Etymology

kaddish

kad·dish
K5A1D2D2I1S1H4

Today it means: A Jewish prayer of praise to God recited during services, and specifically when mourning the death of a close relative. Full definition →

Hebrew קַדִּישׁ ← Aramaic קַדִּישׁ
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Hebrew · borrowed fromקַדִּישׁים
  2. Aramaic · derived fromקַדִּישׁ“holy; holy person”
  3. Hebrew · borrowed fromקַדִּישׁ“kaddish”
  4. English todaykaddish

Borrowed from Hebrew קַדִּישׁ (kadish, “kaddish”), from Aramaic קַדִּישׁ (qaddīš, “holy; holy person”). Doublet of kiddush. The plural form kaddishim is borrowed from Hebrew קַדִּישׁים (kadishim).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.