Sephardic

Edit

Pronunciations

Sephardic (seh-FAHR-dik) listen

Record a Pronunciation

Definitions

  • adj. Of or relating to the culture, customs, or ancestry of Jews whose ancestors came from the Iberian Peninsula before the Jewish expulsion.

  • n. (In plural) Jews whose ancestors came from the Iberian Peninsula before the Jewish expulsion.

Example Sentences

  • "The customs of Sephardic Jews differ in many ways from those of Ashkenazi Jews."

Record a Sentence

Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • English

Etymology

  • from ספרד sefarád 'medieval Spain'

      • 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
      • View More

      Dictionaries

      • The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
      • 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).
      • View More

      Alternative Spellings

      Sefardic, Sephardi, Sefardi, Sefaradi, Sepharadi

Notes

  • Plural Sephardim / Sefardim.

    Sometimes used more broadly to refer to all non-Ashkenazim, though there are in fact other non-Ashkenazi groups.

    See also Mizrachi.

Edit     Something missing from this entry? Inaccurate? Feel free to suggest an edit.