# Yiddish abbreviations: K"H



## Noon2501

Good day,

On the "Special Thanks" page of a book, the author lists the name of his wife and children, mentioning their names one by one, then the last of his children's name is followed by these two letters written this way: (K"H).  I posted the question on the English Only forum and was informed that there are conventional abbreviations in Hebrew. I am actually translating this book into Arabic and I need to know what do these letters stand for/mean? or, what phrase are they an abbreviation of so that I could translate the meaning properly.

The book is "Let Me Out" by Peter Himmelman.

Please find attached a print screen of the said text.

Thanks


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## Drink

You came to the right place, it does look like it's Hebrew. I've never heard of it before, but searching the web it seems to be used after mentioning children. I still can't figure out exactly what it means and what Hebrew letters it represents (most likely כ"ה or ק"ה). I'll keep searching.


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## Noon2501

Thanks a lot for exerting the effort to help me with that. I need to point out, though, that I don't know Hebrew. So when you refer to Hebrew letters I am totally clueless  As a matter of fact, I am considering taking Hebrew lessons online in the near future, as I heard it's an easy language since my mother-tongue is Arabic and they pretty much branch from the same language tree. I shall wait for your answer. Thanks again


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## Drink

So I asked someone and he told me it stands for the Yiddish phrase "קיין עין הרע" (keyn ayin hore = no evil eye), equivalent to the Hebrew phrase "בלי עין הרע" (b'li 3ayin hara3 = without the evil eye). The intention being something like "nothing bad should happen to them".

I'm sure you recognize the similarity between 3ayin (עין) and 3ayn (عين), but b'li (בלי) is also similar to bilaa (بلا). As for ra3 (רע), I don't know if Arabic has any root ر ع ع or ر غ غ that means "evil", is there one?


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## Noon2501

The word "عين" in Arabic can refer to "the evil eye" as well. So I guess I got the meaning behind it now. It's like he's wishing may nothing bad happen to them. Thanks a lot for the effort you put into clarifying this matter to me. It has really helped.


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## amikama

It appears it's a variant of this abbreviation: Ka"H.


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## duvija

Yes. And it implies they are alive and healthy, and don't allow anybody wish them harm by saying they are alive or healthy (it's not easy being a Jew).


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