menorah

From Hebrew מְנוֹרָה‎ (m'norá). From the same Proto-Semitic root *nūr- (“fire”) as minaret.

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈnɔːɹə/

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• Rhymes: -ɔːrə

menorah (plural menoroth or menorot or menorahs)

1. (Judaism) A holy candelabrum with seven branches used in the Temple of Jerusalem.
   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom of the Wicked:

     ‘Heathen muck,’ Liberalis said, as the pillaging began. The veil of the Temple was rent. The great menorah was taken away.

2. (Judaism) A candelabrum with nine branches used in Jewish worship on Hanukkah.
   • 1992, Merrill Joan Gerber, The Kingdom of Brooklyn, Syracuse University Press (2000), ISBN 0815606613, pages 76-77:

     My father brings home a big brass antique menorah, shaped like an archway, heavy, on a pedestal, on a round base.

   • 1996, Ann Kimmage, An Un-American Childhood, University of Georgia Press (1996), ISBN 9780820317687, pages 49-50:

     In America every December my mother had decorated our home with metal Stars of David she hung on strings in the doorways and lit the menorah as we gathered at the table.

   • 2000, Noam Zion & Barbara Spectre, A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration, Devora Publishing (2000), ISBN 9781930143258, page 237:

     However, traditional Sefardi families follow the halacha that each household uses only one menorah lit by the head of the household, to represent everyone in unison.

• (candelabrum with nine branches): hanukkiah