Word.ws English Dictionary

kal v'chomer

kal v'chomer adverb: all the more so, a fortiori.

Adverb

kal v'chomer (not comparable)

  1. (Jewish) All the more so, a fortiori.
    • Thus, if the Talmud and the major poskim permitted fighting on Shabbat for matters of life, and even for monetary matters, kal vaḥomer is it permissible not to study Torah in order to save lives and even possessions from our enemies whose intention is to destroy, kill, and annihilate every Jew in...2024, David Golinkin, “Does Jewish Law Require Yeshivah Students To Be Drafted At Age 18?”, in Responsa in a Moment, volume 4, page 68

Origin of kal v'chomer

Borrowed from Hebrew קל וחומר (literally “lenient and strict”)

Questions about kal v'chomer

What does kal v'chomer mean?
Kal v'chomer means all the more so, a fortiori.
What part of speech is kal v'chomer?
Kal v'chomer is an adverb.

Words near kal v'chomer in the dictionary

  1. Kakutanis
  2. Kakwa
  3. Kakyel
  4. Kakyen
  5. Kakyenlakpam
  6. kal v'chomer
  7. Kal.
  8. Kala
  9. kala azar
  10. kala jagah
  11. kala jagahs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kal v'chomer (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.

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