tachanun means A penitential prayer service. It carries an Arena rating of 1330, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tachanun ranks #3,285 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #4,677 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #4,809 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #4,914 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “tachanun” is a great word
A weekday penitential prayer service in Judaism, supplicating for divine grace and forgiveness. Its name derives from the Hebrew תַּחֲנוּן (tachanun, literally “supplication”), from the root ח־נ־ן (ḥ-n-n), meaning 'to be gracious, to favor, to supplicate'. Unlike *selichot*, which are seasonal prayers of atonement, or the statutory *tefillah* that structures all devotion, *tachanun* is the daily, unspectacular grammar of remorse. It is the bowed head against the forearm in the morning light, the quiet murmur after the formal liturgy has ended, and the persistent, soft erosion of the heart against the stone of its own failings—a daily returning to the humbling truth that perfection is a labor not of days, but of countless, repeated weekdays.
Etymology
From Hebrew תחנון (literally “supplication”).
noun
- A penitential prayer service.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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