Fifty of the most frequent Hebrew words that appear in the siddur.

By MJL Staff

Understanding traditional Jewish prayers may seem impossible if you don’t speak Hebrew. But knowing some key words can help you follow along and get the basic meaning of much of the liturgy.

The following 50 words are some of the most common words found in Jewish prayers. We’ve included the Hebrew, English, and a transliteration of each word.

Try learning a few each week or spotting them in a siddur. In no time, you’ll find the prayers to be more familiar and hopefully more meaningful.

TRANSLITERATION	ENGLISH	HEBREW
Avoteinu	Our Fathers	אֲבוֹתֵינוּ
Adam	Man	אָדָם
Ahava	Love	אַהֲבָה
Or	Light	אוֹר
Ehad	One	אֶחָד
Ein	There is Not	אֵין
Imru	Let Us Say	אִמְרוּ
Emet	Truth	אֱמֶת
Eretz	Land/Country	אֶרֶץ
Asher	That/Which/Who	אֲשֶׁר
Atah	You	אַתָה
Beit	House	בֵּית
Ben	Son	בֶּן
B’nai	Children/People	בְּנֵי
Barukh	Blessed	בָּרוּך
Gadol	Big/Great	גָדוֹל
Dor	Generation	דוֹר
Hu	He	הוּא
Vaed	Forever	וָעֶד
Z’man	Time	זְמַן
Hayim	Life	חַיִים
Hesed	Kindness	חֶסֶד
Tov	Good	טוֹב
Y’hee	May It Be	יְהִי
Yom	Day	יוֹם
Kavod	Honor/Respect	כָּבוֹד
Kee	Because/Since	כִּי
Kamokha	Like You	כָּמוֹךָ
Kein	Yes	כֵּן
Katuv	Written	כָּתוּב
Lo	No	לֹא
L’maan	For the Sake of	לְמַעַן
L’fanekha	Before You	לְפָנֶיךָ
Magen	Shield	מָגֵן
Mah	What	מַה
M’hayeh	Gives Life	מְחַיֵה
Mee	Who	מִי
Mayim	Water	מַיִם
Melekh	King	מֶלֶךְ
Norah	Awesome	נוֹרָא
Olam	World/Eternity	עוֹלָם
Am	People	עַם
Oseh	Make	עוֹשֶׂה
Kadosh	Holy	קָדוֹשׁ
Kol	Voice	קוֹל
Rahamim	Mercy	רַחֲמִים
Ratzon	Will	רָצוֹן
Shemo	His Name	שְׁמוֹ
Shamayim	Heavens	שָׁמַים
Tamid	Always	תָמִיד