tohu-bohu
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See also: tohubohu
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Biblical Hebrew תוהו ובוהו, from תֹהוּ (tóhu, “nothingness, void”) + בֹּהוּ (bóhu, “emptiness, desolation”).
Noun[edit]
tohu-bohu (uncountable)
- Chaos, disorder, confusion.
- 1875, William Gladstone, Gleanings of Past Years, section VI:
- Yet a judge may […] be required to dive, at a moment's notice, into the tohu-bohu of inquiries, which have never yet emerged from the stage of chaos.
- 1940, W. H. Auden, In Sickness and in Health:
- […] / The decorative manias we obey / Die in grimaces round us every day, / Yet through their tohu-bohu comes a voice / Which utters an absurd command — Rejoice.
Alternative forms[edit]
Translations[edit]
formless chaos; void
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French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew תוהו ובוהו (tóhu va-bóhu, “without form and void”), from תֹהוּ (tóhu, “nothingness, void”) + בֹּהוּ (bóhu, “emptiness, desolation”), by allusion to Genesis 1:2.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
tohu-bohu m (plural tohu-bohus)
Quotations[edit]
- 1871, Arthur Rimbaud, “Le Bateau Ivre”, in Poésies:
- Dans les clapotements furieux des marées, ¶ Moi, l’autre hiver, plus sourd que les cerveaux d’enfants, ¶ Je courus ! Et les Péninsules démarrées ¶ N’ont pas subi tohu-bohus plus triomphants.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Further reading[edit]
- “tohu-bohu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Biblical Hebrew
- English terms derived from Biblical Hebrew
- English lemmas
- English nouns
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- French terms derived from Biblical Hebrew
- French 4-syllable words
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- Rhymes:French/y
- French terms with homophones
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- French nouns
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- French multiword terms
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