Standard Lemma guide

niqab

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /nɪˈkɑːb/
  • /nɪˈkæb/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːb
  • rhymes with -æb

1

noun

Meaning 1

A veil which covers the face (except for the eyes), worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijab.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Holonym: hijab

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: yashmak

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a face veil covering the lower part of the face (up to the eyes) worn by observant Muslim women

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: face veil

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic نِقَاب (niqāb).

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: nikab — veil which covers the face
  • Arabic: نِقَاب (niqāb) — veil which covers the face
  • Armenian: նիկաբ (nikab) — veil which covers the face
  • Czech: nikáb — veil which covers the face
  • Danish: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Esperanto: nikabo — veil which covers the face
  • Finnish: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • French: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Georgian: ნიქაბი (nikabi) — veil which covers the face
  • German: Niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Hebrew: רְעָלָה (r'alá) — veil which covers the face
  • Hindi: नक़ाब (naqāb) — veil which covers the face
  • Hindi: निक़ाब (niqāb) — veil which covers the face
  • Hindi: नकाब (nakāb) — veil which covers the face
  • Hindi: निकाब (nikāb) — veil which covers the face
  • Japanese: ニカーブ (nikābu) — veil which covers the face
  • Kazakh: ниқаб (niqab) — veil which covers the face
  • Korean: 니캅 (nikap) — veil which covers the face
  • Malay: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Pashto: نقاب (neqãb) — veil which covers the face
  • Persian: نقاب (neqâb) — veil which covers the face
  • Persian: روبنده (rubande) — veil which covers the face
  • Polish: nikab — veil which covers the face
  • Portuguese: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Portuguese: nicabe — veil which covers the face
  • Romanian: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Russian: ника́б (nikáb) — veil which covers the face
  • Serbo-Croatian: никаб — veil which covers the face
  • Serbo-Croatian: nikab — veil which covers the face
  • Spanish: niqab — veil which covers the face
  • Tajik: ниқоб (niqob) — veil which covers the face
  • Turkish: peçe — veil which covers the face
  • Turkish: yaşmak — veil which covers the face
  • Ottoman Turkish: یاشمق (yaşmak) — veil which covers the face
  • Ottoman Turkish: پرده (perde) — veil which covers the face
  • Urdu: نقاب (niqāb) — veil which covers the face
  • Uyghur: نىقاب (niqab) — veil which covers the face
  • Uzbek: niqob — veil which covers the face