Word.ws English Dictionary

shamashes

shamashes is the plural of shamash.

Meaning of shamash

Noun

shamash (plural shamashim or shamashes)

  1. (Judaism) The candle used to light the other eight candles of a Hanukkah menorah or hanukkiah.
    • The candelabras lit on Hanukkah are technically called hanukkiahs. They have eight candles plus one more, a shamash, that is used for lighting the others.2023 December 7, Jacey Fortin, “For Some, the Symbols of Hanukkah Bring Extra Concern This Year”, in The New York Times
  2. A sexton in a synagogue.
    • Until 1890, when the local Chevra Kadisha (a traditional Jewish funerary society) was set up, funeral services were performed by the shamashim, the beadles of the synagogues.1997, Michael Stivelman, The Death March

See all 3 meanings of shamash

Questions about shamashes

What is shamashes the plural of?
Shamashes is the plural of shamash.

Words near shamashes in the dictionary

  1. shamans
  2. shamanship
  3. Shamar
  4. shamas
  5. shamash
  6. shamashes
  7. shamashim
  8. shamata
  9. shamateur
  10. shamateurism
  11. shamateurs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shamashes (page history and authors); shamash (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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Cite this entry: “shamashes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shamashes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.