What does "challah" mean?

A traditional bread eaten by Ashkenazi Jews, usually braided for the Sabbath and round for a yom tov.

What is a synonym for "challah"?

Common synonyms include: hallah.

//ˈxɑ(ː).lə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A traditional bread eaten by Ashkenazi Jews, usually braided for the Sabbath and round for a yom tov. countable
"[…]it is a time-honored custom that when women bake challah-loaves for Sabbath and Yom Tov use, they specifically prepare a dough large enough to be obligated in challah, so they can fulfill the mitzvah of separating challah[…]."
2
(Judaism) a loaf of white bread containing eggs and leavened with yeast; often formed into braided loaves and glazed with eggs before baking wordnet
3
The commandment to separate a portion of bread or bread dough for the cohanim (Numbers 15:17–21); in contemporary practice, the portion is burned until inedible. uncountable
4
The portion separated in fulfillment of the above. countable

"The challah was so delicious that I just had to ask her for the recipe."

From Hebrew חַלָּה (ḥallá, “loaf”), influenced by Yiddish חלה (khale).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.