Inherited from Ottoman Turkish حجاب (ḥicāb, “a thing that intervenes, a screen, curtain, partition, an obstacle; a veiling, covering, conceiling or protecting, a feeling ashamed”), from Arabic حِجَاب (ḥijāb, “screen, barrier, cover, headscarf, hijab”), verbal noun of حَجَبَ (ḥajaba, “to intervene, to veil, to hide, to conceal”).