לקפוא
“לקפוא” (ликпоа) — to freeze in Hebrew. Verb, level A1. To freeze so that the fingers ache: in the water, in the wind, at home without heating. From it kerach — ice: what water turns into when it freezes. In a live sentence: “אני קופא בקור.” — I am freezing in the cold. Written with the characters ל, ק, פ, ו, א. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | לקפוא |
| Read in Latin letters | ликпоа |
| Translation | to freeze |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
To freeze so that the fingers ache: in the water, in the wind, at home without heating. From it kerach — ice: what water turns into when it freezes
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.
- אני קופא בקור.ани кофа бе-кор.I am freezing in the cold.
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 “to freeze” in Hebrew?
«לקפוא», read “ликпоа”. In a live sentence: “אני קופא בקור.” — I am freezing in the cold. Verb, level A1; written with the characters ל, ק, פ, ו, א.
How is “לקפוא” written in Latin letters?
ликпоа. 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?
To freeze so that the fingers ache: in the water, in the wind, at home without heating. From it kerach — ice: what water turns into when it freezes. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.