how to say “shopping” in Hebrew
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קְנִיּוֹת
Whereas שׁוֹפִּינְג is still the term that refers to that activity that my mother loves so much, shopping for clothes, Israelis call general shopping – like for food and electronics – קְנִיּוֹת .
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| קְנֵה פָּחוֹת, חְיֵה יוֹתֵר buy less, live more (picture taken at a bus stop in Tel Aviv) |
For example:
עָשִׂיתִי קְנִיּוֹת אֶתְמוֹל בַּסּוּפֶּר.
I went (literally, did) shopping yesterday at the supermarket.
קניות comes from the active-simple פָּעַל verb, לִקְנוֹת , which means, in Modern Hebrew, to buy or to purchase (in Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew, it also means to possess).
A single act of purchasing is a קְנִיָּה , in Modern Hebrew (in Rabbinic literature, this is a קִנְיָן ).
For example:
אֶתְמוֹל עָשִׂיתִי קְנִיָּה גְּדוֹלָה.עַכְשָׁיו יֵשׁ מַסְפִּיק אֹכֶל.
Yesterday I made a big purchase. Now there’s plenty of (literally, enough) food.
From the same root of ק.נ.ה, a shopping mall is a קַנְיוֹן .
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