פּנים

See also: פנים

Yiddish

Alternative forms

פּאָנעם (ponem) — Soviet phonetic spelling

Etymology

From Hebrew פָּנִים (paním, “face”), from Proto-Semitic *pan-.

Pronunciation

(Northeastern) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔnəm]
(Poylish) IPA^(key): [ˈpuːnəm]
(Ukraynish) IPA^(key): [ˈpunəm]

Noun

פּנים • (ponem) n, plural פּנימער (penemer), diminutive פּנימל (peneml)

face
אַ שיין פּנים! ― a sheyn ponem! ― (What a) pretty face!

Synonym: געזיכט (gezikht), צורה (tsure)

Derived terms

אַ פּנים (a ponem, “apparently, seemingly, on the face of it”)

Descendants

→ English: punim
→ Dutch: ponem

Further reading

Map of dialectal variants for "face" from Litvish: An Atlas of Northeastern Yiddish by Dovid Katz