Key terms & definitions

An infection that can pass from one person to another through sexual contact.

Sexual behaviour that causes harm or involves betrayal or exploitation, such as adultery.

A person’s pattern of sexual attraction towards others.

A person’s pattern of sexual or romantic attraction, for example being heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual.

A relationship involving sexual intimacy, which may also involve affection, commitment and emotional closeness.

Reproduction in which male and female gametes fuse, mixing genetic information and producing varied offspring.

Reproduction involving the fusion of male and female gametes and the mixing of genetic information.

The broad changes in attitudes towards sex and relationships associated with the 1960s and 1970s, including greater openness about sexuality.

The divine Word or teaching expressed through the Guru.

The Jewish weekly day of rest, lasting from sunset on Friday until nightfall on Saturday.

The regular Jewish morning prayer service.

A spirit of a dead person.

An opposition frontbencher who scrutinises and challenges the government minister responsible for a particular policy area.

A region where a particular direct seismic wave from an earthquake is not detected.

A deep rectangular burial pit containing a small chamber beneath a roof supported by wooden beams; it could hold more than one burial.

The Muslim declaration of faith, affirming that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger.

The fifth Mughal emperor, originally named Prince Khurram, who took power after Jahangir’s death in 1627. His title means ‘King of the World’.

The new imperial capital that Shah Jahan began laying out in Delhi in 1638, beside the Jamuna river; his court moved there in 1648.

A Hindu whose principal focus of devotion is Shiva.

A Hindu tradition that worships Shiva as supreme.

A separation in timber along growth rings or outwards from the centre, originating in the tree or during felling.

A dramatic form often involving courtship, disguise, misunderstandings and a movement towards marriage or reconciliation; it need not be funny throughout.

A fourteen-line poem. A Shakespearean sonnet usually has the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and uses iambic pentameter.

Divine feminine power or energy, expressed through goddesses such as Parvati and Lakshmi.

Natural gas held within shale, a type of sedimentary rock.

Focus that keeps a limited area sharp while other areas, often the background, appear blurred.

An earthquake that begins relatively close to the Earth’s surface.

Cooking food in a frying pan containing a shallow layer of heated oil or fat, turning the food to cook both sides.

A Hebrew word meaning peace, with a broader sense of wellbeing and wholeness.

‘Peace in the home’: the ideal of peaceful and respectful family relationships.