This week’s theme
Words borrowed from other languages

This week’s words
satori
hegira
pronunciamento
bobbery
camorra

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(hi-JY-ruh, HEJ-uhr-uh)

MEANING:

noun: A journey or migration, especially when taken to escape an undesirable situation.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE to escape persecution. From Arabic hijra (departure), from hajara (to depart). Earliest documented use: 1590.

USAGE:

“He seamlessly presents historical information on such trail subjects as ... the Mormon hegira to Salt Lake that began in 1847.”
The Oregon Trail (review); Wild West (Tysons, Virginia); Dec 2015.

“In Blinded by the Right, his account of his ideological hegira from conservative button man to liberal media critic, David Brock describes a hilarious scene at an Arkansas bait shop.”
Charles P. Pierce; Politics: Sure, They Love Her Now...; Esquire (New York); Jun 2013.

See more usage examples of hegira in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: