זיהום
“זיהום” (зихум) — an infection in Hebrew. Noun, level B1. One word for an infection and for pollution: zihum is what contaminates and spoils. A wound with an infection is zihum ba-ptzia. In a live sentence: “יש זיהום בפצע שלי.” — There is an infection in my wound. Written with the characters ז, י, ה, ו. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | זיהום |
| Read in Latin letters | зихум |
| Translation | an infection |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
One word for an infection and for pollution: zihum is what contaminates and spoils. A wound with an infection is zihum ba-ptzia
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.
- יש זיהום בפצע שלי.йеш зихум ба-пцаа шели.There is an infection in my wound.
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 “an infection” in Hebrew?
«זיהום», read “зихум”. In a live sentence: “יש זיהום בפצע שלי.” — There is an infection in my wound. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ז, י, ה, ו.
How is “זיהום” written in Latin letters?
зихум. 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?
One word for an infection and for pollution: zihum is what contaminates and spoils. A wound with an infection is zihum ba-ptzia. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.