Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

May 30, 2002

This week's theme
Words borrowed from Arabic

This week's words
alembic
nadir
jihad
houri
talisman

Many ways to read AWAD
o Email
o Web
o Twitter
o RSS feed
o Calendar
o On your own website

---

houri

noun:
1. One of the beautiful virgins provided for faithful Muslims in the Koranic paradise.
2. A voluptuously attractive young woman.

[From French, from Persian huri, from Arabic huri, plural of haura (dark-eyed woman).]

"Corn and kitsch mesh seamlessly with art and virtuosity. Suspended from a swinging chandelier, a voluptuous houri, trailing clouds of veils, undulates to the music of the Ave Maria -- with a disco tom-tom backbeat."
Howard G. Ghua-Eoan; The Moscow Circus Returns; Time (New York); Sep 19, 1988.

X-Bonus