how to say “to lose weight” in Hebrew

Yesterday I wrote about the tendency to gain weight – לְהַשְׁמִין – over the holidays. As Ktzat Ivrit subscriber Debby pointed out to me, professionals and people being more polite are likely to use לַעֲלוֹת בַּמִּשְׁקָל (lah-ah-LOHT bah-meesh-KAHL) to mean to gain weight (literally, to go up in the weight), rather than the more informal and in-your-face להשמין.


But that was yesterday’s dose.

לִרְזוֹת (leer-ZOHT) means to lose weight, or literally, to become thin. This simple verb is derived from the adjective, רָזֶה (rah-ZEH) meaning thin, when referring to a male (the feminine version is רָזָה – rah-ZAH). A more professional, polite version of the term is לָרֶדֶת בַּמִּשְׁקָל (lah-REH-det bah-meesh-KAHL) – literally, to go down in the weight.


You may recall this root appearing in the introductory prayer for rain made a few days ago: רָזוֹן (rah-ZOHN) refers to gauntness, or in the case of the prayer, famine, whereas שֹׂבַע (SOH-vah) refers to satiation.