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Glite Dictionary
Dhu al-Hijja

Dhu al-Hijja

9.9
The twelfth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca, sometimes with one extra day
  • noun
translation icon : Dhu al-Hiyya
  • Muslims travel to Mecca during Dhu al-Hijja to perform their annual pilgrimage.

Examples

  • In some years, Dhu al-Hijja has one extra day to adjust for the lunar calendar.

  • The start of Dhu al-Hijja marks a significant period in the Islamic calendar.

  • The month of Dhu al-Hijja is significant for Muslims.

  • Many pilgrims travel to Mecca during Dhu al-Hijja.

  • Muslims travel to Mecca during Dhu al-Hijja to perform their annual pilgrimage.

  • The start of Dhu al-Hijja marks a significant period in the Islamic calendar.

  • In some years, Dhu al-Hijja has one extra day to adjust for the lunar calendar.

Synonyms

Dhu'l-Hijja
vsDhu al-Hijja
9.6

The twelfth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims make a journey to Mecca for Hajj

is the same month but written differently as an alternate spelling
Dhu al-Hijjah
vsDhu al-Hijja
9.6

The twelfth month of the Islamic calendar when many Muslims go to Mecca for the hajj and celebrate Eid al-Adha

notes an extra day is added in leap years
Dhu'l-Hijjah
vsDhu al-Hijja
9.9

The twelfth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims make the hajj pilgrimage

notes that an extra day is included in leap years

Surface Forms

Dhu al-Hijja singular
Dhu al-Hijjas plural

Morphology

Dhu + al-Hijja

This is an Arabic proper-name for a calendar month whose components are non-English (and not lexically defined here), so knowing the surface parts does not allow a B1 learner to infer the meaning "twelfth month of the Islamic calendar during which hajj is performed." The term is culturally specific and requires background knowledge of Islamic calendar terminology rather than compositional decoding, making it non-transparent to typical learners.

Etymology

Dhu al-Hijja comes from Arabic words Dhu ('one who has') and al-Hijja ('the pilgrimage'), so it literally means 'the month of the pilgrimage'. That's why it is the time when Muslims travel to Mecca to perform the hajj.