gematria

American  

[guh-mey-tree-uh] / gəˈmeɪ tri ə /

noun

1. a cabbalistic system of interpretation of the Scriptures by substituting for a particular word another word whose letters give the same numerical sum.

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Etymology

Origin of gematria

1685–95; < Hebrew gēmaṭriyā < Greek geōmetría geometry

Example Sentences

The Negative48 spinoff focuses on deciphering meaning using a takeoff of gematria, an ancient Hebrew tradition of assigning numeric values to letters.

From Washington Post

“We learned gematria from Michael in Dallas,” said Melissa Cole, who was at the rally in Wilmington with two 13-year-olds and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in a stroller.

From Washington Post

One centerpiece of kabbalistic thought is gematria—the search for coded messages within the text of the Bible.

From Literature

It’s the only literary form for which every letter and number is routinely scrutinized for esoteric messages, using methods ranging from gematria to theomatics to Koranic symmetry to Equidistant Letter Sequences.

From The New Yorker

But in the religious world these youths came from, 18 represents the Hebrew word Chai, which means “alive,” in Gematria, an ancient system of numerology.

From New York Times