עכשיו

Hebrew

Etymology

Perhaps from עַד כְּשָׁעָה (ád ksha'á) or עַד כְּשֶׁהוּא (ád kshehú). Attested since Late Antiquity.

The spelling with י may have arisen to disambiguate the vowel before ו so as not to be read as וֹ – as in analogous words like סתיו / סְתָו (stáv) and the possessive ending ־ָיו (-áv).

Pronunciation

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Adverb

עכשיו / עַכְשָׁו • (akhsháv)

1. now

   Synonyms: כָּעֵת (ka'ét), עַתָּה (atá), כָּרֶגַע (karéga)

Derived terms

• עכשווי / עֲכְשָׁוִי (akhshaví)
• עכשוויות / עֲכְשָׁוִיּוּת (akhshaviyút)

References

• “עַכְשָׁו, עַכְשָׁיו” in Abraham Even-Shoshan (אַבְרָהָם אֶבֶן־שׁוֹשָׁן) et al., הַמִּלּוֹן הֶחָדָשׁ (ha-milón he-khadásh, “The New Dictionary”), Kiryat-Sefer Ltd. (קִרְיַת־סֵפֶר בְּע״ם)‎ (1984), →ISBN, volume 2 of 3 (ל to צ), →ISBN, page 979.