hijab

Etymology

It is a borrowing from Arabic,^[2][3][4] in which the noun meant the action of veiling and the garment used for it,^[2] or more generally a cover, screen or curtain.^[3][4][5] The Arabic noun comes from a verb meaning to cover or veil, and to protect what is private,^[2][3][6] from a Semitic root written h-j-b.^[7][3] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford take the word through Persian,^[6][8] while the OED compares the Persian word as a borrowing from Arabic.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The practice, observed by some Muslim women, of wearing concealing clothing or living in seclusion: 1885, in T. P. Hughes's Dictionary of Islam.^[2] Etymonline notes that an English lexicon of Hindustani of 1800 already glossed the word "modesty, shame", and that other dictionaries of about 1800 connect it with covering and hiding.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In classical Arabic the word meant a partition, screen or curtain, and also the rules of modesty and dress for women.^[7] In English it first named that practice and the religious code governing it (1885).^[2] Bilingual dictionaries used it for the veil worn by Muslim women by 1906,^[7] and the sense of a head covering worn in public is recorded from 1980 in the OED and Merriam-Webster.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1885 – the practice of veiling or seclusion among Muslim women, and the code governing it.^[2]
• 1906 – a veil worn by Muslim women, in bilingual dictionaries.^[7]
• 1980 – a head covering or veil worn in public by some Muslim women.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A headscarf or veil covering the hair and neck, worn in public by some Muslim women: She wore a blue hijab to the interview.^[4][5][2]
2. The practice among some Muslim women of wearing such clothing, and the religious code that governs it.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press