Hanukkah

English

WOTD – 25 December 2006

Alternative forms

• The most common form is Hanukkah, followed by Chanukah and Hanukah. Other forms, which are only a fraction as common, include: Hanuka, Chanuka, Chanukka, Chanukkah, Hannuka, Khanukah, Chanuko, Channukah, Hannukah, Channuka, Hanukka, Chanuca, and Chanuccah. The forms Hannukka, Channukkah, and Chanucca are very rare.

Etymology

Originated 1890–95. From Hebrew חנוכה / חֲנֻכָּה (khanuká, “dedication, consecration”) from חָנַךְ (khanákh, “to dedicate, to consecrate”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌ.nʊ.kə/, /ˈhæn.ə.kə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑː.nə.kə/, /ˈxɑː.nə.kə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Proper noun

Hanukkah (plural Hanukkahs)

1. (Judaism) An eight-day Jewish festival, starting on the 25th day of Kislev, which commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Maccabees over the Greek Syrians.

Synonyms

• Feast of Dedication
• Feast of Lights
• Festival of Lights

Derived terms

• Chrismukkah
• Hanukkah bush

 

Related terms

• hanukkiah

Translations

the Jewish festival

• Afrikaans: Chanoeka, Hanukkah
• Arabic: حَانُوكَا f (ḥānūkā), حَنُكَّة f (ḥanukka)
• Belarusian: Хану́ка f (Xanúka), Га́-нука f (Há-nuka) (taraškievica), Ха́-нука (Xá-nuka) (taraškievica)
• Bengali: হানুক্কা (hanukka)
• Breton: Hanouka
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 光明節／光明节 (gwong¹ ming⁴ zit³), 燭光節／烛光节 (zuk⁶ gwong¹ zit³), 修殿節／修殿节 (sau¹ din⁶ zit³), 獻殿節／献殿节 (hin³ din⁶ zit³), 哈努卡節／哈努卡节 (haa¹ nou⁵ kaa¹ zit³), 馬卡比節／马卡比节 (maa⁵ kaa¹ bei² zit³)

  Hakka: 獻殿節／献殿节 (Hien-thien-chiet)

  Hokkien: 獻殿節／献殿节 (Hiàn-tiān-choeh, Hiàn-tiān-cheh)

  Mandarin: 光明節／光明节 (zh) (Guāngmíngjié), 燭光節／烛光节 (Zhúguāngjié), 再獻聖殿節／再献圣殿节 (Zàixiàn-shèngdiànjié), 修殿節／修殿节 (Xiūdiànjié), 獻殿節／献殿节 (Xiàndiànjié), 哈努卡節／哈努卡节 (zh) (Hānǔkǎjié), 馬加比節／马加比节 (Mǎjiābǐjié)

• Czech: Chanuka (cs) f
• Dutch: Chanoeka (nl) f
• Esperanto: Ĥanuko
• Estonian: Hannuka
• Finnish: hanukka
• French: Hanoukka (fr) f
• German: Chanukka (de) n or f
• Gothic: 𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌾𐌹𐌸𐌰 f (inniujiþa)
• Greek: Χανουκά (Chanouká)

  Ancient: ἐγκαίνια n (enkaínia)

• Gujarati: હનુકા (hanukā)
• Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה (he) f (khanuká)
• Hindi: हनुका (hi) (hanukā)
• Hungarian: hanuka (hu)
• Indonesian: Hanukah
• Italian: Chanukah
• Japanese: ハヌカー (hanukā), ハヌカ (hanuka), ハニカ (hanika)
• Kannada: ಹನುಕಾ (hanukā)
• Khmer: ហានុកា (haanukaa), បុណ្យហានុកា (bon haanukaa)
• Korean: 하누카 (hanuka)
• Ladino: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: Encaenia f
• Norwegian: hanukka

  Nynorsk: hanukká

• Persian: حنوکا (hanukâ)
• Polish: Chanuka (pl) f, Święto Świateł (pl) n, Święto Świec n
• Portuguese: Chanucá m
• Romanian: Hanuka
• Russian: Хану́ка (ru) f (Xanúka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Ханука f

  Roman: Hanuka (sh) f

• Sinhalese: හනුකා (hanukā)
• Slovak: Chanuka f
• Spanish: Jánuca f
• Swedish: chanukka (sv)
• Tamil: ஹனுகா (haṉukā)
• Telugu: హనుకా (hanukā)
• Turkish: Hanuka
• Ukrainian: Хану́ка f (Xanúka)
• Urdu: حَنُوکاہ m (ḥanūkāh)
• Yiddish: חנוכה f (khanuke)
• Yoruba: Hánúkà

References

• “Hanukkah”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “Hanukkah”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "Hanukkah" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Anagrams

• Khanukah

Portuguese

Proper noun

Hanukkah m

1. Alternative form of Chanucá