hallelujah

English

Alternative forms

halleluia, halleluiah, halleluja, alleluia, aleluia

Etymology

From Hebrew הַלְלוּיָהּ (hal'luyáh, “Praise Yah”).

Pronunciation

(General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhæl.əˈl(j)uː.jə/, /-ɪ-/
Audio (US): (file)
Hyphenation: hal‧le‧lu‧jah

Interjection

hallelujah

An exclamation used in songs of praise or thanksgiving to God.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 19:1, column 2:
  AND after theſe things I heard a great voyce of much people in heauen, ſaying, Alleluia: ſaluation, and glorie, and honour, and power vnto the Lord our God:
(by extension) A general expression of gratitude or adoration.
Hallelujah! It’s finally the weekend!

Derived terms

hallelujah lass

Translations

exclamation to praise God

Aghwan: 𐔰𐔾𐔶𐔾𐕒𐕡𐔺𐔰 (alēluya)
Amharic: ሃሌሉያ (haleluya)
Arabic: هَلِّلُويَا (hallilūyā) (Christian), هَلُولِيَا (halūliyā), الْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ (al-ḥamdu lillāhi) (general)
Aramaic:
Syriac: ܗܲܠܹܠܘܼܝܵܐ (hallēlūyā)
Armenian: ալելուիա (hy) (aleluia)
Belarusian: алілу́я (alilúja)
Bulgarian: алелу́я (alelúja), алилу́я (bg) (alilúja)
Catalan: al·leluia (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 哈利路亞 / 哈利路亚 (haa¹ lei¹ lu¹ jaa⁴, haa¹ li¹ lu¹ jaa⁴)

Hakka: 哈利路亞 / 哈利路亚 (hâ-li-lu-yá)

Hokkien: ha-lé-lú-iah

Mandarin: 哈利路亞 / 哈利路亚 (zh) (hālìlùyà), 阿利路亞 / 阿利路亚 (ālìlùyà), 阿肋路亞 / 阿肋路亚 (ālèlùyà) (Catholic)
Czech: aleluja, halejuja
Danish: halleluja
Dutch: hallelujah, alleluja (nl), halleluja (nl)
Esperanto: haleluja (eo)
Estonian: halleluuja (et)
Finnish: halleluja (fi)
French: alléluia (fr)
Georgian: ალილუია (aliluia)
German: halleluja (de)
Greek: αλληλούια (el) (alliloúia)
Ancient: ἀλληλούϊα (allēloúïa)
Hebrew: הַלְּלוּיָהּ (he) (hallelúyah)
Hindi: हालेलुया (hāleluyā)
Hungarian: alleluja (hu)
Icelandic: hallelúja
Indonesian: haleluya (id)
Interlingua: alleluia
Irish: aililiú
Italian: alleluia (it)
Japanese: ハレルヤ (hareruya)
Kannada: ಹಲ್ಲೆಲೂಯಾ (hallelūyā)
Khmer: ហាលេលូយ៉ា (haaleiluuyaa)
Korean: 할렐루야 (hallelluya)
Latin: allelūia
Lingala: aleluya
Lisu: ꓧ-ꓡꓲ-ꓡꓴ-ꓬ (xɑ-li-lu-jɑ)
Lithuanian: aleliùja
Lombard: alleluia
Macedonian: алелу̀ја (alelùja)
Malay: hallelujah, halleluyah, alleluia
Malayalam: ഹല്ലേലൂയ (hallēlūya)
Maori: hareruia
Nias: haleluya
Norwegian: halleluja
Nynorsk: halleluja
Persian: هله‌لویا (hale-luya)
Polish: alleluja (pl), hosanna (pl)
Portuguese: aleluia (pt)
Romanian: aliluia (ro) (used by the Orthodox Church), aleluia (ro) (used by Catholics and Protestants)
Russian: аллилу́йя (ru) (allilújja), сла́ва бо́гу (ru) (sláva bógu), ура́ (ru) (urá)
Sardinian: alleluia, allelujah, halleluyah
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: алелуја

