jilbab

English

Alternative forms

• jilbaab

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic جِلْبَاب (jilbāb), from Ge'ez ግልባብ (gəlbab, “covering, veil, wrapper”), from ገልበበ (gälbäbä, “to cover, to veil, to wrap, to envelop”).

Noun

jilbab (plural jilbabs or jalabib)

1. A long, loose-fitting coat or similar garment worn by some Muslim women to fulfil hijab.
   • 2009 July 3, Norimitsu Onishi, “A Political Symbol, Demurely Worn, Emerges in Indonesia”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Most Indonesian women started wearing the jilbab in the last decade, after the fall in 1998 of President Suharto, who had kept a close grip on Islamic groups.

References

• Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, page 102
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[2] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 53