dayenu

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Hebrew דַּיֵּנוּ (“it would have sufficed”): the title of a Passover song.

Phrase

dayenu

1. (in Jewish contexts) It will (or would) have been sufficient.
   • 2009, David L. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics:

     Harriet Meyer, president of Ounce of Prevention, remembers him saying, with a dollop of Hebrew, "If only we can build a place where kids from chaotic communities can have a predictable, responsive place for the next five years, then dayenu—that would be enough."

   • 2010, Kurt Hoelting, The Circumference of Home: One Man's Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life:

     I have many more adventures planned for the year and I'm brimming. But if I get no farther down the road than this one extraordinary walk among the rivers of home, then dayenu, it will have been enough.