حَيَاءٌ

a verbal noun of حَيِىَ in the first of the senses explained in this article (K.)

[Hence,] synonym with حَيًا, in two senses: see the next preceding paragraph, in two places.

Also verbal noun of حَيِىَ as synonym with اِسْتَحْيَى; (S, * Mgh, Msb, K;) i. q. اِسْتِحْيَاءٌ; (S;) Shame; a sense of shame; shyness, or bashfulness; [and particularly, but not always, honest shame, or pudency, or modesty;] synonym حِشْمَةٌ; (K;) a shrinking of the soul from foul conduct, (Bd in ii. 24, and Er-Rághib,) through fear of blame; (Bd ibid.;) a languor that affects the animal faculty, (Bd ibid, and Mgh, *) and turns it back from its actions: (Bd:) and repentance; synonym تَوْبَةٌ. (K.)

And hence, as being a thing that should be concealed, and of which one is ashamed to speak plainly, (TA,) The vulva, or external portion of the female organs of generation, (فَرْج, El-Fárábee, Msb, K, or رَحِم, [which here means the same,] S,) of a camel, (El-Fárábee, S, Msb, K,) or an animal having feet like those of the camel, and of a cloven-hoofed animal, and of a beast of prey: (K:) according to AZ, the دُبُر [here meaning the same as فَرْج] of any of these and of other animals: (Msb:) according to IAar, it is of the ewe or she-goat, the cow, and the gazelle: (ISd, TA:) and [sometimes] the فَرْج of a girl, (El-Fárábee, Msb,:) or of a woman: (Zj in his “ Khalk el-Insán: ” [see also حَىٌّ:]) and ↓ حَيًا signifies the same; (K;) but according to Az, this is not allowable except in poetry, in a case of necessity: (TA:) plural أَحْيَاءٌ (AZ, IJ, K) and أَحْيِيَةٌ (As, Sb, S, K) and, by contraction, أَحِيَّةٌ, (Sb, IB, TA,) which is said to be preferable, (TA,) and [quasi-plural n.] ↓ حَىٌّ and ↓ حِىٌّ [which two have been mistaken by Freytag for syns. of تَحِيَّةٌ, immediately following them in the K]. (Sb, K.)