Hebrew Onomatopoeia Quiz | Hebrew and Yiddish

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. You listen to two Hebrew speakers in an Israeli restaurant. They are ordering a "BAKBOOK". When the waiter brings it, you get the idea. What is a "BAKBOOK"?

Answer: Bottle

The sound formed as air replaces the liquid in a bottle lent itself to the Hebrew word for bottle. The word "BAKBOOK" is biblical, used in Kings I and in Jeremiah, and made its way to modern Hebrew.

General knowledge: Fork = "MAZLEG". Rice = "OREZ". Steak = "UMTSA" (although the word "steak" is often adopted as is).

2. Which animal is most likely to make the sound named in Hebrew "ZIMZOOM"?

Answer: Mosquito

Hopefully the "z" sound surrendered the correct answer to you. Similarly to buzz, "ZIMZOOM" is used to name the sound created by insects rapidly waving their wings.

General knowledge: in Hebrew, the word "HIMHOOM" is used for the cooing of a pigeon, and also for human murmuring.

3. A well-known Hebrew song goes something like this: "Only a white TSIPOR / From above the platform / TSIF TSIF from above the platform". What animal might a "TSIPOR" be?

Answer: Bird

A tweet in Hebrew is a "TSIYUTS", and the same as in English it was borrowed to its modern usage in Twitter.

The song I was quoting is the famous 70s tune "Tsif Tsif From Above The Platform", written by Yaron London and originally sung by Dany Litany. In case you were wondering, the Hebrew word for platform is "RATSIF", so now you can see how it rhymes nicely.

4. Bearing in mind that Hebrew onomatopoeia often use a doubled sound, which of the following is the word for the ticking of a clock?

Answer: TIKTOOK

Essentially the same word, in this case borrowed from foreign language into Hebrew. "TIKTOOK" was also used for typing, but only in the times of the typewriter.

General knowledge: "GIMGOOM" = stuttering, "MILMOOL" = mumbling, "TIFTOOF" = dripping (and "TIPPA" = drop).

5. Now to a case where the English word is not onomatopoeia, but if you think of the way the sound itself is pronounced, you may be able to answer correctly. How does the Hebrew word "ITOOSH" translate into English?

Answer: Sneeze

The "a-choo" is pronounced in Hebrew as "ap-chi" or "at-shi", from where the road to "ITOOSH" is paved. In fact, it is a biblical word - the therapeutic property of sneezing is hailed already in Job 41:10 in the Hebrew original (or Job 41:18 of the Good News translation).

6. All of the following are Hebrew onomatopoeia for animal sounds: "GIRGOOR", "KIRKOOR" and "TSIRTSOOR".

Answer: True

Cute words, are they not?

"GIRGOOR" - cat's purr.
"KIRKOOR" - chicken's cluck or frog's croak.
"TSIRTSOOR" - cricket's chirp (Hebrew for cricket is "TSARTSAR").

7. The words for "mother" and even "father" are often considered onomatopoeia. Can you tell the Hebrew words for them?

Answer: Mother is "IMMA". Father is "ABBA".

There are also a few higher language words, but those are the words used by toddlers and children. By the way, in Hebrew both "IMMA" and "ABBA" are palindromes.

General knowledge: "DODDA" = aunt. "DODD" = uncle. "SAVTA" = grandmother. "SABBA" = grandfather. "MA'YIM" = water. "YA'YIN" = wine.

8. One more from the animal world: in English - "cuckoo", in German - "kuckuck", in Russian - "kuckushka" and in Hebrew - "KOOKIA".

Answer: True

The cuckoo received an onomatopoeic word in many other languages: Azerbaijani, Italian, Icelandic, Dutch, Hungarian and Swahili to name just a few.

9. Let us look at my favourite Aramaic idiom - "ISTRA BALAGINA KISH KISH KARYA". It is used to depict a hollow person, easily detected by the noise he makes. Which of its words is an onomatopoeia?

Answer: KISH KISH

Aramaic is a Semite language which interacted strongly with Hebrew over the eons. The canonical book of Daniel is written in Aramaic, as well as passages from Ezra and the Talmud.

The idiom in question literally means "(one) coin in the jar makes a lot of noise" hence perfectly draws the vociferous idiot. The "KISH KISH" is used to portray the sound, and in Hebrew it exists as "KISHKOOSH", an onomatopoeia for "rattle" which is also synonymous with "scribble", "doodle" and "chitter-chatter".

10. Finally, let us examine the Hebrew word for onomatopoeia - "TATSLIL". What do you think the word "TSLIL" means in Hebrew?

Answer: Tone

"TSLIL" is a musical sound, or a tone, and "TATSLIL" is one of its derivatives which not only means onomatopoeia, but also a musical chord.

General knowledge: Sound = "KOL". Echo = "HED". Echoing = "HIDHOOD". Silence = "SHEKET", but also "HASS" which is a relative of "hush". Noise = "RA'ASH".

Source: Author gentlegiant17

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Hebrew Onomatopoeia Trivia Quiz

Onomatopoeia can differ sharply between languages. This quiz tries to find out to what extent are a few Hebrew ones intuitive for you. Note: all Hebrew words are in caps.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>