chad gadya

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Pronunciations

chad gadya (chahd gahd-YAH) listen

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Definitions

  • n. The name of a song sung at the end of the Passover seder.

Example Sentences

  • "Little Esti fell asleep in the middle of Chad Gadya." (Glinert)

    Listen to recordings of this sentence: ( Recording 1)

  • "What does Chad Gadya, a song worthy of Dr. Seuss, a song that goes on and on about goats, cats, dogs, sticks, and butcher shops have to do with the leil shimurim, the night of geula and redemp­tion?" (source)

  • "Of all the places in the world, ancient Jerusalem is the place where one can almost tangibly feel the Jewish historical 'Chad Gadya'." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Aramaic

Etymology

  • חד גדיא chad gadya 'One baby-goat...' (the concluding line of every ).

      • 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)
      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements

      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).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      khad gadio, had gadio, chad gadio, khad gadia, had gadia, chad gadia, khad gadyo, had gadyo, chad gadyo, khad gadya, had gadya

Notes

  • The song is cumulative, "similar to those in the children's rhyme 'There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,'" (JPS) making the name of the song sometimes used as a way of referring to a cumulation, or piling on, one after the other, of events, often connected to Jewish history.

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