Zahal, n.

zahal
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zahal_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# Zahalnoun

## Earlier version

- Zahal in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zahal mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zahal. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun Zahal?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.044
1960 | 0.039
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.031
1990 | 0.036
2000 | 0.028
2010 | 0.018

### How is the noun Zahal pronounced?

#### British English

/zaˈhal/
/tsaˈhal/

### Where does the noun Zahal come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun Zahal is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zahal is from 1959, in the writing of A. M. Heller.

Zahal is a borrowing from Hebrew.

Etymons: Hebrew ṢHL.

### Nearby entries

1. zad, n. 1669–
2. Zadokite, n. & adj. 1910–
3. zadruga, n. 1887–
4. zaffre | zaffer, n. 1662–
5. zaftig, adj. 1921–
6. zafu, n. 1965–
7. zag, n., adv., & v. 1793–
8. zagaie | zagaye, n. 1590–1698
9. Zaghlulist, n. & adj. 1921–
10. zaguan, n. 1851–
11. Zahal, n.1959–
12. zaibatsu, n. 1937–
13. Zaidi, n. 1709–
14. zaikai, n. 1968–
15. zaim, n. 1807–
16. zaire, n. 1967–
17. Zairean, n. & adj. 1972–
18. Zairese, adj. & n. 1974–
19. Zairois, n. & adj. 1973–
20. zaitech, n. 1986–
21. zakat, n. 1668–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Hebrew.
Etymon: Hebrew ṢHL.
< modern Hebrew ṢHL (read as ṣahal), acronym < the initial letters of Ṣĕḇā Hăgannāh Lĕ-Yiśrāēl Israel Defence Force < ṣāḇā army, host (see Sabaoth n.) + hăgannāh defence (see Haganah n.) + lĕ to + Yiśrāēl Israel n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1959–
   The name applied by the Israelis to their defence forces, formed originally in 1948 by the fusion of pre-independence military organizations.
   1. 1959

      > The Haganah disbanded, the Irgunist and the Sternist forces and their members were fused into the Zahal, made up of the initial Hebrew letters of Zva Haganah L'Israel—Israel's National Army.

      A. M. Heller, Israel's Odyssey 61
   2. 1969

      > Zahal's chief of staff was delegated the operational function of maintaining and training the army.

      A. Perlmutter, Military & Politics in Israel v. 55
   3. 1971

      > Very few top-ranking Israeli officers gave their Zahal (Defence Force) more than one chance in three of pulling it off.

      Scope (South Africa) 19 March 17/3
   4. 1975

      > The twins did not have to lose two years to the Zahal, as the [Israeli] army does not draft religious girls.

      C. A. Haddad, Moroccan i. 7
   5. 1982

      > The leadership opted for a unified command for Zahal in which there would be one general headquarters and a chief of staff.

      Murray & Viotti, Defense Policies of Nations ix. 378
   military
   1. National Guard 1792–
      An armed force existing in France at various times between 1789 and 1871 and responsible to a central authority. Also: a member of this force. Now…
   2. black flags 1876–
      In plural and with capital initials. People having a black flag as their emblem; spec. members of a Chinese irregular army opposing the French in…
   3. service member 1890–
      a. British a Member of Parliament who also serves in the armed forces (now rare); b. originally and chiefly U.S. a person serving in the armed forces.
   4. Wehrmacht 1935–
      The name used for the German armed forces between 1921 and 1945. Also attributive.
   5. Tojo 1942–
      A Japanese serviceman; Japanese forces collectively.
   6. Fighting French 1943–
      That fights, able and ready to fight, bearing arms, militant, warlike. A name given to the Free French armed forces during the German occupation of…
   7. Zahal 1959–
      The name applied by the Israelis to their defence forces, formed originally in 1948 by the fusion of pre-independence military organizations.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zaˈhal/
/tsaˈhal/

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

## Frequency

Zahal typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

Zahal is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of Zahal, n., 1950–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1950 | 0.044
1960 | 0.039
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.031
1990 | 0.036
2000 | 0.028
2010 | 0.018

Zahal, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zahal, n. was last modified in December 2024.