how to say “container” and “contents” in Hebrew

 

מְכָל, תְּכוּלָה

 

 
We saw that the Hebrew word for to contain is לְהָכִיל listen and repeat of the root כ.ו.ל (k.w.l) meaning all.
 
Likewise, a container is a מְכָל listen and repeat (erroneously yet very commonly written and pronounced as מֵכָל or מֵיכָל listen and repeat). The word also refers to the kind of container called a tank, as in:
 
יֵשׁ לִי מְכָל מָלֵא דֶּלֶק.
I have a tank (container) full of fuel.
 
So that’s the container, the vessel, that which is designed to hold something. The contents are a different word in Hebrew that utilizes the same root: תְּכוּלָה listen and repeat
 
It’s also the word for capacity, for example:
 
תְּכוּלַת הַחֶדֶר עוֹמֶדֶת עַל מָאתַיִם נְפָשׁוֹת.
The room’s capacity stands at two hundred persons.
 
Now, this is content in the physical sense. For content in the intellectual sense, you’d use a different word, which I’ll introduce soon.

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