Challah - Word of the Day - 5 February 2016
Pronounced
KHAH-luh
Noun
Definition
Egg-rich yeast-leavened bread that is usually braided or
twisted before baking and is traditionally eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and
holidays
Examples
My father made a blessing over the challah before it was
broken and passed around the Shabbat table.
"The table was graced with the latkes and doughnuts
that mark the Jewish holiday, but also featured brisket, challah and
tzimmes…." — Deanna Fox, The Times-Union (Albany, New York), 31 Dec. 2015
When English speakers first borrowed challah from Yiddish,
they couldn't quite settle on a single spelling, so the word showed up in
several forms; challah, challa, hallah, and the plural forms challoth, challot,
halloth, and hallot were all common enough to merit inclusion in Webster's
Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged when it was released in 1961.
Today, challah and the anglicized plural challahs are the variants that are
usually encountered by English speakers. The initial ch of challah is
frequently pronounced as a velar fricative, like the ch in the German Buch or
the Scottish English loch.
Test Your Vocabulary
Unscramble the letters to create the word for the linen
apron worn in ancient Hebrew rites: HDEOP.
Merriam-Webster
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