French Hanukkah Vocabulary - Lawless French Celebration

Festive French Vocabulary


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The Jewish festival of Hanukkah lasts for eight days sometime between late November and the end of each year. The dates vary because they are not based on the Gregorian calendar, aka solar calendar. Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev, the ninth month in the Hebrew calendar.

How do you say Hanukkah in French?

The name of the holiday has several spellings in both French and English because Hebrew is written with a different alphabet, which leads to spelling variations when transcribing it.

English		French
Hanukkah		Hanoucca
Hanukah		Hanouccah
Hanukka		Hannouccah
Chanukah		Hanouka

So "Happy Hanukkah!" may be any of the following in French:

Joyeux Hanoucca !
Joyeux Hannouccah !
Joyeux Hanouccah !
Joyeux Hanouka !

In addition, Hanukkah is known by two other names:

The Festival of Lights – la Fête des Lumières
The Feast of Dedication – la Fête des dédicaces

	Decorations and Details		Décorations et détails
	blessing		une bénédiction
	candle		une bougie
	coin		une pièce
	December		décembre
	door		une porte
	Dreidel (spinning top)		la toupie
	eight days		huit jours
	family		la famille
	game		un jeu
	gift		un cadeau
	Hebrew (language)		l’hébreu
	Jewish		juif
	kosher		casher, kasher
	lighter		un briquet
	match		une allumette
	menorah		la hanoukkia*
	miracle		un miracle
	November		novembre
	pocket money		l’argent de poche
	prayer		une prière
	rabbi		le rabbin
	Sabbath		le sabbat
	song		une chanson
	star of David		l’étoile de David
	sunset		le coucher de soleil
	temple		le temple
	Torah		la Torah
	victory		la victoire
	window		une fenêtre

	Hanukkah Foods		Aliments de Hanoucca
	applesauce		la compote de pommes
	bread		le pain
	brisket		la poitrine de bœuf
	cheese		le fromage
	chicken		le poulet
	dairy products		les produits laitiers
	doughnut		un beignet
	milk		le lait
	oil		l’huile (feminine)
	potato pancake, latke		une galette de pommes de terre
	sour cream		la crème aigre
	turkey		la dinde

	Hanukkah Verbs		Verbes de Hanoucca
	to burn		brûler
	to eat		manger
	to fry		frire
	to light (a candle, the menorah)		allumer (une bougie, la hanoukkia)
	to sing		chanter