שלום
sha-LOM
Peace; hello; goodbye.
What does it literally mean, and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: "completeness, well-being, peace."
שלום! מה שלומך היום?Shalom! Ma shlomcha ha-yom?Hi! How are you today?
What Israelis actually mean
Peace; hello; goodbye; and the compound world of shalom bayit and ma shlomcha.
הם חתמו על הסכם שלום בוושינגטון.Hem chatmu al heskem shalom be-Washington.They signed a peace agreement in Washington.
Where did this word come from?
Common Semitic (Akkadian šalāmu, Arabic salām), "wholeness, completeness, well-being," hence peace as the *state of intactness*, not merely absence of war. Biblical throughout (first in Genesis 15:15). As a greeting, "shalom aleikhem" (peace upon you) is rabbinic-era; modern Israeli Hebrew collapsed it to bare "shalom" for both hello and goodbye, the bare-word greeting is modern usage, regularized in the revival era.
Register & social context
Universal. Israelis say "shalom" as casually as "hi," with zero ceremonial weight, and it is also the weightiest word in the language.
Root & morphology
Root ש.ל.מ ("complete, whole"). Family: shalem (whole), le-shalem (to pay, "complete" a debt), mushlam (perfect), shleimut (wholeness).
Influences & contact languages
- Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)Native Hebrew, Common Semitic root š-l-m "whole, complete" (Akkadian šalāmu, Arabic salām).
- Arabic· contactArabic salām, the living cognate greeting across the Levant.
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
שלום! מה שלומך היום?
Shalom! Ma shlomcha ha-yom?
Hi! How are you today?
הם חתמו על הסכם שלום בוושינגטון.
Hem chatmu al heskem shalom be-Washington.
They signed a peace agreement in Washington.
What English speakers get wrong
It's not only "peace", the root is about *wholeness* (paying a debt is "completing" it); and Israelis say "shalom" as casually as "hi," with zero ceremonial weight.
What lives next to this word?
Sources & review
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