15 Hebrew Words That Have Weird Double Meanings

1 min read
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Hebrew is an ancient language, and it has resulted in many words having multiple meanings.

1. כִּיכָּר

Transliteration: kee-kar

Meanings: roundabout, loaf of bread, square (place)

2. לְפַצֵּחַ

Transliteration: leh-fah-tzeh-ahch

Meanings: to figure out who your mutual friends are (slang), to crack open

3. הוֹרֵס / הוֹרֶסֶת

Transliteration: hoh-res (m), hoh-res-et (f)

Meanings: destroys, someone or something wonderful/terrific/great (slang)

4. מִבְצָע

Transliteration: meev-tzah

Meanings: military operation, sale

5. לְבַקֵּר

Transliteration: leh-vah-ker

Meanings: to visit, to critique

6. תּוֹתָח / תּוֹתָחִית

Transliteration: toh-tahch (m), toh-tah-cheet (f)

Meanings: canon, someone or something outstanding (slang)

7. לְהַזְמִין

Transliteration: leh-hahz-meen

Meanings: to order, to invite

8. כַּדּוּר

Transliteration: kah-door

Meanings: ball, pill, scoop of ice cream, bullet

9. שָׁוֶוה / שָׁוָוה

Transliteration: shah-veh (m), shah-vah (f)

Meanings: equal, worthy (slang), attractive

10. לְסַפֵּר

Transliteration: leh-sah-per

Meanings: to tell, to cut hair

11. לִשְׁאֹוף

Transliteration: leesh-ohf

Meanings: to aspire, to inhale

12. לְקַשְׁקֵשׁ

Transliteration: leh-kahsh-kesh

Meanings: to scramble, to gossip/babble

13. לַחְפֹּור

Transliteration: lahch-for

Meanings: to dig, to talk too much about something (slang)

14. הָפוּךְ

Transliteration: hah-fooch

Meanings: opposite/reversed, cappuccino

15. לָמוּת

Transliteration: lah-moot

Meanings: to die, to be crazy about someone or something

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Hebrew Nugget:

15 Hebrew Words That Have Weird Double Meanings

The past year has been an emotional rollercoaster – moving from the shock, pain, and sadness of unimaginable events to the moments of hope we felt with each hostage coming home, each family reunited, and every soldier returning safely. Alongside this, we’ve found countless reasons to be grateful – for the incredible outpouring of support from civilians, and for the things we still hold dear, like our families, our partners, and our community. But these feelings are always mixed with the ache and despair that everyone in Israel still carries, even now.
I’d say the best way to describe how everyone around me is feeling is רגשות מעורבים (reh-gah-shoht meh-oh-rah-veem), which means “mixed emotions.” רגש (reh-gehsh) means “an emotion” in singular, but in plural, רגשות, it might sound feminine with the “OHT” ending. But here’s the catch: this doesn’t change the gender of the noun or the adjective that follows, which still matches the singular form. So, it’s מעורבים and not מעורבות. It’s just one of those quirks of Hebrew that’s tricky to explain.