see|Hijra
English

Etymology 1
Arabic ARchar|�جرة (híjra, �departure�, �exodus�), referring to Muhammad�s flight from Mecca to Medina in AD 622; from the verb ARchar|�جر (hájara, �to emigrate�, �to abandon�).

Noun
hijra (usually uppercase)

1. See Hijra.

Etymology 2
From Urdu URchar|��ج�ا (हि�ड़ा), meaning eunuch, hermaphrodite.
wikipedia|Hijra (South Asia)

Noun
hijra

1. Eunich transvestite.

#:1995 Gayatri Reddy:With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, & Culture) ISBN: 0226707563 http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/16479.ctl
#::With Respect to Sex is an intimate ethnography that offers a provocative account of sexual and social difference in India. The subjects of this study are hijras or the "third sex" of India, individuals who occupy a unique, liminal space between male and female, sacred and profane. Hijras are men who sacrifice their genitalia to a goddess in return for the power to confer fertility on newlyweds and newborn children, a ritual role they are respected for, at the same time as they are stigmatized for their ambiguous sexuality. (review).
#: 1994: John Irving: A Son of the Circus: Bloomsbury ISBN 0747517630 P.57.
#::"They are an accepted third gender in India; they are called hijras - an Urdu word of masculine gender meaning hermaphrodite. But hijras are not born hermaphrodites, they are emasculated - hence eunuch is the truer word for them....And hijras dress as women, hence the term "eunich transvestite" comes closest to what they are.

• 2007-06-18 20:32 - AutoFormat - header in ety sect Noun to L4, header in ety sect Noun to L4

Full Revision History