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 →