how to say “divorce” in Hebrew

 

גֵּרוּשִׁין
 
 
The Hebrew word for to expel or to banish is the (not surprisingly) active-intensive verb לְגָרֵשׁ   . It’s the same word used already in Biblical Hebrew for the unfortunate circumstance where a man asks his wife to leave – when he divorces her.
 
Since today divorce is seen as a mutual event rather than a male-driven one, Israelis don’t use לגרש, but rather the reflexive verb לְהִתְגָרֵשׁ    to get divorced.
 
For example:
 
הוּא הִתְגָרֵשׁ מִמֶּנָּה, וְהִיא הִתְגָרְשָׁה מִמֶּנּוּ.
He got divorced from her, and she got divorced from him.
 
 
The institution of divorce itself, appearing in Mishnaic Hebrew, is called גֵּרוּשִׁין   .

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