Welcome

Welcome to the Jewish English Lexicon (JEL), a collaborative database of distinctive words that are used in the speech or writing of English-speaking Jews. Think of it as the Wiktionary or Urban Dictionary of Jewish language.

The words in this database stem from several languages of the Jewish past and present, including the Hebrew and Aramaic of ancient biblical and rabbinic texts, the Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and other languages that developed over centuries of Jewish life in "the old country," and the Modern Hebrew of contemporary Israel. When Jews use words from this list within their English speech or writing, they indicate not only that they are Jewish but also that they are a certain type of Jew. Some are Yiddish lovers, some are engaged in religious life and learning, some have a strong connection to Israel, some have Persian or Syrian heritage, and some are all of the above. Because Jewish and non-Jewish social networks overlap, these words are not used exclusively by Jews. Some are English words that certain Jews use in distinctive ways, and some are Yiddish-origin words that have become part of the English language.

JEL was started in 2007 as a class project in Sarah Bunin Benor's course "American Jewish Language and Identity in Historical Context" at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Students were asked to contribute words that they heard from their friends or read online or in print, as well as definitions, example sentences, and source languages. Many of the entries already appeared in one or more of the published Jewish English Dictionaries, but many appear here for the first time, thanks to the students and visitors like you.

By design, JEL is a work in progress. We hope you will help us build and refine it. If you notice a word missing, add it. If you want to suggest an edit to an existing entry, you can click the "edit" button on that entry. All changes are moderated. We invite you to experience the lexicon by browsing, searching, sorting, listening to pronunciations, and, most importantly, adding new entries and pronunciations. Past contributors have reported that once they started paying attention, their eyes - and ears - were opened to a whole new world of Jewish English language.

Enter the Lexicon

About Us

Goals

The goals of the Jewish English Lexicon (JEL) are to collect data on English spoken and written by Jews and to make it available to the public.

JEL Team

  • Founding Director: Sarah Bunin Benor
  • Moderator: Kyle Fingerhut
  • Director of Education and Engagement: Hannah Pressman
  • Programmer: Josh Vogel
  • Logo Designer: Daria Hoffman
  • Pronunciation recordings, entry submissions, etc.: Many volunteers!


You can learn more about the team here. If you're interested in contributing or volunteering, please let us know.
Past team members: Eden Moyal, Lael Sacho-Tanzer, Isaac Bleaman, Noam Fields-Meyer, Leah Helfgott, Hannah Kober, Tsvi Sadan, Chaim Singer-Frankes, Eliran Sobel, and David Voong.
Photo credits: Bill Aron (1, 3), Kim Silverstein (2), Francine Zara Mathur/Sasha Aleiner/Jews in ALL Hues (4), Ra'anan Boustan (5) and Mijal Bitton (6).

Top word contributors

The people listed here contributed many entries or pronunciations to the JEL.

  • Mark Bunin Benor
  • Isaac Bleaman
  • Alexandra Casser
  • Rabbi Jordana Chernow-Reader
  • Elliott Ferrell
  • Noam Fields-Meyer
  • Charles Heller
  • Simone Klein
  • Hannah Kober
  • Matan Kruskal
  • Laurie Lax
  • Rabbi Lydia Bloom Medwin
  • Rabbi Daniel Bloom Medwin
  • Anne Prusky
  • Rabbi Joshua Samuels
  • Michael Sandler
  • Dovi Seldowitz
  • Eliran Sobel
  • Chaim Weiser
  • Shira Winter

You too can be listed here! After you have added several entries, please let us know. Names will only be added with permission.

Funding

The JEL is an initiative of the HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project and is made possible by generous funding from:

  • Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
  • Dorot Foundation
  • American Academy for Jewish Research Special Initiatives Fund
  • Concentration in Education and Jewish Studies at Stanford University
  • Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University
  • Mark David
  • Elyssa Elbaz
  • Alicia
  • Rabbi Amy and Gary Perlin

Donations are always welcome! If you contribute $360 or more, you will have the option of being listed here.

Privacy

The Lexicon collects minimal data about visitors to the site. Any data that is or will be collected by this site will be covered by the HUC Privacy Policy and HUC Cookie Policy.

Contact Us

You can add an entry to the lexicon here. To edit an existing entry, click the Edit button in the full entry. If you have general questions or comments about the site, you can contact us here.


Citation

To cite the Lexicon in general:
Benor, Sarah Bunin. 2012-present. "Jewish English Lexicon." Los Angeles: Jewish Language Project. https://jel.jewish-languages.org/.

To cite a particular entry:
Benor, Sarah Bunin. 2012-present. "Tachlis, entry in Jewish English Lexicon." Los Angeles: Jewish Language Project. https://jel.jewish-languages.org/words/556.

Attribution: Creative Commons Share-Alike 4.0 International.