cheder

American  

[khay-duhr, khay-der, hay-] / ˈxeɪ dər, ˈxeɪ dər, ˈheɪ- /

noun

Yiddish.

• chadarim,
  plural
• cheders
  plural

1. heder.

---

cheder British  

/ ˈheɪdə, ˈxɛdɛr /

noun

1. (in Western countries) elementary religious education classes, usually outside normal school hours

2. more traditionally, a full-time elementary religious school

3. informal a place of corrective instruction; prison

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• chadarim
  plural
• cheders
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of cheder

literally: room

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cheder cheders

Kecel had no yeshiva, so Menahem gained an elementary knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish law and ritual at a cheder, a Jewish primary school.

From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2022

One of twelve brothers & sisters, he went to school in the one-room village cheder, where the rabbi's goat stumbled about among the drying wash and tumbling babies.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shall he waste his precious years helping his father teach cheder?

From Rabbi and Priest A Story by Milton Goldsmith

Very often the passage which he thus made me read was a lesson I had studied under one of his predecessors, but I never gave him away Every cheder had its king.

From The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan

This was followed by similar scenes at the houses of my cousins, until finally I was allowed to resume my studies, sometimes at the same cheder, sometimes at some other one.

From The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan

There was a theater for performances and a Sabil-Kuttab, which Frankie explained was used both as a communal water source and an elementary school similar to our cheders.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

I spent seven years at it, not counting the several years of Talmud which I had had at the various cheders What is the Talmud?

From The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---