kholile

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Definitions

  • adv. God forbid; expresses the desire that something not happen.

  • adv. (ironic) God willing; expresses the desire that something happen.

Example Sentences

  • “Be careful crossing the street you shouldn’t kholile be hit by a car." (NJY)

  • “If I should kholile become a millionaire…” (NJY)

  • “If my daughter kholile marries that wonderful boy…” (NJY)

  • “I hope he doesn’t kholile get sick." (NJY)

  • "The saying about comedy that Kafka cites bites its own tongue in just this sense: 'a joke can, kholile,' lay waste to an entire world, when abhorrence, that is, is at the same time enjoying a more expressive voice: already tasting, as it were, the plural meanings of both the German and Jewish tongue." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH חלילה > Y חלילה kholile

      • Who Uses This

      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America

      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).

      Alternative Spellings

      cholile, kholileh, cholileh, cholilleh, cholille, kholilleh, kholille, chalileh, khalileh, chalilah, khalilah, chalillah, khalillah, chalilla, khalilla, chalila, khalila

Notes

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