maccabiah

Edit

Pronunciations

maacabiah (mah-KAH-bee-YAH) listen

Record a Pronunciation

Definitions

  • n. Color war / intra-camp competition in a Jewish summer camp.

  • n. International Jewish sports competition, known as the Jewish Olympics, held (mostly) every four years since 1932; smaller regional competitions held in Jewish community centers around the world.

Example Sentences

  • "We stayed up all night making the banners for the maccabiah break-out." (Jewish summer camp)

  • "Having grown from 390 athletes from fourteen countries to nine thousand athletes from seventy-eight countries, the Maccabiah Games (or the “Jewish Olympics,” as it has come to be known) continue to gain popularity." (source)

Record a Sentence

Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Modern Hebrew

Etymology

  • The name of the international Jewish athletic competition was based on the ancient Maccabees, plus the -ia suffix common in Modern Hebrew, which is influenced by Ladino / Judeo-Spanish. The use of "maccabiah" for color war at camp was adopted by American Hebraist/Zionist Jewish camps in the 1940s, including at Massad Poconos, based on the international competition.

      • Who Uses This

      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
      • Camp: Jews who attend or work at a Jewish overnight summer camp

      Regions

      • North America
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa
      • Australia / New Zealand

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).

      Alternative Spellings

      maccabia, macabia, makabia, makabea, maccabiya, maccabiyah

Edit     Something missing from this entry? Inaccurate? Feel free to suggest an edit.