zenana

See also: zénana

English

Alternative forms

zanána

Etymology

From Hindi ज़नाना (zanānā), Urdu زنانه (zanānah), from Classical Persian (zanāna, “womanly”), from (zan, “woman”). Related to Old English cwene (“woman”). More at quean.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zəˈnɑːnə/

Noun

zenana (plural zenanas)

(South Asia) Synonym of harem, a area of a house or palace for high-caste women or for the wives of a wealthy man; the women thus kept; the system of segregating women in this way.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Bisara of Pooree”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 173:
  Depend upon it, Solomon would never have built altars to Ashtaroth and all those ladies with queer names, if there had not been trouble of some kind in his zenana, and nowhere else.
- 1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, Penguin, published 2004, page 59:
  Yet inside the walls of the havelis and the lattice screens of the zenana, life goes on as it always did.
- 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 84:
  Out of the blue, the chief eunuch of the zenana appears.
- 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 110:
  ‘You have more than enough to occupy you, I'm sure, with all your palaces and zenanas and budgerows.’
(South Asia) Synonym of sissy, an effeminate man.
(South Asia) Synonym of bottom, the passive partner in male homosexual sex.
- 1999, Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India:
  In parts of North India, effeminate males who are assumed to play the passive role in homosexual relationships are referred to as zenana, literally meaning woman.
(South Asia) Synonym of trans woman, a person assigned male at birth who identifies as female.
- 1911, A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province:
  For some years past the zanánas have celebrated the Holi as a carnival. They assume female names, by which they are called in their own circle. Most of them are beardless youth; those who have beards shave them. Náz nakhra (flirtation) becomes their second nature.