how to say “suicide terrorist” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-1.m4a” /]מְחַבֵּל מִתְאַבֵּד

The expression suicide bomber aptly described the terrorists of the second Intifada in Israel of the early 2000s. Today’s attackers are just as willing to die in order to murder Jews, but they tend to use knives and cars instead of bombs.

The Hebrew equivalent of suicide bomber applies to both brands of terrorist: מחבל מתאבד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-1.m4a” /] – literally, suicide terrorist/saboteur. The word מחבל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-2.m4a” /] when the attacker is a male, or מחבלת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-3.m4a” /] when she is a female, comes from the active-intensive form of the root ח.ב.ל (kh.b.l) meaning injury. And מתאבד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-4.m4a” /] for a male and מתאבדת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-5.m4a” /] for a female – literally, committing suicide – come from the reflexive-intensive form of the root א.ב.ד (a.b.d) meaning loss, so that those committing suicide are purposefully losing themselves.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מחבל-מתאבד-6.m4a” /]לאדם המערבי לפעמים קשה להבין את הפסיכולוגיה של מחבלים מתאבדים.

For the Westerner it’s sometimes difficult to understand the psychology of suicide terrorists.