See also: حيا

Persian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Arabic حَيَاء (ḥayāʔ).

Pronunciation

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Readings
Classical reading? hayā
Dari reading? hayā
Iranian reading? heyâ
Tajik reading? hayo

Noun

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حیا (hayâ)

  1. modesty, bashfulness
    • c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 70:
      با این زبان ز بردن نامش حیا کنم
      دایم اگرچه ذکر دلم نام مسطفا
      bā īn zabān zi burdan-i nāmaš hayā kunam
      dāyim agarči zikr-i dilam nām-i mustafā
      I am ashamed to mention his name with this tongue [of mine],
      Though my heart's prayer is always Muhammad's name.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)

Further reading

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  • Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “حیا”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

Urdu

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Classical Persian حیا (ḥayā), itself from Arabic حَيَاء (ḥayāʔ). First attested as Middle Hindi حیا (ḥayā)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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حَیَا (ḥayāf (Hindi spelling हया)

  1. modesty
  2. honour
  3. veil

Declension

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Declension of حیا
singular plural
direct حَیَا (ḥayā) حَیَائیں (ḥayāẽ)
oblique حَیَا (ḥayā) حَیَاؤں (ḥayāõ)
vocative حَیَا (ḥayā) حَیَاؤ (ḥayāo)

Further reading

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  • حیا”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
  • حیا”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
  • Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “حیا”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.