מפתח

Hebrew

Etymology

Root
פ־ת־ח (p-t-kh)
8 terms

Cognate with Arabic مِفْتَاح (miftāḥ). The music sense is a semantic loan from a European language, paralleling many languages.

Pronunciation

• (Modern Israeli) IPA^(key): /maf.ˈte.aχ/
• (Ashkenazi) IPA^(key): /maf.ˈtej.ax/
• (Sephardi) IPA^(key): /maf.ˈte.aħ/
• (Yemenite) IPA^(key): /mæf.ˈte.æħ/, [mæfˈteːjæħ]
• (Tiberian) IPA^(key): /maf.ˈte.aħ/
• (reconstructed Biblical) IPA^(key): /map.ˈteːħ/

Noun

מַפְתֵּחַ • (maftéakh) m (plural indefinite מַפְתְּחוֹת, singular construct מַפְתֵּחַ־, plural construct מַפְתְּחוֹת־) [pattern: מַקְטֵל]

1. key (to a lock, to a code)
2. index
3. (music) clef

References

• H4668 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• “מפתח” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

Further reading

• מפתח (כלי) on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^he
• מפתח (מוזיקה) on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^he