Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Harem |
HaremNoun1. Living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim household. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "harem" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Dream Interpretation | To dream that you maintain a harem, denotes that you are wasting your best energies on low pleasures. Life holds fair promises, if your desires are rightly directed. If a woman dreams that she is an inmate of a harem, she will seek pleasure where pleasure is unlawful, as her desires will be toward married men as a rule. If she dreams that she is a favorite of a harem, she will be preferred before others in material pleasures, but the distinction will be fleeting. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In English, this term refers collectively to the wives in a polygamous household.
Harem is also the usual English translation of the Chinese language term hougong, 後宮—literally meaning "the palaces behind." Hougong are large Chinese royal palaces for the emperor's consorts and female attendants. The women who lived in an emperor's hougong sometimes numbered in the thousands.
See also: Seraglio, Odalisque
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Harem."
Synonyms: HaremSynonyms: hareem (n), seraglio (n), serail (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Abode | Home, fatherland; country; homestead, homestall; fireside; hearth, hearth stone; chimney corner, inglenook, ingle side; harem, seraglio, zenana; household gods, lares et penates, roof, household, housing, dulce domum, paternal domicile; native soil, native land. |
Impurity | Seraglio, harem; brothel, bagnio, stew, bawdyhouse, cat house, lupanar, house of ill fame, bordel, bordello. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Harem |
| Specialty definitions using "harem": Bigtha ♦ EIGHTH ♦ HAMED, Hegai ♦ Light of the Harem ♦ Scarabee, Se lim, Shaashgaz, SOLOMON. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Harem" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (harem), Dutch (harem), French (harem), German (harem), Italian (harem), Romanian (harem), Serbo-Croatian (harem, seraglio, serai), Swedish (harem), Turkish (gynaeceum, harem, seraglio). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | In a harem. (Amadeus; writing credit: Peter Shaffer;) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Shogunate's Harem (1972) L' Harem (1968) Zwei Bayern im Harem (1957) Gli Harem sono deserti (1956) Rumpus in the Harem (1956) | |
Song Titles | A Whiter Shade of Pale (performing artist: Procol Harem) Conquistador (performing artist: Procol Harem) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A large bull sea lion guarding his harem on an Alaska beach.Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |  | A large bull sea lion with his harem.Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |
 | A large bull sea lion stands guard over his harem.Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |  | A large bull sea lion stands guard over his harem.Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |
 | A large bull sea lion stands guard over his harem.Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |  | A large bull fur-seal probably too old to fight for a harem. Main part of rookery down to the left.Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | A man's library is a sort of harem. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SCARABEE, n. The same as scarabaeus. He fell by his own hand Beneath the great oak tree. He'd traveled in a foreign land. He tried to make her understand The dance that's called the Saraband, But he called it Scarabee. He had called it so through an afternoon, And she, the light of his harem if so might be, Had smiled and said naught. O the body was fair to see, All frosted there in the shine o' the moon -- Dead for a Scarabee And a recollection that came too late. O Fate! They buried him where he lay, He sleeps awaiting the Day, In state, And two Possible Puns, moon-eyed and wan, Gloom over the grave and then move on. Dead for a Scarabee! Fernando Tapple |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Harem" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.54% of the time. "Harem" is used about 206 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.54% | 203 | 21,393 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.97% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.49% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 206 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "harem": lady of a harem. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "harem": harem-forming, harem-master, harem-masters, harem-shagging, harem-type. | |
