עמכה
AM-kha
Ordinary folk, the common people (lit. "your people").
What does it literally mean — and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: "your people."
זה מסעדה של עמכה — פשוטה, טעימה וזולה.Ze mis'ada shel amcha — peshuta, te'ima ve-zola.It's a people's restaurant — simple, tasty and cheap.
What Israelis actually mean
"the folks, regular people, the public" — "ze tov la-amcha" = good enough for regular folks.
עמכה ישראל יודע להתגייס בשעת צרה.Amcha yisra'el yode'a le-hitgayes be-sha'at tzara.The people of Israel know how to rally in hard times.
Where did this word come from?
Literally "your people" — a common biblical phrase (e.g., "your people Israel"). It crystallized into a noun meaning "ordinary folk, the salt of the earth" via Yiddish amkho (אַמכּו) — used among Eastern-European Jews for "one of ours / the common people" (documented in the Jewish English Lexicon) — and from Yiddish it entered modern Hebrew with the same warm populism. The phrase is native biblical; the *noun* is the diaspora innovation. The Yiddish mediating stage is documented — well-supported.
Register & social context
Casual, fond, journalistic. Affectionate-populist, not classist — but from a podium it can sound patronizing. The people-as-family, not "the masses" as a mob.
Root & morphology
Root ע.מ.מ ("people"). am (עם, people/nation) + 2nd-person suffix -kha ("your").
Influences & contact languages
- Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)Biblical phrase "your people" (am + -kha) — native.
- Yiddish (ייִדיש)Yiddish amkho crystallized the phrase into a noun — "one of ours, the common people" (JEL).
Which places are associated with this word?
This word travels through people, not places — so we don't pin it.
See where it lives in the language constellationHear it in the wild
זה מסעדה של עמכה — פשוטה, טעימה וזולה.
Ze mis'ada shel amcha — peshuta, te'ima ve-zola.
It's a people's restaurant — simple, tasty and cheap.
עמכה ישראל יודע להתגייס בשעת צרה.
Amcha yisra'el yode'a le-hitgayes be-sha'at tzara.
The people of Israel know how to rally in hard times.
What English speakers get wrong
It is affectionate-populist, not classist — but tone matters; from a podium it can sound patronizing. Also it's the people-as-family, not "the masses" as a mob.
What lives next to this word?
See the language constellation
Follow this word into a guided story
Sources & review
Want to use this word? Understand it inside a full sentence — Open Baba →