حور

• From the root ح و ر (ḥ w r).
• The Arabic term for the poplar is probably borrowed from Classical Syriac ܚܘܪܐ (ḥawwərā), considering that

  1. the range of distribution of the white poplar is outside Arabia, but inside the Aramaic language area
  2. the Syriac root as well as this Syriac word are in broader use for terms related to whiteness in general and in botanical application
  3. the Arabic has multiple vocalizations, ḥawwar, ḥawar, hawr (dialectally also ḥōr and ḥūr), of which ḥawwar sounds foreign for a plant name

• But the insinuation by Alexander Borg 2007 that every Arabic word in this root denoting whiteness is a “substratal reflex” from Aramaic is to be dismissed. Such a separation is not conceivable: The Arabic root means in as much “contrasting white” as it means “returning”, “changing one’s position or state”. In the same section Borg fails to earmark يَرَقَان (yaraqān, “blight; jaundice”) as Aramaic-borrowed or to outline any causally plausible chronology of color expressions.

حَوِرَ • (ḥawira) I (non-past يَحْوَرُ (yaḥwaru), verbal noun حَوَر (ḥawar))

1. to be intensely white

حَوَّرَ • (ḥawwara) II (non-past يُحَوِّرُ (yuḥawwiru), verbal noun تَحْوِير (taḥwīr))

1. to make return
2. to alter, to modify
3. to turn about, to twist, to roll
4. to whiten, to bleach

حَوْر • (ḥawr) m

1. verbal noun of حَارَ (ḥāra) (form I)

حَوَر • (ḥawar) m

1. verbal noun of حَوِرَ (ḥawira) (form I)
   1. intense whiteness

حَوَّر or حَوَر or حَوْر • (ḥawwar or ḥawar or ḥawr) m

1. poplar (Populus)

• → Middle Armenian: հավր (havr, “white poplar”)

• حور (نبات) on the Arabic Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ar

حَوَر • (ḥawar) m (collective, singulative حَوَرَة f (ḥawara), plural حَوَرَان (ḥawarān) or حُورَان (ḥūrān) or أَحْوَار (ʔaḥwār))

1. intensely white, yellow or red hides of which receptacles are made or covered

حُور • (ḥūr) m pl

1. plural of أَحْوَر (ʔaḥwar)

• → Classical Persian: حور (hur)
  • → Bengali: হুর (hur)
  • → Hindustani

    Urdu: حور (hūr)

    Hindi: हूर (hūr)

  • → Punjabi

    Gurmukhi script: ਹੂਰ (hūr)

    Shahmukhi script: حور (hūr)

Borrowed from Classical Persian حُور (hūr, “houri”), from Arabic حُور (ḥūr).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ɦuːɾ/
• Rhymes: -uːɾ

حور • (hūr) f (Hindi spelling हूर)

1. (Islam) houri, a beautiful virgin-nymph that resides in Paradise, a reward exclusively for Muslim believers
2. (by extension) an incredibly beautiful woman

• حُور وَش (hūr-vaś, “beautiful”, literally “houri-like”)
• حُورانِ بَہِشْت (hūrān-e-bahiśt, “virgins of Paradise”)
• حُورانِ بَہِشْتی (hūrān-e-bahiśtī, “celestial virgins”)

• پری (parī)

• “حور”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “حور”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “حور”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• “حور”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• “ḥwr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “ḥwr²”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Borg, Alexander (2007) Robert E. MacLaury, Galina V. Paramei, Don Dedrick, editors, Towards a history and typology of color categorization in colloquial Arabic, Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, pages 269–271
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 32
• Freytag, Georg (1830) “حور”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 439–440
• Lane, Edward William (1863-1893) “حور”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 665.
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[2] (in German), volume 3, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 322–340
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “حور”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎^[3] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 302