how to say “to kiss” in Hebrew

 

לְהִתְנַשֵּׁק

 

 
Yesterday we saw the various Hebrew words for hug. Today we’ll look at kissing, which has a similar grammar.
 
The root of kissing – נ.שׁ.ק (n.sh.k) – is the same as that of a weapon – נֶשֶׁק  listen and repeat – not because of the “kiss of death”, but probably because a weapon is typically fastened to the body of the person bearing it, just as the lips of the kisser are fastened to their beloved.
 
With that in mind, to kiss someone else is the active-intensive verb לְנַשֵּׁק  listen and repeat. For example:
 
הָאָב מְנַשֵּׁק אֶת הַיְּלָדִים שֶׁלּוֹ כָּל לַיְלָה.
The father kisses his children every night.
 
To kiss one another is the reflexive-intensive לְהִתְנַשֵּׁק  listen and repeat, as in:
 
הֵם הִתְנַשְּׁקוּ בַּכִּכָּר לִפְנֵי כֻּלָּם.
They kissed in the square in front of everyone.
 
And a kiss… well, that’s a נְשִׁיקָה  listen and repeat. For example:
 
תְּנִי לְסַבְתָּא נְשִׁיקָה עַל הַלֶּחִי!
Give Grandma a kiss on the cheek! (speaking to a female)

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