purdah

Two women in northern Afghanistan wearing burkas or burqas. The burka – a garment which covers the whole body and has a net screen over the eyes – is a form of purdah (sense 2.1).

Borrowed from Hindustani پردہ / पर्दा (pardā),[1][2] and its etymon Classical Persian پرده (pardah, “curtain; screen; (archaic) veil”),[3] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːdə/, /-dɑː/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɝdə/
• Hyphenation: pur‧dah

purdah (countable and uncountable, plural purdahs)

1. (countable, chiefly South Asia, also figuratively) A curtain, especially one used in some Hindu or Muslim traditions to conceal women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers. [from early 17th c.]
   • 1909, Rudyard Kipling, “A Wayside Comedy”, in Under the Deodars (The Works of Rudyard Kipling), Edinburgh de Luxe edition, Boston, Mass., London: The Edinburgh Society, →OCLC, page 64:

     As she passed through the dining-room she heard, behind the purdah that cloaked the drawing-room door, her husband's voice, […]

   • 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter II, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC, part I (Mosque), page 11:

     "Come and see my wife a little then," said Hamidullah, and they spent twenty minutes behind the purdah.

2. (by extension)
   1. (countable) A long veil or other attire covering most of the body, worn by women in some Muslim societies. [from 20th c.]

      Hyponym: burka

   2. (uncountable) The situation or system of secluding women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers, in some Muslim and Hindu traditions, by using a curtain or screen, and/or wearing a face veil or attire covering most of the body. [from 19th c.]
      • 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter VI, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC, part I (Mosque), page 53:

        He was won by her love for him, by a loyalty that implied something more than submission, and by her efforts to educate herself against that lifting of the purdah that would come in the next generation if not in theirs.

   3. (uncountable, figuratively) Keeping apart; isolation, seclusion; also, concealment, secrecy. [from 20th c.]
      • 1928 July, John Galsworthy, “Measles”, in Swan Song, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part II, page 143:

        The diagnosis of Kit's malady was soon verified, and Fleur went into purdah.

      • 1989, Greil Marcus, “Version 2: A Secret History of a Time that Passed”, in Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 277:

        Still, though the lettrist movement was not casual—members might be fined, put in purdah, or even expelled for malingering—aesthetic pluralism remained in effect.

   4. (countable, UK politics, potentially offensive) The period between the announcement of an election or referendum and its conclusion, during which civil servants refrain from making policy announcements or taking actions that could be seen as advantageous to certain candidates in the election.
      • 2019 November 6, Lucy Middleton, “Saying ‘purdah’ is ‘sexist, racist and offensive’ says Women’s Party co-leader candidate”, in Ted Young, editor, Metro‎, London: Associated Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 February 2022:

        Today the term [purdah] is used in British politics to describe the period in which civil servants must operate with political neutrality before an upcoming General Election. They are prevented from signing off new policy or making proactive announcements, and instead go into planning mode to try and prepare for the election's outcome. The purdah period for the December 12 election began today.

      • 2021 June 2, “Network News: ‘Root and Branch’ Review Three Years in the Making”, in Rail, number 932, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10:

        Despite Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris's reassurance that "the White Paper is coming" it was further delayed by the period of purdah that preceded local elections held on May 6.

   5. (uncountable, obsolete, rare) A striped cotton cloth which is used to make curtains. [19th c.]

As regards sense 2.4, the use of a term that refers to the practice of secluding women to mean a pre-election period in the United Kingdom is regarded by some people as offensive.

• pardah, purda

• purdahed

• purdahnashin

• gosha

• purdah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• purdah (pre-election period) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• hard up, hard-up

purdah (Jawi spelling ڤورده, plural purdah-purdah, informal 1st possessive purdahku, 2nd possessive purdahmu, 3rd possessive purdahnya)

1. veil (for a woman's face)

• “purdah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.