teva

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Pronunciations

teva (TEH-vuh) listen
teva (TEH-vah) listen

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Definitions

  • n. Nature.

  • n. Character (quality of a person or thing).

Example Sentences

  • Teva chug will be going on a tiyul to Mount Rainier. Meet at the lower moadon after peulat boker.

  • "The teva of dorm life is that there's never enough of anything but germs" (Weiser, Frumspeak, p. 97)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish
  • Modern Hebrew

Etymology

  • טבע 'nature; character; imprint'

      • Who Uses This

      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)
      • Camp: Jews who attend or work at a Jewish overnight summer camp

      Regions

      • North America
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).

      Alternative Spellings

      tevah

Notes

  • Independently used by campers (Modern Hebrew borrowing) and in Yeshivish circles (Textual Hebrew). Also found in Yiddish, where it has the same meanings ('nature; character').

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