כיף
kef
Fun; great!.
What does it literally mean, and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal (Arabic): "pleasure."
איזה כיף שהגעת!Eize kef she-higa'at!So great that you came!
What Israelis actually mean
Fun, "ha'ya kef" (it was fun), "kefa!" / "eize kef!" (how great!), "ba li kef" (I feel like it).
עשינו כיף חיים בחופשה.Asinu kef chayim ba-chufsha.We had the time of our lives on vacation.
Where did this word come from?
From colloquial Arabic kēf (كيف, "pleasure, enjoyment, good mood"; in Classical Arabic "how"), the "pleasure/high" sense is documented in Egyptian and Levantine slang and in drug-culture vocabulary across the Mediterranean (cf. Spanish kif). Entered Hebrew via the same Arabic-contact channel as sababa/achla.
Register & social context
Casual, universal: "ha'ya kef" (it was fun), "eize kef!" (how great!). As a noun it wants Hebrew idioms (ba li kef); "hu kef" about a person sounds off, use "hu achla/magniv."
Root & morphology
Loan; slang-internal family: "eize kef" (what fun), "al ha-kef" (on cloud nine), "kefa!" (cool!).
Influences & contact languages
- Arabic· contactColloquial Arabic kēf, "pleasure, good mood", documented in Egyptian/Levantine slang (Adamczyk 2019 context).
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
איזה כיף שהגעת!
Eize kef she-higa'at!
So great that you came!
עשינו כיף חיים בחופשה.
Asinu kef chayim ba-chufsha.
We had the time of our lives on vacation.
What English speakers get wrong
"Kef" as a noun wants Hebrew idioms (ba li kef = "I'm in the mood"), not adjectival use, "hu kef" about a person sounds off (use "hu achla/magniv").
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 →