aveil

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Pronunciations

ovel (AW-vel) listen
aveil (ah-VEL) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A mourner.

Example Sentences

  • "He can't use the tickets to the show because he's an avel." (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH אבל avél 'mourner' > Y אָבֿל ovl

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

      Regions

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

      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).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

      Alternative Spellings

      avel, aveyl, avayl, avail, ovel, oveil, oveyl, ovayl, ovl

Notes

  • plural: 'aveylim' or 'avelim'

    See also aveilus.

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