Pronunciations
Definitions
Example Sentences
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"On the first night of Chanukah, you put one candle on the right side of your Chanukiah."
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"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
- 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
- North America
- South Africa
- Australia / New Zealand
- 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).
- Yinglish: A Lexicon of Judeo-English by Aliza Bulow
- View More
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
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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