حیا

See also: حيا

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic حَيَاء (ḥayāʔ).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ha.ˈjaː/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [hä.jɑ́ː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔä.jɑ́ː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔä.jɔ́ː]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [hæ.jɒ́ː]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [hä.jɔ́]

Readings
Classical reading^?	hayā
Dari reading^?	hayā
Iranian reading^?	hayâ
Tajik reading^?	hayo

Noun

حیا • (hayâ)

modesty, bashfulness
- c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 70:
  با این زبان ز بردن نامش حیا کنم
  دایم اگرچه ذکر دلم نام مسطفا
  bā īn zabān zi burdan-i nāmaš hayā kunam
  dāyim agarči zikr-i dilam nām-i mustafā
  I am ashamed to mention his name with this tongue [of mine],
  Though my heart's prayer is always Muhammad's name.
  (Classical Persian transliteration)

Further reading

Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “حیا”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian (ḥayā), itself from Arabic حَيَاء (ḥayāʔ). First attested as Middle Hindi حیا (ḥayā)

Pronunciation

(Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ɦə.jɑː/
Rhymes: -ɑː
Hyphenation: حَ‧یا
Homophone: ہیا (hayā)

Noun

حَیَا • (ḥayā) f (Hindi spelling हया)

Declension

Declension of **حیا**
	singular	plural
direct	حَیَا (ḥayā)	حَیَائیں (ḥayāẽ)
oblique	حَیَا (ḥayā)	حَیَاؤں (ḥayāõ)
vocative	حَیَا (ḥayā)	حَیَاؤ (ḥayāo)

Further reading

“حیا”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
“حیا”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “حیا”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.