Terem (Russia)

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The "terem" (Russian: Терем) refers to the separate living quarters occupied by elite women of the Principality of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia. Also, the upper story of a home or castle, often with a pitched roof. More broadly, the term is used by historians to discuss the elite social practice of female seclusion that reached its height in the seventeenth century. Royal or noble women were not only confined to separate quarters, but were also prevented from socialization with men outside their immediate family, and were shielded from the public eye in closed carriages or heavily concealing clothing.

The word is not to be confused with the Terem Palace in Moscow, an extended part of the Grand Kremlin Palace, which was not occupied exclusively by women.