Zahir
/zəˈhɪər/noun
A person, object, or idea that becomes so powerfully obsessive that it dominates the mind.
Did you know?The concept became famous through Jorge Luis Borges’s 1949 story “The Zahir,” where an ordinary coin gradually overwhelms the narrator’s consciousness; the Arabic word originally means “apparent” or “manifest.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*ẓ-h-r
“A reconstructed root associated with appearing, becoming visible, or the back—the exposed side”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
ẓahara
“To appear, become manifest, or be evident”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
ẓāhir
“Visible, apparent, outward, or manifest”
Medieval Arabic and Islamic usage
Arabic
al-ẓāhir
“The outward or apparent aspect, contrasted with the hidden or esoteric; also an epithet meaning “the Manifest””
17th Century
Spanish
zahir
“A magical or talismanic object believed to produce obsessive fascination”
1949
Spanish
El Zahir
“The title and central supernatural object of Jorge Luis Borges’s story”
Modern English
English
zahir
“An object, person, or idea that becomes obsessively and all-consumingly fixated upon”