Rabbi
nounA Jewish scholar or teacher, especially one ordained to lead a congregation and interpret religious law.
How to spell rabbi
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce rabbi
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does rabbi mean?
- nounA Jewish scholar or teacher, especially one ordained to lead a congregation and interpret religious law.
Rabbi in a sentence
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The rabbi welcomed the new families to the synagogue.
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She met with the rabbi to plan her son's bar mitzvah.
Where does rabbi come from?
Language of origin: Hebrew
This word comes directly from the Hebrew rabbi, which literally means 'my master' or 'my teacher'. It is built from rab, meaning 'great one' or 'master', combined with the possessive ending -i, meaning 'my', so the title originally expressed a respectful 'my master' addressed to a revered teacher of Jewish law. It passed into Greek as rhabbi in the New Testament, then into Latin, and reached English in the Old English and early Middle English period through religious texts. The doubled b, the spelling trap of the word, faithfully preserves the original Hebrew root rab. Over time the term settled into its modern meaning: an ordained scholar and spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation. The same rab element survives in related titles such as 'rabbinic' and in the Aramaic 'rabboni', another form of address meaning 'my great master'.
How the word is built
- rab (great one, master)
- -i (my), literally 'my master'
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