Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who has participated in a hajj.
  • noun pejorative, slang, US, ethnic slur A Muslim or Arab.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a general term used by foreign soldiers to refer to the Iraqi people
  • noun an Arabic term of respect for someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • He also explains the definition of the Arabic word "hajji."

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • He also explains the definition of the Arabic word "hajji."

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • As a child, I knew therefore that a hajji was a Muslim woman who covered her head because she had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

    The Guardian World News Yvette Khoury 2010

  • The 65 year old "hajji" and the 19 year old "wallah bro" must take those few minutes every August and November to do their duty for our community.

    unknown title 2009

  • She changed into her best black cloak, the one Mohamad called her “super hajji” robe, and called Hanan to brag that she was going downtown.

    Day of Honey Annia Ciezadlo 2011

  • Never eat the M&Ms in your MREs—toss them in the burn pit and, voila, hajji left you alone for another three days.

    Duck Sauce David Abrams 2011

  • Amongst Americans, the most widely known account of a hajji, a male who has undertaken the hajj to Mecca, is that of the Nebraskan-born African American Malcolm X who completed his first of two pilgrimages in April 1964.

    Zahra N. Jamal, Ph.D.: Hajj Diaries: The Multiple Dimensions Of Muslim Pilgrimage Ph.D. Zahra N. Jamal 2011

  • I imagined what we must look like to the Hezbollah men crouched resentfully in their tents: two unveiled women, one of them eating pink cotton candy and wearing a cherry-red jacket; one cranky old hajji, barely able to walk, supported by her son, who seemed to have brought her to the tent city expressly so she could parade through and tell them they were bums.

    Day of Honey Annia Ciezadlo 2011

  • Amongst Americans, the most widely known account of a hajji, a male who has undertaken the hajj to Mecca, is that of the Nebraskan-born African American Malcolm X who completed his first of two pilgrimages in April 1964.

    Zahra N. Jamal, Ph.D.: Hajj Diaries: The Multiple Dimensions Of Muslim Pilgrimage Ph.D. Zahra N. Jamal 2011

  • I imagined what we must look like to the Hezbollah men crouched resentfully in their tents: two unveiled women, one of them eating pink cotton candy and wearing a cherry-red jacket; one cranky old hajji, barely able to walk, supported by her son, who seemed to have brought her to the tent city expressly so she could parade through and tell them they were bums.

    Day of Honey Annia Ciezadlo 2011

Comments

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  • three dots!

    February 15, 2007

  • WordNet provides the recent pejorative use of this term by Western soldiers in Iraq! Arrgh! This ancient word is a title of distinction for Muslims who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

    December 10, 2007

  • Interesting.

    December 10, 2007

  • Deplorable is what I'd call it.

    December 10, 2007

  • If you look at the WordNet page for hajji directly, it has both meanings. As on all words, I only list the first definition that comes back. Eventually I may add a 'more' link, so one can see all the available definitions.

    In general it's good to be aware that, if WordNet's definition looks off, you can see the full results for any word on their site.

    December 10, 2007

  • I wasn't deploring WordNet so much (well, maybe I was, thinking that was their definition for hajji), as the way a term of respect has been turned into a pejorative for what? Arab? Muslim? Iraqi? Someone here must know what you call a word that's used as a disparaging term for an ethnic group, a negative ethnonym, in other words.

    December 10, 2007

  • I don't know anything about this debate since I've only just learned this word today, but is it possible that rather than this term having "been turned into" a pejorative, western soldiers began by using it as a catchall term for Muslims? In other words, perhaps this term began to be used out of respect (I can think off the top of my head of about five other certainly disrespectful terms troops might use instead), and it was only out of ignorance that its meaning (denoting persons who have made the Haj) has been diluted to mean the Iraqi people in general?

    December 10, 2007