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 →