dreidel
Syllables: drei·delUK/ˈdɹeɪdl̩/
dreidel noun: a four-sided spinning top, inscribed with the four Hebrew letters נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey), and ש (shin) (or פ (pey)) on each side, often used to play a traditional game during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Noun
dreidel (plural dreidels)
- A four-sided spinning top, inscribed with the four Hebrew letters נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey), and ש (shin) (or פ (pey)) on each side, often used to play a traditional game during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
- I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay. / And when it's dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play. / Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay. / Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, then dreidel I shall play.1927, “I Have a Little Dreidel”, Samuel S. Grossman (lyrics), Samuel Eliezer Goldfarb or Mikhl Gelbart (music)
- The dreidel is a spinning toy, painstakingly fashioned out of plastic polymer by Jewish craftsmen in Vietnam. Used for tabletop gambling games during Hanukkah, the dreidel often ends up on the floor and sometimes in the dog's small intestine.2005 December 23, Jonathan Safran Foer, “A Beginner's Guide to Hanukkah”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2023
- Synonyms:
- s'vivon
- A gambling game played using this top.
- We do not spend our days huddled in smoke-filled rooms plotting world domination while Jared Kushner plays dreidel in the back with Noam Chomsky and George Soros sneaks the last latke.2022 January 19, Yair Rosenberg, “Why So Many People Still Don’t Understand Anti-Semitism”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2022
dreidel meaning in Hindi and Indonesian
dreidel in Hindi
- four-sided spinning top
- ड्रेडल ḍreḍal
dreidel in Indonesian
- four-sided spinning top
- dreidel
Synonyms of dreidel
- s'vivon
Forms of dreidel
| plural | dreidels |
|---|---|
| alternative form | draydel |
| alternative form | dreydel |
| alternative form | draydl |
| alternative form | dreidl |
| alternative form | dreydl |
| alternative form | dreidle |
| alternative form | dreydle |
Origin of dreidel
Borrowed from Yiddish דריידל (dreydl, “dreidel; spinning top”), probably a blend of דרייען (dreyen, “to spin; to turn; to twist”) + טרענדל (trendl, “(dated) dreidel; spinning top”). דרייען (dreyen) is derived from Middle High German dræn, from Old High German drāen (“to turn; to twist”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to turn; to twist”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to turn; to rub; to drill, pierce”); and טרענדל (trendl) is derived from Middle High German trendel (“spinning top”), from Proto-Germanic *trandijaną (“to revolve, spin”).
Words that rhyme with dreidel
Questions about dreidel
- What does dreidel mean?
- Dreidel means a four-sided spinning top, inscribed with the four Hebrew letters נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey), and ש (shin) (or פ (pey)) on each side, often used to play a traditional game during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
- What is dreidel in Hindi?
- Dreidel in Hindi is ड्रेडल (ḍreḍal). See Dreidel meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is dreidel?
- Dreidel is a noun.
- How do you pronounce dreidel?
- Dreidel is pronounced /ˈdɹeɪdl̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of dreidel?
- The plural of dreidel is dreidels.
Words near dreidel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dreidel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-dreidel.oga.
Cite this entry: “dreidel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dreidel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.