chanukiah

Pronunciations

chanukiah (chah-noo-KEY-yah) listen
chanukiah (chah-noo-key-YAH) listen
hanukiah (hah-noo-KEY-yuh) listen

Definitions

Example Sentences

  • "On the first night of Chanukah, you put one candle on the right side of your Chanukiah."

  • "Apparently, Hannukiah is mostly an Israeli term. But I grew up Conservative in NY and we all used it as a term." (source)

Languages of Origin

  • Modern Hebrew
  • Ladino

Etymology

  • L hanukía > MH חנוכייה chanukiá

    • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
      • Israel: Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel and have spent time there

      Regions

      • North America
      • Australia / New Zealand
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

      Alternative Spellings

      chanukia, chanukiyah, hanukiah, hanukia, hanukkiah, hanukkia, hanukkiya, hanukkiyah

Notes

  • Among contemporary Jews, a debate has circulated about this term. Some hold that it's incorrect to refer to the 9-branched Chanukah candelabrum as a menorah because that refers only to the 7-branched candelabrum which is a symbol of Judaism (see an example here). Others hold that both terms are acceptable to refer to the 9-branched candelabrum (see an example here). The Jewish English Lexicon favors the latter stance: menorah is the traditional term, and chanukiah is the more modern term, influenced by Modern Hebrew, which borrowed it from Ladino. Chanukiah is a subset of menorah, like square is a subset of rectangle.

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