Hebrew is a beautifully concise and minimalistic language. That’s why so often a single root can blossom into a whole family of related words—like branches growing from the same tree. That’s exactly what happens with the root ח-פ-ש (chet-pey-shin), which gives us חופש, חופשה, and יום חופש. 

So what are the differences between these three terms? If you’re looking for a day off and want to ask your boss for one, since you’ve been working so hard this past quarter, what you’re asking for is a יום חופש (yohm choh-fesh). A longer vacation, on the other hand—whether it’s lounging on the beach or exploring a new city—is called a חופשה (choof-shah), basically your holiday. 

Finally, חופש (choh-fehsh) is the broadest term, referring to freedom in the philosophical sense or just “time off” in a casual context. חופש גדול (literally “the big freedom”) is the long summer break kids get from school.

Ok, you probably already know that modern Hebrew borrows tons of words from other languages and blends them so seamlessly into everyday conversation—with an Israeli twist—that it’s easy to forget they’re not originally Hebrew.

We do this with words like “boss,” “ex” (as in ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend), “teenager,” and more. But since Hebrew is still a gendered language—where every noun or title has to match a gender—you might find it amusing that when referring to a female, we simply add the Hebrew suffix ית (-it) to the borrowed word!

So boss becomes בוסית (boh-seet), ex turns into אקסית (eh-xeet), and teenager becomes טינאייג’רית (teen-eh-geh-reet). Just a perfect little mash-up of English words and Hebrew grammar!