Monday, 01 March 2021
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How do you say virus, anti-virus and vaccine in Hebrew? What's the word for epidemic?

Hebrew is an ancient language and as such, lots of foreign words have entered into the Hebrew lexicon and Latin words too. One of those words is the Latin word for 'liquid poison' - virus. "Yeish li virus" (יש לי וירוס) is the street-Hebrew translation for "I have a virus".

how do you say virus in hebrew

 

Another Hebrew word for virus is 'Nagif'.

 

English Hebrew Transliteration
Virus  נגיף  Nagif 
Vaccine חסון Chisun

 

Take special note: you don't want to be calling your computer repairman saying -'Yeish nagif b'machshev'  If you have a computer virus, you would say: 'Yeish virus b'machshev'
 
English Hebrew Transliteration
Computer virus  וירוס במחשב
Virus b'machshev
Anti-virus אנטי-וירוד Anti-virus

 

Now, how do you say epidemic and pandemic in Hebrew?

Firstly, what is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic?
  • Epidemic refers to a sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected.
  • A pandemic refers to an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people as we are beginning to see with the the coronavirus (daily updates).

 

In Hebrew there is only one word for both situations:
English Hebrew Transliteration
Epidemic/pandemic   מגיפה
 Magifah
 
 
Now that you have mastered these 5 new words, try these

 

 

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