zenana

plural zenanas · alternative zanána · alternative zanana

1. South AsiaSynonym 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”).

   Out of the blue, the chief eunuch of the zenana appears.

   1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 84

   3 more examples

   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.

   1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Bisara of Pooree”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 173

   Yet inside the walls of the havelis and the lattice screens of the zenana, life goes on as it always did.

   1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, Penguin, published 2004, page 59

   ‘You have more than enough to occupy you, I'm sure, with all your palaces and zenanas and budgerows.’

   2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 110

   Synonyms: harem

2. South AsiaSynonym of sissy (“effeminate man”).

   Synonyms: sissy

3. South AsiaSynonym of bottom (“passive partner in male homosexual sex”), especially an effeminate one.

   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.

   1999, Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India

   Synonyms: bottom

4. South AsiaSynonym of trans woman.

   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.

   1911, A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province

   Synonyms: trans woman