Hallelujah
interjectionAn exclamation of praise, joy, or great relief.
How to spell hallelujah
10 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce hallelujah
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does hallelujah mean?
- interjectionAn exclamation of praise, joy, or great relief.
Hallelujah in a sentence
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Hallelujah, the delayed train finally pulled into the station.
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The choir ended the carol on a soaring hallelujah that filled the hall.
Where does hallelujah come from?
Language of origin: Hebrew
This word comes straight from the Hebrew phrase hallĕlū yāh, which literally means 'praise ye Yah', that is, praise the Lord. The first part is built on the Hebrew verb halal, meaning 'to praise' or 'to shine', while the closing element is Yah, a shortened form of the divine name Yahweh. The expression appears repeatedly in the Hebrew Book of Psalms, and early translators carried it into Greek and into the Latin Vulgate as 'alleluia', which is why English also has that smoother, Latinised spelling for liturgical use. The 'h'-rich form 'hallelujah' came into English directly from the Hebrew during the great age of Bible translation in the sixteenth century, when scholars wanted to reflect the original tongue. The spelling trap lives in two places: the doubled 'l' in the middle and the silent-sounding 'j', which here is pronounced like a 'y' exactly as it was in the original Hebrew.
How the word is built
- hallelu- (from Hebrew hallelu: praise ye)
- -jah (from Yah: a short form of the divine name)
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