Etymology

zenana

Z10E1N1A1N1A1

Today it means: Synonym of harem (“area of house or palace for high-caste women or wives of a wealthy man; the women thus kept; the system of segregating women in this way”). Full definition →

Hindi ज़नाना ← Urdu زنانه ← Classical Persian زنانه
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The story

  1. Classical Persian · derived fromزنانه“womanly”
  2. Urdu · derived fromزنانه
  3. Hindi · derived fromज़नाना
  4. English todayzenana

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.