Hajib

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An official of a Muslim court, of varied importance, initially controlling access to the caliph, but later very powerful; a chamberlain. historical

    "The hajib was always a man of consequence; being close to the caliph he was always in a position to give messages and ask favours and, most of all, he controlled access to his master."

  2. 2
    Alternative form of hijab. alt-of, alternative, nonstandard

Example

More examples

"The hajib was always a man of consequence; being close to the caliph he was always in a position to give messages and ask favours and, most of all, he controlled access to his master."

Etymology

The court title derives from Arabic الحَاجِب (al-ḥājib, “chamberlain”). Use of the word to designate a headscarf derives from Arabic حَاجِب (ḥājib, “concealing, covering, eyebrow”), from حَجَبَ (ḥajaba, “to veil, to cover, to screen”) (whence also hijab).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.