mitzvah

Pronunciations

mitzvah	(MIHTZ-vuh)
mitzvah	(meetz-VAH)

Definitions

• n. Good deed.
  

• n. Jewish ritual commandment.
  

Example Sentences

• "What a mitzvah it was for Sarah to help that elderly woman cross the street."
  

Languages of Origin

• Textual Hebrew

Etymology

• Heb. מִצְוָה mitzvah 'commandment' > Yid. מ(י)צװה mitzve
  

Who Uses This

• Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
• Non-Jews: (words that have spread outside of Jewish networks)

Regions

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

• The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
• Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
• The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
• The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
• Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).
• Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
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Alternative Spellings

mitzva, mitsvah, mitsve, mitsva, mitzve, mitsveh, mitzveh