Purim

P3U1R1I1M3
/ˈpʊəɹɪm//ˈpjʊəɹ-//-im//puˈɹɪm/

proper noun

A Jewish festival, celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar, commemorating the deliverance of the Persian Jews from a complete massacre at the hand of Haman the Amalekite.

OriginHebrew פּוּרִים →
Less commonScrabble 9
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. JudaismA Jewish festival, celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar, commemorating the deliverance of the Persian Jews from a complete massacre at the hand of Haman the Amalekite.

    This is a regular shul outfit: the denizens of St John’s Wood United Synagogue are well used to their most colourful member looking like he’s going to a Purim party every week of the year.

    2023 July 27, Nicole Lampert, quoting Philip Sallon, “Meet the colourful shul regular who admits: ‘I’m quite an extreme person’”, in The Jewish Chronicle, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2026
    1 more example

    Today, Jews celebrate the holiday of Purim, a festival of revelry that commemorates their deliverance from an ancient genocidal plot. […] Traditionally, a scroll containing that book is read twice over the holiday, with listeners making noise to drown out the name of the story’s villain, Haman, a vizier who manipulated the Persian king into nearly eradicating the Jews.

    2022 March 17, Yair Rosenberg, “The Anti-Semite on Your TV”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2024
  2. A surname.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
feast of lots

Origin

  1. Hebrewפּוּרִים
  2. EnglishPurim

Borrowed from Hebrew פּוּרִים (purím, literally “lots”).

More words from Hebrew

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek Φουρῑ́μ
  • Φουρῑ́μ (Phourī́m)Jewish festival
Arabic عِيد الْمَسَاخِر, عِيد السُّكَّر
  • عِيد الْمَسَاخِر (ʕīd al-masāḵir)Jewish festival
  • عِيد السُّكَّر (ʕīd as-sukkar)Jewish festival
  • عِيد الفُور (ʕīd al-fūr)Jewish festival
  • بُورِيم (būrīm)Jewish festival
Chinese Mandarin 普珥節 /普珥节
  • 普珥節 /普珥节 (Pǔ'ěrjié)Jewish festival
Dutch Poerim, Poerem
  • PoerimJewish festival
  • PoeremJewish festival
  • PoeriemJewish festival
French Pourim
  • PourimJewish festival
German Purim, Purimfest
  • PurimJewish festival
  • PurimfestJewish festival
Greek Πουρίμ
  • Πουρίμ (Pourím)Jewish festival
Hebrew פּוּרִים
  • פּוּרִים (purím)Jewish festival
Italian Purim
  • PurimJewish festival
Latin Phūrīm
  • PhūrīmJewish festival
Polish Purim, Święto Losów
  • PurimJewish festival
  • Święto LosówJewish festival
Russian Пу́рим
  • Пу́рим (Púrim)Jewish festival
Spanish Purim
  • PurimJewish festival
Swedish purim
  • purimJewish festival
Yiddish פּורים
  • פּורים (purim)Jewish festival
Cite this entry
APA

Purim. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Purim

MLA

“Purim.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Purim. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Purim,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Purim.

Source: Purim on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.