Record a Pronunciation
n. Sweetie (term of endearment).
interj. Atonement! (meaning the relatively minor mishap should be an atonement for my/our/your sins, rather than something more serious).
"What's wrong, kapara?"
"We were set upon by a swarm of angry bees on the last afternoon of the hike. We were each stung multiple times... his first reaction after we outran them was 'kapparah!' It was a few weeks before Rosh Hashanah and I told him his words were doubly appropriate."
Record a Sentence
Textual Hebrew כפּרה 'atonement', used with the definition above in Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and Modern Hebrew
kappara, kaparah, kapparah
Different usage from the Yiddish kapore 'scapegoat'. The most common scenario when this is used is at a family meal or communal affair when dishes or trays fall with a loud crash. Everyone says Kapparah! And it is usually followed by a laugh as people are reminded that this is something Sephardic Jews say. The different meanings are often pronounced differently: "You can ask God for ka-pa-RA, but if your taxi driver uses the word when he addresses you, with an affected affection rendered meaningless by indiscriminate use and repetition, he’ll be pronouncing it ka-PA-ra" (source).
Edit Something missing from this entry? Inaccurate? Feel free to suggest an edit.
