חוזה
kho-ZEH
Contract (biblical: seer, visionary).
What does it literally mean, and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: "one who sees."
חתמנו אתמול על חוזה השכירות.Chatamnu etmol al choze ha-schirut.We signed the rental contract yesterday.
What Israelis actually mean
Contract, same spelling, two worlds.
לפני שאתה חותם, תקרא את החוזה עד הסוף.Lifney she-ata chotem, tikra et ha-choze ad ha-sof.Before you sign, read the contract to the end.
Where did this word come from?
Biblical choze = "seer, prophet" (e.g., 2 Samuel 24:11, "Gad the choze"). The modern meaning "contract" developed in the revival era; the commonly repeated bridge is via the notion of "agreed vision/what is seen and settled," but the precise semantic path seer→contract is not cleanly documented in the lexica (Even-Shoshan lists both senses without a bridge story; the revival-era legal recycling is documented in revival histories). Both senses confirmed; the connecting explanation is needs-review, do not assert a folk bridge as fact.
Register & social context
Universal in legal-commercial Hebrew: choze avoda (employment contract), lachtom choze (sign), bitul choze (cancellation).
Influences & contact languages
- Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)Biblical choze "seer" (2 Samuel 24:11); revival-era legal Hebrew recycled the spelling for "contract", the bridge is needs-review.
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
חתמנו אתמול על חוזה השכירות.
Chatamnu etmol al choze ha-schirut.
We signed the rental contract yesterday.
לפני שאתה חותם, תקרא את החוזה עד הסוף.
Lifney she-ata chotem, tikra et ha-choze ad ha-sof.
Before you sign, read the contract to the end.
What English speakers get wrong
Same spelling, two worlds, choze the prophet and choze the contract; learners should not try to force a mystical meaning onto their lease.
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 →