Categories: Ktzat Ivrit

In Hebrew: 'Pocket Money'

By Ami Steinberger

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March 4, 2013, 12 PM ET

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כֶּסֶף כִּיס

Rabbi Ila'i of the Talmud taught:

בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה דְּבָרִים אָדָם נִכָּר: בְּכוֹסוֹ וּבְכִיסוֹ וּבְכַעֲסוֹ. In three matters a person('s character) can be recognized: with his cup (drink), with his pocket and in his anger.

The Hebrew word for pocket, כִּיס

, goes all the way back to Biblical times, long before pockets were likely to be sewn into pants as they are today. Pocket money - small sums of cash that are carried around - is כֶּסֶף כִּיס

in Hebrew. For example:

בֹּאוּ נֵצֵא לִרְאוֹת סֶרֶט - יֵשׁ לָכֶם כֶּסֶף כִּיס? Let's go (out to) see a movie - do you (plural) have pocket money?

To refer to allowance money, you'd use a different expression, calling up the Aramaic word for money (literally, monies), דָּמִים

. The expression is דְּמֵי כִּיס

where דמי

means monies of. For example:

קִבַּלְתָּ דְּמֵי כִּיס מִסַּבְתָּא? Did you get (your) allowance from Grandma?

Correction:In my entry on washing the dishes last week, I spelled the word for to rinse as לִשְׁתּוֹף (with aת) instead of לִשְׁטוֹף (with a ט). It was a typo and has since been corrected. Thank you, Shemaya, for pointing it out. Visit Ktzat Ivrit.