bat mitzvah
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Pronunciations

bat mitzvah (baht MITS-vuh) listen
bat mitzvah (baht meets-VAH) listen

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Definitions

  • n. The ceremony of a 12- (or sometimes 13-) year-old girl's entrance into adulthood in Jewish life.

  • n. A girl who has undergone or is undergoing her bat mitzvah ceremony. 

  • adj. ('bat-mitzvahed') Having undergone one's bat mitzvah ceremony. 

Example Sentences

  • "The bat mitzvah girl will be reading the parshah this week."

  • "Do you have a choice whether to be bar/bat mitzvahed?" (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Aramaic

Etymology

  • בת מצווה 'daughter of the commandment'

      • 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
      • 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).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
      • Yinglish: A Lexicon of Judeo-English by Aliza Bulow
      • View More

      Alternative Spellings

      bas mitsvah, bat mitzva, bat mitsva, bas mitsva, bas mitzve, bas mitsve, bas mitzveh, bas mitsveh, bat mitsvah, bat-mitzvahed, bas-mitzvahed

Notes

  • Also used as a past participle: "I was bat mitzvahed at that temple."

    See also bar mitzvah and b mitzvah.

    plural: 'banot mitzvah'

    In Orthodox communities, refers to the celebration of a girl turning 12. 

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