how to say “a cold” in Hebrew
In Israel, as in the United States and probably everywhere else in the world, people catch the common cold all the time.
I’ve caught it recently, as you might hear from the recording.
Anyway, the cold is so common that it has three words in Hebrew.
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הִתְקָרְרוּת (heet-kah-reh-ROOT) comes from the most basic Hebrew word for cold, קָר (kahr). הִצְטַנְּנוּת (heets-tah-neh-NOOT), on the other hand, comes from the Mishnaic Hebrew
Both התקררות and הצטננות are nouns derived from the reflexive התפעל (heet-pah-EL) form. In fact, I might use a verb myself and say, הִתְקָרַרְתִּי (heet-kah-RAHR-tee) or הִצְטַנַּנְתִּי (heets-tah-NAHN-tee) – I’ve caught cold. You can find out how to use the התפעל here.
The third Hebrew word for a cold is related to the word for liquid – נוֹזֵל (noh-ZEL), and means a runny nose – נַזֶּלֶת (nah-ZEH-let).
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