ushpizin

/uːʃˈpɪzɪn/

Etymology

From Hebrew אושפיזין.

ushpizin means the seven guests who spiritually visit the sukkah during Sukkot. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.

ushpizin is pronounced /uːʃˈpɪzɪn/.

Why “ushpizin” is a great word

USHPIZIN — [Noun] The seven biblical patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David—invited as spiritual guests into the sukkah during Sukkot. From Aramaic אוּשְׁפִּיזִין (ušpīzīn, "guests"), itself from Latin hospes ("host, guest"). Unlike a generic guest or the physical sukkah, the ushpizin are spectral dignitaries whose presence consecrates the ritual. It is the empty chair set beside the laden table, the invocation whispered into the leaf-dappled twilight, and the ancestral shadow cast on the frail walls—a testament that true hospitality stretches to gather the long-gone in the shelter of the now.

noun

the seven guests who spiritually visit the sukkah during Sukkot.“In the Syrian tradition the eight stanzas, honoring the seven Ushpizin plus Elisha and Melekh hamashi'ah, are assigned to different worshipers to recite.”