Meanings
proper noun
- derogatoryEthiopian Jew; Beta Israel
The master bedroom is a jewelry workshop where we find Rikki, an Ethiopian Jewish refugee, a Falasha, in a leopard-print leotard and safety goggles, armed with a soldering gun, bent over a trestle table making exquisite pendants and earrings of silver and nickel and amber.
2006, Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa
Origin
From an Ethiopic-language term, possibly Ge'ez ፈላሻ (fälaša), meaning wanderer, migrant, nomad.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Falasha. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Falasha
MLA
“Falasha.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Falasha. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Falasha,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Falasha.
Source: Falasha on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.