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purdah.

A curtain, especially one used in some Hindu or Muslim traditions to conceal women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpɜːdə/Received-Pronunciation/-dɑː/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɝdə/General-American
  1. A curtain, especially one used in some Hindu or Muslim traditions to conceal women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers.

    Bangladesh · India · Myanmar · Nepal · Pakistan · South-Asia · also · countable · figuratively
  2. A long veil or other attire covering most of the body, worn by women in some Muslim societies.

    broadly · countable
  3. The situation or system of secluding women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers, in some Muslim and Hindu traditions, by using a curtain or screen, and/or wearing a face veil or attire covering most of the body.

    broadly · uncountable
  4. Keeping apart; isolation, seclusion; also, concealment, secrecy.

    broadly · figuratively · uncountable
  5. The period between the announcement of an election or referendum and its conclusion, during which civil servants refrain from making policy announcements or taking actions that could be seen as advantageous to certain candidates in the election.

    UK · broadly · countable
  6. A striped cotton cloth which is used to make curtains.

    broadly · obsolete · rare · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Hindustani پردہ / पर्दा (pardā), and its etymon Classical Persian پرده (pardah, “curtain; screen; (archaic) veil”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”). Doublet of patka.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.