how to say “pita bread” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/פיתה-#.m4a” /]פִּיתָּה

While לחם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/פיתה-#.m4a” /] is the generic word for bread, פיתה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/פיתה-#.m4a” /] refers to that flatbread with a pocket that originated in the Middle East and has since taken over the world.

Here’s a typical usage you might hear (or use) in Israel:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/פיתה-#.m4a” /]לשים את הפלאפל בפיתה או בלפה?

Should I put the (your) falafel in a pita or a laffa? 

While the word לפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/פיתה-#.m4a” /] – a thinner, wider flatbread – comes from Arabic, פיתה doesn’t. For one, there is no p sound in Arabic. And secondly, פיתה appears in the Torah, which predates Arabic.

The word פיתה is related to פתיתים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/פיתה-#.m4a” /], a type of pasta.