sabra

Definitions

• a prickly pear, "tough and prickly on the outside, tender and sweet on the inside--a description that many say fits citizens of the Jewish state." (JPS)

Example Sentences

• "I don't like that guy; he's so standoff-ish."
• "Oh, don't worry about that. He's Israeli, he's a real sabra."

Languages of Origin

Modern Hebrew

Etymology

• צבר tsabar

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

Dictionaries

• 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).

Notes

• So chosen because prickly pears are thorny on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside.