purdah
noun /ˈpɜːdə/
/ˈpɜːrdə/
[uncountable]- the system in some Muslim societies by which women live in a separate part of a house or cover their faces so that men do not see them
- in purdah to be in purdah
- He kept his daughters in virtual purdah.
Word Originearly 19th cent.: from Urdu and Persian parda ‘veil, curtain’.