Sephardic

Pronunciations

Sephardic (seh-FAHR-dik) listen

Definitions

  • adj. Of or relating to the culture, customs, or ancestry of 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."

Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • English
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH ספרד sefarád 'medieval Spain' > Y ספֿרד sfard + E '-ic-' adjectival suffix

    • 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
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      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).

      Alternative Spellings

      Sefardic

Notes

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