kina

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Pronunciations

kina (KEE-nah) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A religious poem of lament commemorating the tragedies of Tisha B’Av, the date on which the First and Second Temples were destroyed.

  • n. Envy, jealousy.

Example Sentences

  • "Tisha B'Av is coming up, so we have to pull out our books of kinot."

  • "The tenth commandment, 'thou shall not covet,' is rooted in a rejection of kina."

  • "They're sitting on the floor saying kinot." (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • first sense: TH קינה kina 'lament' (plural: קינות kinot) > Y קינה kine
    second sense: TH קנאה kin'a 'envy' > Y קינאה kine

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

      Regions

      • North America

      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).

      Alternative Spellings

      kine, kinot

Notes

  • kinat khinam is 'hatred/jealousy without a reason'.

    The first sense is often used in the plural for a collection of such poems, 'kinot'.

    See also kine-sine.

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