dybbuk

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Pronunciations

dybbuk (DEE-buuk) listen
dybbuk (DIH-bik) listen

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Definitions

  • n. An evil spirit that possesses a living person.

  • n. A 1920 play by S. Ansky, written in Russian and then translated into Yiddish.

  • n. A 1937 Yiddish-language film adaption of the 1914 play.

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

  • TH דיבוק dibúk > Y דיבוק díbek

      • Who Uses This

      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage
      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older

      Regions

      • North America
      • Australia / New Zealand
      • Great Britain

      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

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