how to say “criminal” in Hebrew
פּוֹשֵׁעַ, פְּלִילִי
The Hebrew word for crime in general is פֶּשַׁע , as in:
, as in:גִּבּוֹרֵי-עַל נִלְחָמִים בַּפֶּשַׁע.
Superheroes fight (the) crime.
Thus a criminal is a פּוֹשֵׁעַ (a male) or a פּוֹשַׁעַת (a female).
(a male) or a פּוֹשַׁעַת (a female).Now that’s criminal as a noun. As an adjective, Hebrew’s got a different word: פְּלִילִי .
.For example:
הַפּוֹשֵׁעַ יוּרְשַׁע בַּעֲבֵרָה פְּלִילִית.
The criminal will be convicted of a criminal offense.
You may have noticed that the root of פלילי is פ.ל.ל (p.l.l), the same as that of to pray – the reflexive-intensive verb לְהִתְפַּלֵּל . What is the connection between crime and prayer?
. What is the connection between crime and prayer?The answer lies in the meaning of the root פ.ל.ל itself: interference. Just as a criminal does something that interferes with someone else’s well-being, prayer can be seen as an act of interfering or intervening with the divine will.