harem

har·em

H0064600 (hâr′əm, hăr′-)n.1. A house or a section of a house reserved for women members of a Muslim household.2. The wives, concubines, female relatives, and servants occupying such a place.3. A group of women who are sexual partners of the same man.4. A group of female animals that breed exclusively with a single dominant male.

[Turkish, partly from Arabic ḥaram, forbidden, sacrosanct, and partly from Arabic ḥarīm, forbidden place, both from ḥarama, to prohibit; see x̣rm in Semitic roots.]

harem

(ˈhɛərəm; hɑːˈriːm) or

hareem

n1. (Sociology) the part of an Oriental house reserved strictly for wives, concubines, etc2. (Sociology) a Muslim's wives and concubines collectively3. (Zoology) a group of female animals of the same species that are the mates of a single male[C17: from Arabic harīm forbidden (place)]

har•em

(ˈhɛər əm, ˈhær-)

n. 1. the part of a Muslim palace or house reserved for the residence of women. 2. the women in a Muslim household, including the mothers, sisters, wives, concubines, daughters, entertainers, and servants. 3. a social group of female animals, as elephant seals, accompanied by a reproductive male who denies other males access to the group. [1625–35; < Arabic ḥarīm harem, literally, forbidden]

Harem

a family of wives or concubines, female relatives, and servants, 1781; the occupants of a harem collectively.Examples: harem of dear friendships, 1855; a literary harem [‘library’], 1872.

Thesaurus

Noun

harem - living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim householdhareem, seraglio, serailliving quarters, quarters - housing available for people to live in; "he found quarters for his family"; "I visited his bachelor quarters"

harem

noun women's quarters, seraglio, zenana (in eastern countries), gynaeceum (in ancient Greece) like a sheikh in the midst of his harem

Translations

女眷闺阁

harem

(ˈhaːrim) , (haːˈriːm) , ((American) ˈha:rəm) noun1. the part of a Muslim house occupied by the women. （伊斯兰教国家中的）闺阁 2. the women themselves. 女眷

harem

(hâr`əm) [Arabic], term applied to women's apartments in a Muslim household. In the ancient Arab world women enjoyed a certain amount of freedom. However, with the advent of Islam, the veiling and seclusion of women into harems became more common. The most famous harem, that of the sultans of Turkey, dates from the 15th cent. and included the old and new palaces on Seraglio Point, Constantinople. It was abolished with the downfall (1909) of Abd al-Hamid II. The sultan's harem often contained several hundred women, all subject to the control of the sultan's mother and guarded by eunuchs. In India the harem is called a purdah or zenana; in Iran, andarun. Although the harem is rapidly disappearing in the 20th cent., there nevertheless are still some in existence in the more remote areas of the Muslim world.

Bibliography

See N. M. Penzer, The Harem (1937); D. Van Ess, Fatima and Her Sisters (1961).

Harem

the women’s quarters in a wealthy Muslim household; also, in a figurative sense, its inhabitants—the wives and concubines of the master of the house. Large harems of rulers, the wealthy, and dignitaries in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and other countries were guarded by eunuchs. Men (other than husbands and sons) were barred from the harems. Beginning in the 1920’s the harem virtually disappeared as a result of the ban on multiple marriages (for example, in Turkey in 1926), the introduction of equal social rights for women, economic and cultural progress, and the growth of the democratic movement, including the women’s movement.

harem

, hareem a group of female animals of the same species that are the mates of a single male

Acronym

Definition

HAREM➣Human Activity Recognition and Modelling (workshop)

HAREM➣Hughes Anti-armor Requirements and Effectiveness Model

harem

har·em

harem

hareem

har•em

Harem

harem

harem

harem

harem

Bibliography

Harem

harem

harem

harem

HAREM

harem

Synonyms for harem

noun women's quarters

Synonyms

Synonyms for harem

noun living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim household

Synonyms

Related Words