פשלה
FASH-la
Screw-up, blunder.
What does it literally mean, and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: "failure."
השרברב עשה פשלה אמיתית בצנרת.Ha-shravrav asa fashla amitit ba-tzanret.The plumber made a real mess of the pipes.
What Israelis actually mean
A specific screw-up, "the plumber did a fashla on the pipes."
הייתה פשלה בשיבוץ, נשלחו שני אנשים לאותו תפקיד.Hayta fashla ba-shibutz, nishlechu shney anashim le-oto tafkid.There was a scheduling screw-up, two people were assigned to the same job.
Where did this word come from?
From Arabic fashla (فشلة, "failure, fiasco, disgrace"; verb fashila, "to fail"). Listed in the academic literature on Arabic loans in Hebrew slang as "setback, defeat; shame, blunder, screw-up" (Adamczyk 2019).
Register & social context
Casual, spoken (army/street register). A fashla is an *instance* of bungling (countable), not general incompetence; fadiha (פדיחה) adds public embarrassment, the two aren't interchangeable.
Root & morphology
Loan; used nominally (no standard nativized verb).
Influences & contact languages
- Arabic· contactArabic fashla, "failure, fiasco, disgrace" (verb fashila, "to fail") → Israeli slang, 20th century.
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
השרברב עשה פשלה אמיתית בצנרת.
Ha-shravrav asa fashla amitit ba-tzanret.
The plumber made a real mess of the pipes.
הייתה פשלה בשיבוץ, נשלחו שני אנשים לאותו תפקיד.
Hayta fashla ba-shibutz, nishlechu shney anashim le-oto tafkid.
There was a scheduling screw-up, two people were assigned to the same job.
What English speakers get wrong
A fashla is an *instance* of bungling (countable), not general incompetence; and fadiha adds public embarrassment, the two aren't interchangeable.
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 →