houri
UK /ˈhʊəɹi/ · US /ˈhʊɹ.i/ noun
Forms houris
- noun (Islam) A beautiful virgin girl supposed to dwell in Paradise for the enjoyment of the faithful.
- noun (by extension) Any voluptuous, beautiful woman.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French houri, from Persian حوری (hurî), from Arabic حُورِيّ (ḥūriyy) and Arabic حُورِيَّة (ḥūriyya), adjective and feminine singulative of حُور (ḥūr) from Classical Arabic حُورٌ عِينٌ (ḥūrun ʕīnun, “fair maidens, black-eyed ones”). See أَحْوَر m (ʔaḥwar), حَوْرَاء f (ḥawrāʔ) for the base adjective.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A nymph of paradise; --so called by the Mohammedans.
Etymology [Per. huri, hura, hur; akin to Ar. hur, pl. of ahwar beautiful-eyed, black-eyed.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “houri”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details