harem: [17] Etymologically, Arabic harīm is a ‘forbidden place’. It is a derivative of the verb harama ‘prohibit’ (whence also harmattan, literally ‘the forbidden one’, the name of a dry dusty Saharan wind). Hence it came to be applied to a part of a Muslim house reserved for women, and by extension to the women who lived there – the wives and concubines of the master of the household.
Synonymous terms in English include seraglio, which comes via Italian and Turkish from Persian serāi ‘residence, palace’, and forms the second element of caravanserai, and zenana, which is derived ultimately from Persian zan ‘woman’, a relative of Greek guné ‘woman’ (as in English gynaecology).
harem (n.)
1630s, "part of a Middle Eastern house reserved for women," from Turkish harem, from Arabic haram "wives and concubines," originally "women's quarters," literally "something forbidden or kept safe," from root of harama "he guarded, forbade." From 1784 in English as "wives, female relatives and female slaves in a Middle Eastern household." The harem-skirt was introduced in fashion 1911. Harem pants attested from 1921; fashionable c. 1944.
实用例句
1. The sultan's wives and concubines live in the harem.
苏丹的妻妾住在后宫.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. Does the beautiful sorceress belong to your harem too?
这位漂亮的女士也是你的妻子 么 ?
来自电影对白
3. The third section focused on the etiquette system of the imperial harem.
第三部分阐述了后宫的礼仪制度.
来自互联网
4. It's said that the emperor had 72 concubines in the emperor's harem?
