kapara

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Pronunciations

kapara (kah-PAH-rah) listen

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Definitions

  • n. (term of endearment) Sweetie.

  • n. The sacrificial chicken, fish, or money swung or held above one's head on Yom Kippur so his/her sins can be transferred to the animal, which is then sacrificed, or money, which is then donated.

  • interj. An interjection uttered after a minor mishap, meaning that it should be atonement for one's sins.

  • n. Atonement, punishment for one's sins.

  • n. A scapegoat.

  • interj. (sometimes preceded by 'a') An expression of frustrated dismissal of something; to hell with.

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Example Sentences

  • "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."

  • “A kapore on the car; just so no one was hurt!" (NJY)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Ladino
  • Arabic / Judeo-Arabic
  • Modern Hebrew
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Etymology

  • sense 1: TH > JA כפרה / كپّارة kumpāra > MH כַּפָּרָה kapára

    sense 2, 4, 6: TH > MH כַּפָּרָה kapará

    senses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: TH > Y כּפּרה kapore

    senses 2, 3, 4: TH > L kapara

      • Who Uses This

      • Israel: Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel and have spent time there
      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements

      Regions

      • North America

      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).

      Alternative Spellings

      kappara, kaparah, kapparah, kaporeh, kapore, kapora, kaporah

Notes

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