Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

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حَيَآءٌ

Root: حى

Full Definition

حَيَآءٌ an Verbal.Noun of حَيِىَ in the first of the senses explained in this art.
2 [Hence,] syn. with حَيًا, in two senses: see the next preceding paragraph, in two places.
3 Also Verbal.Noun of حَيِىَ as syn. with اِسْتَحْيَى; i. q. اِسْتِحْيَآءٌ; Shame; a sense of shame; shyness, or bashfulness; [and particularly, but not always, honest shame, or pudency, or modesty;] syn. حِشْمَةٌ; a shrinking of the soul from foul conduct, through fear of blame; a languor that affects the animal faculty, and turns it back from its actions: and repentance; syn. تَوْبَةٌ.
4 And hence, as being a thing that should be concealed, and of which one is ashamed to speak plainly, The vulva, or external portion of the female organs of generation, (فَرْج, El-Fárábee, Msb, K, or رَحِم, [which here means the same,] S,) of a camel, or an animal having feet like those of the camel, and of a cloven-hoofed animal, and of a beast of prey: accord. to AZ, the دُبُر [here meaning the same as فَرْج] of any of these and of other animals: accord. to IAar, it is of the ewe or she-goat, the cow, and the gazelle: and [sometimes] the فَرْج of a girl, or of a woman: (Zj in his “ Khalk el-Insán: ” [see also حَىٌّ:]) and حَيًا signifies the same; but accord. to Az, this is not allowable except in poetry, in a case of necessity: pl. أَحْيَآءٌ and أَحْيِيَةٌ and, by contraction, أَحِيَّةٌ, which is said to be preferable, and [quasi-pl. n.] حَىٌّ and حِىٌّ [which two have been mistaken by Freytag for syns. of تَحِيَّةٌ, immediately following them in the K].
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