Ending with "harem": eunuchs-in-the-harem, quasi-harem. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
harem | 1,216 |
harem girl | 102 |
bondage harem | 60 |
harem pants | 52 |
harem scarem | 38 |
harem costume | 35 |
harem quarters | 32 |
harem slave | 30 |
hirsute harem | 26 |
harem nude | 18 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "harem"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | harem. (various references) | |
Arabic | قصر الحريم, حريم (seraglio), الزوجات و السرارى. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | харем (seraglio). (various references) | |
Czech | harém. (various references) | |
Dutch | harem. (various references) | |
Esperanto | haremo. (various references) | |
Finnish | haaremi. (various references) | |
French | harem. (various references) | |
German | harem. (various references) | |
Greek | χαρέμι (seraglio). (various references) | |
Hebrew | "רמון (palace, seraglio), בית שים (seraglio). (various references) | |
Hungarian | hárem (purdah, seraglio, zenana). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tempat selir raja. (various references) | |
Italian | harem. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 后宮 (imperial consort, palace), ハーバード大学 (50% beam splitter, half, half coat, half made, half mirror, half size camera, half swing, half tone, half volley, halfback, halftime, halfway house, harem pants, harmonica, harmonize, harmony, harp, harpoon, harpsichord, harpy, Harvard University, herb, herb tea, hierarchy, high, high octane gasoline, high quality, high-class, high-end, high-grade, highjack, high-key, high-key tone, high-octane, high-sulfur, highway, highway patrol, hijack, hike, hiker, hiking, hurler derby, hyena, jai-alai, mouth organ, someone of mixed Japanese-foreign race, stylish fellow, three-quarter, top coat, westernized), ハレー彗星 (hallelujah, Halley's comet, halo, Hello Work), 後宮 (inner palace, seraglio), 内廷 (inside the palace, the palace). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ハーレ , ハレ , ないてい (inner court, inside the palace, private enquiry, quadrangle, reconnaissance, scouting, secret investigation, tentative decision, the palace, unofficial offer), "うきゅう (consideration, good pitch, hard ball, high class, high grade, high salary, imperial consort, inner palace, investigation, legal holiday, palace, permanent, perpetuity, purchase, reduction in pay, regulation ball, research, seraglio, study). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aremhay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | harém (haricot, seraglio, zenana), lábio leporino. (various references) | |
Romanian | harem. (various references) | |
Russian | гарем (seraglio). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | harem (seraglio, serai). (various references) | |
Spanish | harén. (various references) | |
Swedish | harem. (various references) | |
Turkish | harem (gynaeceum, seraglio). (various references) | |
Ukranian | гарем (seraglio, serai, zenana). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | hậu cung. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | dakkan. (various references) |
| Arabic | 500-Modern | haram. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "harem": harems. (additional references) | |
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"Harem" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ahram, ahre, ahrre, Arem, Haare, Haavelmo, haben, Haeim, haemo, haen, Haerem, hairn, Hakeim, halem, haram, haran, harant, Haraq, hareen, hareh, haren, haret, Harey, hargem, Harib, Harif, harim, harin, harme, haron, Harouma, harram, harrel, harron, Harue, haruh, harum, haure, hearen, heeem, Heerema, heorem, heram, herem, Heren, hereom, herom, herum, hiem, Horreum, Huarmey, Jaren, jerem, larem, mafremo. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "harem" (pronounced he"rum) |
| 4 | -e" r u m | arum. |
| 3 | -r u m | angstrom, Aurum, conundrum, decorum, durum, forum, fulcrum, maelstrom, pilgrim, quorum, rostrum, serum, spectrum, tantrum, theorem. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: herma. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-h-m-r" | |
-1 letter: ahem, haem, hame, hare, harm, hear, herm, mare, ream, rhea. | |
-2 letters: are, arm, ear, era, hae, ham, hem, her, mae, mar, rah, ram, rem. | |
-3 letters: ae, ah, am, ar, eh, em, er, ha, he, hm, ma, me, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-h-m-r" | |
+1 letter: hammer, hamper, hareem, harems, harmed, harmer, hermae, hermai, masher, shmear. | |
+2 letters: armhole, becharm, brecham, chamber, chamfer, champer, charmed, charmer, chimera, hammers, hammier, hampers, hamster, hareems, harmers, harmine, herdman, homager, humaner, humeral, machree, marched, marchen, marcher, marches, marshes, mashers, matcher, menorah, mesarch, mishear, rematch, schmear, shammer, shmears, smasher, teraohm, thermae, thermal. | |
