Modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew (Hebrew: עברית חדשה, ʿivrít ḥadašá[h], [ivˈʁit χadaˈʃa], lit. "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew (עברית Ivrit), is the standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. Spoken in ancient times, Ancient Hebrew, a member of the Canaanite branch of the Semitic language family, was supplanted as the Jewish vernacular by the western dialect of Aramaic beginning in the third century BCE, though it continued to be used as a liturgical and literary language. It was revived as a spoken language in the 19th and 20th centuries and is the official language of Israel. Of the Canaanite languages, Modern Hebrew is the only language spoken today.[7]

Quick facts: Modern Hebrew, Native to, Ethnicity, Nat... ▼

Modern Hebrew
Hebrew, Israeli
עברית חדשה, ʿivrít ḥadašá[h]
The word shalom as rendered in Modern Hebrew, including vowel points
Native to	Israel
Ethnicity	Israeli Jews
Native speakers	L1: 5 million (2014)[1][2] (L1+L2: 9 m; L2: 4 m)[3]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Canaanite Hebrew Modern Hebrew
Early forms	Biblical Hebrew Mishnaic Hebrew Medieval Hebrew
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet Hebrew Braille
Signed forms	Signed Hebrew (oral Hebrew accompanied by sign)[4]
Official status
Official language in	Israel
Regulated by	Academy of the Hebrew Language האקדמיה ללשון העברית‎ (HaAkademia LaLashon HaʿIvrit)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	he
ISO 639-2	heb
ISO 639-3	heb
Glottolog	hebr1245
The Hebrew-speaking world:[5][6]   Regions where Hebrew is the language of the majority (>50%)   Regions where Hebrew is the language of between 25% and 50% of the population   Regions where Hebrew is a minority language (<25%)

This article contains Hebrew text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hebrew letters.

Modern Hebrew is spoken by about nine million people, counting native, fluent and non-fluent speakers.[8][9] Most speakers are citizens of Israel: about five million are Israelis who speak Modern Hebrew as their native language, 1.5 million are immigrants to Israel, 1.5 million are Arab citizens of Israel, whose first language is usually Arabic and half a million are expatriate Israelis or diaspora Jews living outside Israel.

The organization that officially directs the development of the Modern Hebrew language, under the law of the State of Israel, is the Academy of the Hebrew Language.