Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

  מְכָל, תְּכוּלָה  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     We saw that the Hebrew word for to contain is לְהָכִיל listen and repeat of the root כ.ו.ל (k.w.l) meaning all.   Likewise, a container is a מְכָל listen and repeat (erroneously yet very commonly written and pronounced as מֵכָל or מֵיכָל listen and repeat). The word also refers to the kind of container called a…

  לְהָכִיל  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The Hebrew word for to contain is לְהָכִיל listen and repeat, an active-causative verb of the root כ.ו.ל (k.w.l) meaning all: to contain is to have the ability to include all different things inside oneself. For example:   מוּצָר זֶה מֵכִיל גְּלוּטֶן. This product contains gluten.  listen   …

חֲטִיפָה  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?   If you’d like to follow the Hebrew news, one of the key words you’ll need to know these days is the one for a kidnapping – חֲטִיפָה listen and repeat. It comes from the root ח.ט.פ (kh.t.p), which means grabbing or snatching. We saw this root in a happier context…

לִשְׁכּוֹחַ  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?   The Hebrew word for to forget is ַלִשְׁכּוֹח listen and repeat, as in the Biblical context of agricultural gifts to the poor:   וְשָׁכַחְתָּ עֹמֶר בַּשָּׂדֶה… and should you forget a bundle (of grain) in the field…  listen    It’s a simple verb of the root שׁ.כ.ח (sh.k.kh).  …

לְקַטֵּר  listen and repeat   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Imagine a boiling teapot, with steam rising from its spout. That’s approximately the image evoked in Hebrew when describing someone complaining non-stop, as לְקַטֵּר listen and repeat means literally to smoke a pipe or to burn incense. For example: תַּפְסִיקִי לְקַטֵּר עַל הַשְּׁכֵנִים וְתַעֲשִׁי מַשֶּׁהוּ.(to a female) Stop complaining so much about the neighbors and…

קַרְחוֹן  listen and repeat   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Yesterday we saw the word for ice – קֶרַח listen and repeat. קרח appears in Biblical Hebrew, but the original readers of the Bible had no need for a term for iceberg, since none could be found anywhere near the land of Israel. So Modern Hebrew had to invent a word – קַרְחוֹן For…

  קֶרַח  listen and repeat   Can’t read Hebrew yet?        The Hebrew word for ice is קֶרַח listen and repeat. For example: הַהַחְלָקָה עַל קֶרַח הִיא סְפּוֹרְט שֶׁנִּכְנֶסֶת לָאָפְנָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל.(The) ice skating is a sport that is becoming fashionable in Israel. listen  Don’t try to combine קרח with another word to refer to ice cream – that’s גְּלִידָה listen and repeat.     

  קָרוֹב לְוַדַּאי  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Hebrew has a way of sounding a bit overconfident sometimes. We use surely to mean probably, as in:   הוּא בֶּטַח יַגִּיעַ תּוֹךְ שְׁתֵּי דַּקּוֹת. He’ll probably (surely) arrive within two minutes.  listen    And we mean to say more than likely, we’re literally…

  מַסּוֹק  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The people at the Academy of the Hebrew Language work hard to introduce newly-constructed authentic Hebrew words into the vernacular, trying to catch up with the masses who already use foreign words for inventions of recent centuries such as the telephone (the term they came…