hefker

Pronunciations

hefker (HEHF-kehr) listen

Definitions

  • adj. Ownerless.

  • adj. Running wild, undisciplined.

Example Sentences

  • "All of the stuff that's hefker in our kitchen is on that table so that everyone knows they can eat it."

  • "What I could see was benchloads of babysitters shmoozing with each other and the kids running around hefker." (source)

  • "I don't like their courses. There's no reading list or curriculum—it's so hefker." (Glinert)

  • "You can take any of these used cassettes here. They're hefker." (Glinert)

Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH הפקר > Y הפֿקר hefker

    • Who Uses This

      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

      Regions

      • North America
      • 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).

Notes

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