dybbuk

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Pronunciations

dybbuk (DI-buk) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A spirit, "often thought to be the soul of a dead person, that wanders the earth looking for a living body to inhabit" (JPS).

Example Sentences

  • "The dybbuk attaches itself to the body of a living person and inhabits it."

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • Heb דיבוק dibúk, Yiddish דיבוק díbek

      • Who Uses This

      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America
      • Great Britain
      • Australia / New Zealand

      Dictionaries

      • The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).

      Alternative Spellings

      dibek, dybuk, dibuk

Notes

  • Also the name of a 1914 play by S. An-sky (and its film adaptation).

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