ריח
“ריח” (рэах) — smell in Hebrew. Noun, level A2, topic — food and drink. A smell: reach tov — it smells nice, reach ra — the opposite. The word is peaceful even though it sounds like a growl. In a live sentence: “ריח טוב מהמטבח.” — A nice smell from the kitchen. Written with the characters ר, י, ח. One of 177 words in the set “food and drink” in the Hebrew course.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | ריח |
| Read in Latin letters | рэах |
| Translation | smell |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
A smell: reach tov — it smells nice, reach ra — the opposite. The word is peaceful even though it sounds like a growl
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.
- ריח טוב מהמטבח.рэах тов ми-ха-митбах.A nice smell from the kitchen.
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- קפהкафеcoffeeReads almost like the English word, but it is the drink. Black coffee here is kafe shachor
- תהтэteaA two-letter word. The final ה is not read — te, not teh
- מיםмаимwaterThe word is always plural — waters. There is no singular water in Hebrew
- לחםлехемbreadThe same root as Arabic lahm. Bethlehem is Beit Lechem, literally "the house of bread"
- אוכלохельfoodOne and the same word means food and he eats — only the place in the sentence tells them apart
- חלבхалавmilkThe throaty ח at the start — chalav, not kalav. Kosher law does not mix it with meat
- גבינהгвинаcheeseFeminine. Soft white cheese is as standard a breakfast here as a sandwich is elsewhere
- בשרбосарmeatOne word for meat in general; the kind of animal gets its own word. Bosari means a butcher shop
- דגдагfishA short three-letter word; the plural is dagim. In writing it is one letter away from רע
- סלטсалатsaladReads almost like the English word. The Israeli breakfast is first of all a salad
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “smell” in Hebrew?
A smell: reach tov — it smells nice, reach ra — the opposite. The word is peaceful even though it sounds like a growl
- How do you say “cheese” in Hebrew?
Feminine. Soft white cheese is as standard a breakfast here as a sandwich is elsewhere
- How do you say “water” in Hebrew?
The word is always plural — waters. There is no singular water in Hebrew
- How do you say “salad” in Hebrew?
Reads almost like the English word. The Israeli breakfast is first of all a salad
- How do you say “milk” in Hebrew?
The throaty ח at the start — chalav, not kalav. Kosher law does not mix it with meat
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 “smell” in Hebrew?
«ריח», read “рэах”. In a live sentence: “ריח טוב מהמטבח.” — A nice smell from the kitchen. Noun, level A2, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters ר, י, ח.
How is “ריח” written in Latin letters?
рэах. 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?
A smell: reach tov — it smells nice, reach ra — the opposite. The word is peaceful even though it sounds like a growl. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.