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).

      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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