Roman: aleluja (sh)
Slovak: aleluja (sk), halejuja
Slovene: aleluja
Spanish: aleluya (es) f
Swahili: alleluia
Swedish: halleluja (sv)
Tagalog: aleluya
Tamil: அல்லேலூயா (ta) (allēlūyā)
Telugu: హల్లెలూయా (hallelūyā)
Thai: อัลเลลูยา (an-lee-luu-yaa), อาเลลูยา (aa-lee-luu-yaa), ฮาเลลูยา (haa-lee-luu-yaa)
Tibetan: གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཁོང་ལ་བསྟོད་བསྔོགས་ཤིག (gtso bo dkon mchog khong la bstod bsngogs shig)
Turkish: haleluya, alleluya, aleluya, elhamdülillah (tr)
Ukrainian: алілу́я (alilúja), алилу́я (uk) (alylúja)
Urdu: ہللی (haliluy)
Vietnamese: hallelujah (vi)
Yami: haliloya
Yoruba: alelúyà, halelúyà

general exclamation of gratitude

Arabic: الْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ (al-ḥamdu lillāhi)
Belarusian: сла́ва бо́гу (sláva bóhu)
Catalan: al·leluia (ca)
Danish: gudskelov (da)
Esperanto: haleluja (eo)
Finnish: halleluja (fi)
German: Gott sei Dank (de)
Greek: αλληλούια (el) (alliloúia)
Ancient Greek: ἀλληλούϊα (allēloúïa)
Malagasy: aleloia (mg)
Portuguese: aleluia (pt)
Russian: сла́ва бо́гу (ru) (sláva bógu)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: алелуја

Roman: aleluja (sh)
Spanish: aleluya (es) f
Swahili: alleluia
Turkish: Allah'a çok şükür, Tanrı yarasın
Ukrainian: сла́ва бо́гу (uk) (sláva bóhu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} alléluia (fr)
Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} הַלְּלוּיָהּ (he) (hallelúyah)
Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} alleluia
Slovak: ^{(please verify)} aleluja (sk)
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} aleluya (es) f

Noun

Examples (song)
Hallelujah Chorus in Handel's Messiah Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

hallelujah (plural hallelujahs)

A shout of “Hallelujah”.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 633–634:
  So ſung they, and the Empyrean rung, / With Halleluiahs: Thus was Sabbath kept.
(music) A song of praise to God; a musical composition based on the word "Hallelujah".
(in the plural) General praise.
- 1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part II (Life as a Freeman), page 441:
  Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs?

Translations

shout of Hallelujah

Finnish: halleluja (fi)
German: Halleluja (de) n
Hungarian: alleluja (hu)
Icelandic: hallelúja n
Irish: aililiú m
Plautdietsch: Haleluja m
Portuguese: aleluia (pt), aleluia (pt)
Russian: аллилу́йя (ru) f (allilújja)
Spanish: aleluya (es) m
Yoruba: alelúyà

song

Polish: alleluja (pl) n

general praise

Finnish: ylistys (fi)
Hungarian: alleluja (hu)
Russian: аллилу́йя (ru) f (allilújja)
Spanish: felicitación (es) f, congratulación (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} alléluia (fr)
Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} alleluia
Slovak: ^{(please verify)} aleluja (sk)

Verb

hallelujah (third-person singular simple present hallelujahs, present participle hallelujahing, simple past and past participle hallelujahed)

(intransitive) To cry "hallelujah" in praise.
- 1971, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in Pic:
  My aunt Gastonia […] she'd seen the Lord more times than they could ever count, and hallelujahed and hallelujahed, said, “While's all this the Gospel word and true, […]

Translations

to cry "Hallelujah"

Hungarian: allelujázik (hu)
Indonesian: berhaleluya
Yoruba: ké alelúyà

Dutch

Interjection

hallelujah

alternative form of halleluja

Noun

hallelujah n (plural hallelujahs)

alternative form of halleluja