How To Spell Hanukkah In English
In hebrew the word hanukkah is written ח נ כ ה or ח נו כ ה ḥănukkāh it is most commonly transliterated to english as hanukkah or chanukah the former spelling hanukkah which is based on using characters of the english alphabet as symbols to re create the word s correct spelling in hebrew is the most common and the preferred choice of merriam webster.
How to spell hanukkah in english. Like many hebrew words there are some changes in the words when they are translated to english. You can blame it on the ch sound being similar to the h sound making hanukkah a bit easier for english. How to spell hanukkah.
English doesn t have a letter that sounds like that so we go with h instead. The rededication points towards reaffirming of the second temple in jerusalem during the second century b c. When you translate it into the english alphabet however there s no exact spelling equivalent.
As hanukkah is spelled in hebrew it is written as חנ כה or חנוכה ḥǎnukkâh and it is translated to mean to dedicate. The most common in english are hanukkah or chanukah hanukkah is celebrated at the white house. Hanukkah is the hebrew word for the festival and is often translated to chanukah or hannukah there is no right or wrong spelling of this as it is translated to corresponding sounds in english.
This hebrew word is pronounced with a kh sound i e. After battles between syrian tyrants and maccabean rebellions. It s actually pronounced like the ending of bach as jewish organization chabad puts it.
One of the words that has been translated and has a lot of confusion surrounding it is the word hanukkah. Just how did hanukkah s spelling become so popular and oust chanukah atop the list. So there we go.
Some pronounce it as ha. As of this writing hanukkah is the most common english spelling judging from among other things google hits. But chanukah is more traditional.