shaila

Alternative Spellings

shayla, shaylah, shailah, shayle, she'ela, sheilah

Definitions

• a question, usually while looking for a halachic ruling

Example Sentences

• I asked my Rov a shaila about the brocha on sushi.

Languages of Origin

Textual Hebrew, Yiddish

Etymology

Hebrew שְׁאֵלָה she'elá, Ashkenazi/Yiddish pronunciation [shayle]

Who Uses This

Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

Dictionaries

Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).