how to say “a dozen” in Hebrew
תְּרֵיסַר
English uses all sorts of measurements that baffle those used to the metric system – pounds (as opposed to the 1000-gram kilogram), inches (as opposed to one hundredth of a meter, the centimeter), and a dozen – twelve of something instead of ten.
Now, while Hebrew does tend to count dozens of things as עשרות – tens of things, there is a word for dozen – תריסר.
For example:
ממתינות לה תריסר הודעות.
A dozen messages are waiting for her.
תריסר is the Aramaic (a sister language to Hebrew) word for twelve. Hebrew speakers don’t use it much in everyday conversation, but you will find it appearing in literature and on the news.
