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 →