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Challah Comes From Yiddish
When English speakers first borrowed challah from Yiddish, they couldn't quite settle on a single spelling, so the word showed up in several forms; challah and hallah, and the plural forms challot, challoth, challahs, hallot, halloth, and hallahs were all common enough to merit inclusion in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged when it was released in 1961. Today, challah and the anglicized plural challahs are the variants that are usually encountered by English speakers. The initial ch of challah is frequently pronounced as a velar or uvular fricative, like the ch in the German Buch or the Scottish English loch.
Examples of challah in a Sentence
Brittney Melton, NPR, 28 Apr. 2025
Remove the challah from the oven, then brush all over the top and sides with the hot glaze.
—Jason Mastrodonato, The Mercury News, 16 Dec. 2024
My mother wrapped me in an apron and handed me a piece of warm dough to create a miniature challah.
—Linda Chase, Sun Sentinel, 26 Oct. 2024
The two-day celebration marks the start of the Jewish New Year and is filled with traditions, like eating a round challah and saying prayers near a body of water.
—Shelby Slade, The Arizona Republic, 2 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for challah
Cite this Entry
“Challah.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/challah. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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