how to say “divorce” in Hebrew

 

גֵּרוּשִׁין
 
The Hebrew word for to expel or to banish is the (not surprisingly) active-intensive verb לְגָרֵשׁ  listen and repeat. 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  listen and repeat 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  listen and repeat.

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