Begum, Begam, Baigum or Beygum (Turkish: Begüm, Persian: بیگم, Urdu: بیگم) is the feminine form of the title Beg (or Bey), which in Turkic languages means "higher official". It refers to the wife or daughter of a Beg. The form Begzadi (daughter of Beg) also occurs.
Begum has been adapted for use in South Asia as an honorific address and title given to Muslim women of rank. Traditionally it was conferred upon women of royal or aristocratic rank, and was often used to mean "Queen".
Starting in the 18th century, it was applied more generally to women who held high social status, but no formal aristocratic rank. Some examples are: Zaynab Begum; Begum Hazrat Mahal - who later divorced Nawab Wajid Ali Shah; Mughal princesses Jahanara Begum and Roshanara Begum; Begum Inaara Aga Khan, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, and Begum Khaleda Zia.
The term became well known in the West, especially in the French-speaking world, due to Jules Verne's 1879 novel The Begum's Millions (in French, Les Cinq cents millions de la Begum). The term had earlier become known in Great Britain during the impeachment and Parliamentary trial of Warren Hastings, former Governor-General of India, which lasted from 1787 until 1795. One of the major charges against Hastings was that he had unjustly confiscated landholdings belonging to the "Begums of Oudh" (the mother and grandmother of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, Nawab of Oudh).
Colloquially, the term is also used in Pakistan and Bangladesh by Muslim men to refer to their own wives or as an honorific address to a married or widowed woman. For example, Begum Khaleda Zia.
Begumpet is one of the major commercial and residential suburbs of the city of Hyderabad, India. Begumpet stands on land given by the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad to his daughter as her wedding present when she married a Paigah noble.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a suburb of Toronto, is referred as Begumpura ("Ladies' Town") by members of the Pakistani community of Toronto. Mississauga has a large Pakistani immigrant community and many husbands work in the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia while their wives and children live in Mississauga.
Mostly using in Mirza family.