להתראות
le-hit-ra-OT
See you, goodbye (lit. "to be seen [again]").
What does it literally mean, and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: "until we are seen [again]."
להתראות מחר בשמונה!Lehitra'ot machar be-shemone!See you tomorrow at eight!
What Israelis actually mean
"see you / bye."
יאללה, להתראות, תודה על הכל.Yalla, lehitra'ot, toda al ha-kol.OK, see you, thanks for everything.
Where did this word come from?
A revival-era calque: biblical/rabbinic Hebrew had no set "see-you" formula (farewells were blessings: "lech le-shalom," go in peace). Modern להתראות was coined/regularized in the Ben-Yehuda era on the European model (au revoir / auf Wiedersehen / do svidaniya), the standard account in revival histories (Glinert, Rosenthal document the calque mechanism for such formulas). The calque mechanism is confirmed; the first attestation pinpoint is needs-review.
Register & social context
Universal, completely unremarkable daily word. A reflexive *infinitive*, you can't conjugate "I lehitraot-ed"; fast speech clips it to "lehit."
Root & morphology
Root ר.א.ה ("see"). Hitpa'el (reflexive) infinitive: "to be seen [by each other again]", same logic as au revoir / auf Wiedersehen.
Influences & contact languages
- French· contactModeled on au revoir, the European see-you formula (revival-era calque).
- German· contactAlso parallels auf Wiedersehen, and Russian do svidaniya; the same reflexive logic.
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
להתראות מחר בשמונה!
Lehitra'ot machar be-shemone!
See you tomorrow at eight!
יאללה, להתראות, תודה על הכל.
Yalla, lehitra'ot, toda al ha-kol.
OK, see you, thanks for everything.
What English speakers get wrong
It's a reflexive *infinitive*, not a normal verb, you can't conjugate "I lehitraot-ed"; and Israelis clip it to "lehit" (להית) in fast speech.
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 →