Hebrew and Yiddish Language Trivia

1. Boker tov! I get into the kitchen and the first thing I do is rummage around in my 'mekarer'. My mom always told me never to leave it open for too long. What did I look into?

From Quiz Hebrew in the Kitchen

Answer: The fridge

Brrr, it's cold inside my fridge first thing in the morning! The Hebrew word for refrigerator comes from the word 'kar' which means 'cold'. The fridge, therefore, is an appliance which keeps things cold. Opening the fridge always reminds me of a scene from "The Cosby Show" where Theo is rummaging around in there for too long so Cliff tells his son that he'll take a picture of the inside of the fridge and paste it outside the door.

From Quiz Black and White and Red All Over in Hebrew.

Answer: Katom

Katom is orange. The local pumpkins in Israel are not the round Jack-O-Lantern sort that Americans are used to, but very large and tall. When you want to buy some pumpkin to make that pumpkin pie, you go to the "shuk" (open air market) and ask the fellow selling "dlat" for a kilo's worth, and he takes his knife and slices off a piece of the side. Pumpkin pie would go well with falafel.

From Quiz Are You a Meshuga?

Answer: Crazy

Do not confuse a meshigina with someone who comes from the glove state of Michigan. Meshuga means crazy, while a meshigina is a crazy person. Like many Yiddish words the source of the word meshuga is Hebrew - hence the term Yiddish/Hebrew in the intro. The actual source for this word is Biblical (Deut. 28:34). Note that Yiddish is mostly a mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic and German - and whatever country it is spoken in. For example, chrein (horseradish) is russian; feyer heidrant (fire hydrant) is English.

From Quiz Jewish Grandmother to English Dictionary

Answer: A complainer or whiner

In Yiddish the word "kvetch" literally means to squeeze into something, such as a shoe, that is too small. Like many words in Yiddish you can find parallels to German and Hebrew as well as other semitic and Indo-European languages. In German "quetschen" means to squeeze. However, in common usage "kvetch" is used to mean a person who complains or whines incessantly. Interestingly, modern Yiddish webpages often use "kvetch" to mean click.

From Quiz Hebrew Toponyms

Answer: Egypt

'Mitsrayim', the Hebrew name for Egypt, has its roots in Noah's family. It literally translates as 'Son of Ham', who in turn, was the son of Noah. 'Mitsrayim' can also mean 'The Land of Ham'. This is mentioned in Psalms (105:23). According to some authors, it can also mean 'oppression' or 'narrow', referring to the spiritual redemption of the people of Israel in ancient Egypt.

From Quiz Hebrew Vocabulary - Odd-Man Out

Answer: Tailor

Not surprisingly, the word for "seamstress" - "toferet" and the word for a seam "tefer", come from the same Hebrew root as the word "to sew". The fact that the word for "miser", "tafran" comes from the same root is a little more unexpected. The idea is that the miser's pockets are all sewed up! The Hebrew word for a tailor is "chayat", which appears first in the Talmud. This is a common Jewish surname.

From Quiz Hebrew Animals

Answer: Ariyeh

Can be confused with the pronunciation "aryeh". A "namer" is a tiger, and there is no such thing as "liun" in Hebrew.

From Quiz Hebrew Double Meanings

Answer: Hello

The Arabic equivalent of "Shalom" is "Salaam". It can also mean "goodbye" or "farewell".

From Quiz What Do These Hebrew Names Mean?

Answer: A gift

"Shai" also means "gift" in Aramaic. Aramaic of course is closely related to Hebrew and is also a Semitic language.

From Quiz One/Two Word Meanings

Answer: Yes and Nest

Say Ken to the Ken.

From Quiz Some Hebrew Phrases

Answer: kama zeh oleh?

From Quiz Who Knows Yiddish?

Answer: Sarah

From Quiz Yiddish Slang

Answer: Shiksa

Oy....what I got for being the shiksa in that situation! Luckily it all worked out and now I have a fine Jewish husband :>)

From Quiz Black and White and Red All Over in Hebrew.

Answer: Kakhol

Kakhol (blue) is a difficult word for many English speakers to say because the "kh" represents a hard guttural sound, rather like the Scottish "Ach". "Dukifat" is the Hebrew name for a bird, the Hoopoe, which happens to be the national bird of Israel.

From Quiz Hebrew Onomatopoeia

Answer: Mosquito

Hopefully the "z" sound surrendered the correct answer to you. Similarly to buzz, "ZIMZOOM" is used to name the sound created by insects rapidly waving their wings. General knowledge: in Hebrew, the word "HIMHOOM" is used for the cooing of a pigeon, and also for human murmuring.

From Quiz Hebrew Vocabulary - Odd-Man Out

Answer: Culture

The root CH V R means "to connect, or be connected". The Hebrew word for a "notebook" is "machberet", since a "notebook" consists of pages that are connected together. A "society",or a group of people who are connected, is a "chevrah". The Hebrew word for "friend" is "chaver" (1st person,male), and was heard round the world when President Bill Clinton ended his eulogy of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin with the words, "Shalom, Chaver". The Hebrew word for "culture" is "tarbut".

From Quiz Hebrew Animals

Answer: Dog

The word "kelev" is used for a male dog, and "kalba" is used for a female dog. In Hebrew, the word for "koala" is the same as in English. In Hebrew, a "keves" is a male sheep and a "kivsah" is a female sheep.

From Quiz Hebrew Double Meanings

Answer: A month in the Hebrew calendar

Av is considered to be the saddest month and the happiest month. The Ninth of Av is a fast day commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, which took place about 655 years apart. The fifteenth of Av is often considered the Jewish equivalent of Valentines day.

From Quiz One/Two Word Meanings

Answer: No and For him

From Quiz Some Hebrew Phrases

Answer: 24 hours

From Quiz Who Knows Yiddish?

Answer: A gliklekh nay-yor

If you said 'der klozet' to someone on New Year's day, or anyday, people would boggle at you. 'Der klozet' means 'the toilet'!

From Quiz Beginning Hebrew

Answer: Father

From Quiz Black and White and Red All Over in Hebrew.

Answer: Adom

Adom (red) comes from the same root word as the name Adam...both of them refer to earth or dirt, presumably because Adam was formed from the earth, and the soil was on the reddish side. A "Kippah" is the same as a "Yarmulka" except that "Kippah" is Hebrew while "Yarmulka" is Yiddish.

From Quiz Are You a Meshuga?

Answer: Audacity

It is such Chutzpah to ask such a question.

From Quiz Hebrew Onomatopoeia

Answer: Bird

A tweet in Hebrew is a "TSIYUTS", and the same as in English it was borrowed to its modern usage in Twitter. The song I was quoting is the famous 70s tune "Tsif Tsif From Above The Platform", written by Yaron London and originally sung by Dany Litany. In case you were wondering, the Hebrew word for platform is "RATSIF", so now you can see how it rhymes nicely.

From Quiz Hebrew Animals

Answer: Dov

"Dubi" is the word for a teddy-bear, but is also used for a baby bear. A "nachash" is a snake, and "ber" is the Yiddish word for a bear. "Smer" is completely made up.

From Quiz Hebrew Double Meanings

Answer: Between

Ben as in "son" is spelled Bet Nun. Ben as in "between" is spelled Bet Yud Nun.

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Last Updated Nov 01 2025 5:44 AM

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