three words for “car” in Hebrew
אוֹטוֹ, מְכוֹנִית, רֶכֶב
1.
In contemporary English we say car, but way back when, people used to call their cars automobiles.
One of Hebrew’s three words for car is an abbreviation of that word: אוֹטוֹ .
.Take the opening line from this children’s song for example:
הָאוֹטוֹ שֶׁלָּנוּ גָּדוֹל וְיָרוֹק…
Our green car is big and green…
n2.
As for most inventions of the modern world, classical Hebrew doesn’t have a word for car, so the first modern speakers borrowed the foreign word and called it an אוטו. But soon a proper Hebrew word was invented, and it stuck: מְכוֹנִית .
.For example:
אֵיפֹה מְיַצְּרִים אֶת הַמְּכוֹנִיּוֹת הָאֵלֶּה?
Where do they manufacture these cars?
מכונית comes from the word for machine – מְכוֹנָה (borrowed from Biblical Hebrew).
(borrowed from Biblical Hebrew).3.
There there’s a third word for car, the most commonly used today: רֶכֶב .
.רכב means literally vehicle, but it is most typically used to refer to the private vehicle made by Mazda, Mercedes, Fiat etc.
For example:
יֵשׁ פֹּה הַרְבֵּה רְכָבִים – אֵיזוֹ שֶׁלְּךָ, דָּוִד?
There are lots of cars here – which is yours, David?
רכב comes from the root ר.כ.ב (r.k.b) meaning riding.