+3 letters: ambusher, amphorae, armholes, atheroma, becharms, brechams, camphire, cashmere, chairmen, chambers, chamfers, champers, charmers, chedarim, chimaera, chimeras, choreman, chromate, demarche, drachmae, drumhead, earthman, earthmen, echogram, ephemera, erythema, freshman, grapheme, hammered, hammerer, hampered, hamperer, hamsters, harmines, harmless, hatmaker, haulmier, haymaker, headroom, herdsman, hermaean, hexagram, homagers, homeward, hornbeam, horseman, humerals, machrees, marchers, marchesa, marchese, marchesi, marishes, marshier, matchers, menarche, menorahs, merchant, metaphor, misheard, mishears, prehuman, ranchmen, rehammer, rehoboam, rhabdome, rhamnose, rhematic, rhumbaed, samphire, schmears, semihard, seraphim, shammers, smashers, teraohms, teraphim, thermals, trashmen, unharmed. | |
+4 letters: aftermath, ambushers, anchormen, archenemy, atheromas, becharmed, benchmark, camphires, cashmeres, chambered, chamfered, champerty, charmeuse, charmless, charwomen, checkmark, cherimoya, chimaeras, chimaeric, chromates, demarches, diathermy, drumheads, earthworm, echograms, ephemerae, ephemeral, ephemeras, epiphragm, erythemas, farmhouse, fisherman, graphemes, graphemic, hackamore, hamburger, hammerers, hammering, hammertoe, hamperers, hampering, handsomer, hardiment, harmonies, harmonise, harmonize, harumphed, hatmakers, haymakers, headrooms, heartsome, heartworm, hectogram, hematuria, hemelytra, herbarium, hermitage, hexagrams, hexameter, homemaker, homewards, hornbeams, humanizer, hymnaries, hyperemia, hypergamy, machinery, maharanee, marchlike, marchpane, marshaled, marshiest, megahertz, menarches, merchants, metaphors, mischarge, mishanter, misphrase, mythmaker, nightmare, overmatch, pachyderm, parchment, prehumans, rehammers, rehoboams, rematched, rematches, rhabdomes, rhamnoses, rhamnuses, rheumatic, rheumatiz, rhodamine, samphires, semaphore, seraphims, shampooer, shoemaker, stomacher, thermally, washerman, washermen. | |
+5 letters: admonisher, aerenchyma, aftermaths, alphameric, amateurish, amenorrhea, amphimacer, amphoteric, anemograph, arithmetic, atheromata, atmosphere, bathymetry, becharming, bedchamber, benchmarks, bichromate, blasphemer, bushmaster, camphorate, chairmaned, chairwomen, chambering, chamfering, charmeuses, charminger, checkmarks, cherimoyas, chimaerism, chimerical, chloramine, chromonema, clawhammer, cochairmen, demography, diathermic, dichromate, earthmover, earthworms, enharmonic, ephemerals, epiphragms, erythremia, exothermal, farmhouses, frameshift, geothermal, gramophone, graphemics, hackamores, hallmarked, hamburgers, hammerhead, hammerless, hammerlock, hammertoes, harassment, hardiments, harmlessly, harmonised, harmonises, harmonized, harmonizer, harmonizes, harrumphed, harvestman, harvestmen, hatemonger, headmaster, headstream, heartworms, hectograms, hematocrit, hematurias, hemihedral, hemipteran, hemorrhage, heptameter, herbariums, hermatypic, hermetical, hermitages, heteroatom, heterogamy, hexameters, homemakers, homocercal, homopteran, horsewoman, humanizers, hyperemias, hypermania, hypermanic, hypermedia, hypodermal, isothermal, jackhammer, lachrymose, largemouth, macrophage, macrophyte, maharanees, maidenhair, marathoner, marchpanes, marshalled, marshiness, mastership, matchmaker, mechanizer, meerschaum, menarcheal, merchanted, mesothorax, metaphoric, metaphrase, metathorax, methylator, microphage, mimeograph, misbehaver, mischarged, mischarges, mishanters, mishearing, misphrased, misphrases, mithridate, monarchies, motherland, mythmakers, nightmares, nomarchies, nonthermal, outcharmed, outmarched, outmarches, pachyderms, parchments, parenchyma, phanerogam, pharmacies, pheromonal, phlebogram, preachment, ramshackle, ravishment, reemphases, reemphasis, rehammered, rehumanize, reichsmark, rematching, revanchism, rhabdomere, rheumatics, rheumatism, rheumatoid, rhodamines, schmalzier, semaphored, semaphores, shampooers, shipmaster, shirtmaker, shmaltzier, shoemakers, stomachers, stramashes, superhuman, supermacho, tachometer, thermalize, thermogram, thermostat, thimerosal, threadworm, timberhead, unhampered, watchmaker, weatherman, weathermen. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)48 61 72 65 6D |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).... .- .-. . -- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001000 01100001 01110010 01100101 01101101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)H a r e m |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0048 0061 0072 0065 006D |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4267847179 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
