English Reference

Word

israeli

Phoneticsis·raeli

/ˌɪzˈɹeɪɫi/

Definitions

01origin or relation

A2

adj. coming from or related to the country of Israel.

adj. relating to the modern State of Israel, its inhabitants, or its culture.

“We went to a local restaurant to try some traditional Israeli food.”

“The Israeli tech sector has seen significant growth over the last decade, attracting substantial venture capital from international investors.”

02a person

A2

n. a person who comes from Israel.

n. a citizen or inhabitant of the modern State of Israel, or a person of Israeli descent.

“My new neighbour is an Israeli who moved here to study engineering.”

“The conference brought together Israelis and Palestinians to discuss regional water management and environmental cooperation.”

03the language

C1 · Science

n. a name sometimes used for the modern Hebrew language spoken in Israel.

n. a term occasionally used in linguistics to distinguish Modern Hebrew from Biblical or Rabbinic Hebrew.

“Some scholars prefer to call the modern language Israeli rather than Hebrew.”

“In certain academic circles, the term Israeli is used to highlight the unique linguistic evolution of the language since the late nineteenth century.”

Technical

Usage

Usually refers to the language as a whole in a linguistic context.

Synonyms

Modern Hebrew

Etymology

From Hebrew ישראלי (jiśrəʾēlî). By surface analysis, Israel + -i. Usage as a synonym for "Modern Israeli Hebrew" was popularized by Ghil'ad Zuckermann.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Domain

Linguistics

This entry

Level
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Updated

Scan code

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English Reference