mezuzah
/məˈzʊzə/
mezuzah noun: a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21) and attached in a case to the doorpost of a house.
Noun
mezuzah (plural mezuzahs or mezuzot or mezuzoth)
- A piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21) and attached in a case to the doorpost of a house.
- On the other hand, one may feel profoundly moved with the spirit of true piety, love of God and loyalty to his commandments in the performance of a so-called "traditional commandment," like the fastening of a "mezuzah" to the door-post.1916, Isaac Husik, A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy
- Slothrop gives him the mandala. He hopes it will work like the mantra that Enzian told him once, mba-kayere (I am passed over), mba-kayere . . . a spell against Marvy tonight, against Tchitcherine. A mezuzah. Safe passage through a bad night. . . .1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, part 3: In the Zone, page 563
- An object of similar function in the Samaritan tradition.
mezuzah meaning in Arabic and Persian
mezuzah in Arabic
- piece of parchment attached to the doorpost of a house
- مِزُوزَة mizūza
mezuzah in Persian
- piece of parchment attached to the doorpost of a house
- مزوزا mezuzâ, mezowzâ
Examples of mezuzah in a sentence
- Lubavitchers, Penansky says, believe mezuzahs need no adornment and simply wrap them in cellophane.1988 September 2, Florence Hamlish Levinsohn, “A Special Connection With God”, in Chicago Reader:
- When Manny or either of his parents went through their front door they put a finger on their lips and then to the mezuzah on the door frame.2006, Howard Jacobson, Kalooki Nights, Vintage, published 2007, page 20:
Forms of mezuzah
| plural | mezuzahs |
|---|---|
| plural | mezuzot |
| plural | mezuzoth |
| alternative form | mezuza |
| alternative form | mezuzza |
| alternative form | mezzuza |
| alternative form | mezzuzah |
| alternative form | mezuze |
Origin of mezuzah
From post-Biblical Hebrew מְזוּזָה (m'zuzá, məzûzâ, “doorpost”), with reference to Deuteronomy 6:9, a mitzvah (Biblical commandment as interpreted in Jewish law) ordering to “write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house”.
Questions about mezuzah
- What does mezuzah mean?
- Mezuzah means a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21) and attached in a case to the doorpost of a house.
- What is mezuzah in Arabic?
- Mezuzah in Arabic is مِزُوزَة (mizūza). See Mezuzah meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use mezuzah in a sentence?
- Lubavitchers, Penansky says, believe mezuzahs need no adornment and simply wrap them in cellophane.
- What part of speech is mezuzah?
- Mezuzah is a noun.
- How do you pronounce mezuzah?
- Mezuzah is pronounced /məˈzʊzə/.
- What is the plural of mezuzah?
- The plural of mezuzah is mezuzahs.
Words near mezuzah in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mezuzah (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mezuzah.wav.
Cite this entry: “mezuzah.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mezuzah. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.