הכבד
“הכבד” (ха-кавэд) — the liver in Hebrew. Noun, level B1. Spelled and sounded like the familiar kaved — heavy: Hebrew tells them apart only by the phrase. With the article ha-kaved it is the organ. In a live sentence: “הכבד שלי טוב, אמר הרופא.” — My liver is good, said the doctor. Written with the characters ה, כ, ב, ד. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | הכבד |
| Read in Latin letters | ха-кавэд |
| Translation | the liver |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Spelled and sounded like the familiar kaved — heavy: Hebrew tells them apart only by the phrase. With the article ha-kaved it is the organ
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- הכבד שלי טוב, אמר הרופא.ха-кавэд шели тов, амар ха-рофэ.My liver is good, said the doctor.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “the liver” in Hebrew?
«הכבד», read “ха-кавэд”. In a live sentence: “הכבד שלי טוב, אמר הרופא.” — My liver is good, said the doctor. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ה, כ, ב, ד.
How is “הכבד” written in Latin letters?
ха-кавэд. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Spelled and sounded like the familiar kaved — heavy: Hebrew tells them apart only by the phrase. With the article ha-kaved it is the organ. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.