harem
HAIR-em · noun
Origin
Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish harem, from Arabic ḥaram, meaning something prohibited or a sanctuary, and later also from the related Arabic ḥarīm — both tracing to the verb ḥaruma, meaning to be forbidden or unlawful.
This is Curio: one word's origin story, every morning. No feed, no backlog.
One short email each morning. Free; stop anytime. See a sample →
Journey
The word entered English through Ottoman Turkish, carrying forward the Arabic sense of a forbidden or sacred space reserved for women.
Related words
It's a doublet of haram and herem, both descending from the same Arabic root meaning forbidden.