Vocabulary
Modern Israeli Hebrew has borrowed many words from Aramaic, Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic (spoken Arabic, mainly Judeo Arabic and Palestinian Arabic), German, Latin, Greek, Polish, Russian, English and other languages. Some typical examples are:
| loanword | derivatives | origin | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hebrew | IPA | meaning | Hebrew | IPA | meaning | language | spelling | meaning |
| ביי | /baj/ | goodbye | English | bye | ||||
| אגזוז | /eɡˈzoz/ | exhaust system |
exhaust system |
|||||
| דיג׳יי | /ˈdidʒej/ | DJ | לדג׳ה | /ledaˈdʒe/ | to DJ | to DJ | ||
| ואללה | /ˈwala/ | really!? | Arabic | والله | really!? | |||
| כיף | /kef/ | fun | לכייף | /lekaˈjef/ | to have fun | كيف | pleasure | |
| חפיף | /χaˈfif/ | lightly | להתחפף | /lehitχaˈfef/ | to scram | خَفِيف | lightly | |
| אבא | /ˈaba/ | daddy | Aramaic | אבא | the father | |||
| לאלתר | /lealˈtar/ | immediately | לאלתר | /lealˈter/ | to improvize | על אתר | right here | |
| חלטורה | /χalˈtura/ | shoddy job | לחלטר | /leχalˈter/ | to moonlight | Russian | халтура | shoddy work |
| בלגן | /balaˈɡan/ | mess | לבלגן | /levalˈɡen/ | to make a mess | балаган | chaos | |
| תכל׳ס | /ˈtaχles/ | directly | Yiddish | תכלית | goal | |||
| חרופ | /χrop/ | deep sleep | לחרופ | /laχˈrop/ | to sleep deeply | חְרוֹפּ | sleep | |
| שפכטל | /ˈʃpaχtel/ | putty knife | German | Spachtel | putty knife | |||
| גומי | /ˈɡumi/ | rubber | גומיה | /ɡumiˈja/ | rubber band | Gummi | rubber | |
| גזוז | /ɡaˈzoz/ | carbonated beverage |
Turkish French |
gazoz eau gazeuse |
carbonated beverage |
|||
| פוסטמה | /pusˈtema/ | stupid woman | Ladino | inflamed wound | ||||
| אדריכל | /adriˈχal/ | architect | אדריכלות | /adriχaˈlut/ | architecture | Akkadian | arad-ekalli | temple servant |
- Sources
Read more about this topic: Modern Hebrew
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“[T]here is no breaking out of the intentional vocabulary by explaining its members in other terms.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“A new talker will often call her caregiver “mommy,” which makes parents worry that the child is confused about who is who. She isn’t. This is a case of limited vocabulary rather than mixed-up identities. When a child has only one word for the female person who takes care of her, calling both of them “mommy” is understandable.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“My vocabulary dwells deep in my mind and needs paper to wriggle out into the physical zone. Spontaneous eloquence seems to me a miracle. I have rewritten—often several times—every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)