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Jun 17, 2012

how to say "race" in Hebrew


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מֵרוּץ, גֶּזַע






The English word race has two meanings: there's the race in which people contend, and there's race as a subdivision of humanity.


one of Israel's favorite TV shows:
הַמירוץ לַמִּלְיוֹן The Race to the Million
hah-meh-ROOTS lah-meel-YOHN
מֵרוּץ (meh-ROOTS) is the Hebrew word for the race in which contestants might run. מרוץ comes from the root ר.ו.צ (r.w.ts) meaning running.


גֶּזַע (GHEH-zah), on the other hand, refers to the anthropological phenomenon of a group of people. But the word also refers to a tree trunk, which is its original meaning in Biblical Hebrew. And it makes sense - the גזע of a tree is close to the tree's source, while the גזע of a person indicates his/her ethnic source.



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