the Arabic phrase, with the definite article, as "the Great Pilgrimage".^[6][7] Chambers glosses the Arabic word as "effort, pilgrimage".^[8] The OED compares French hadj, used for the pilgrim since 1731 and for the pilgrimage since 1743, and the Persian words for the pilgrimage and the pilgrim.^[2] Etymonline relates the Arabic verb to a Hebrew verb meaning to make a pilgrimage or celebrate a feast.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and a Muslim who has made it: both in 1671, in Lancelot Addison's West Barbary.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1673 as the first known use,^[4] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1665–75,^[9] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 18th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the pilgrimage that Muslims are expected to make at least once in their lives, held in Dhū al-ḥijja, the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar;^[2][5] Collins adds that the duty holds for those with the means and health to make it.^[5] In early use it could also name the pilgrim himself, and it became a title for a man who had made the pilgrimage, a use the earlier haji shares.^[2] From 1881 it was extended to any pilgrimage or journey to a place of special meaning or interest.^[2] Etymonline notes that one who has made the pilgrimage is a hajji and bears that title afterwards as a mark of honour.^[3]

Timeline

• 1671 – the pilgrimage to Mecca; also a person who has made it.^[2]
• 1881 – extended to any pilgrimage or journey to a place of special significance.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim who is able is expected to make at least once, one of the duties of Islam.^[5][4][2]
2. A Muslim who has made this pilgrimage; also used as a title.^[2]
3. By extension, any journey to a place of particular meaning or interest: the annual hajj of fans to the stadium.^[2]

Word family

• hajji

Related words

• haji

Usage notes

The word is also spelled hadj and haj;^[4][7][3] Collins gives the plurals hajjes and hadjes.^[5] The OED capitalizes it as Hajj.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House