# רובע vs. שכונה



## leslangues13

Morning everyone, 

I was wondering if there is a distinction between these two terms רובע and שכונה, as I was reading some texts, I have seen for Jewish District in Jerusalem, one uses "רובע", while in an other context in Tel Aviv, שכונה is used. Can somebody make it clear for me?


Thank you.


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## Abaye

Like "neighborhood" and "quarter" in English, we have שכונה and רובע in Hebrew, their meaning is similar. הרובע היהודי of old Jerusalem is an idiomatic name, saying השכונה היהודית instead will be strange. In the specific context of Jerusalem, this is literally רובע = quarter = 1/4, as the old city has Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters.


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## shalom00

Just to be precise, they are quarters only in the sense that there are 4 areas.
However, their sizes are very different.


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## leslangues13

I thank both of you. I understand the meaning there. Another question linked to previous one, for example, for Paris, the arrondissements, they are named as רובע or שכונה, or is there a more appropriate way of saying it? 

Thanks again.


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## shalom00

I understand that an arrondissement is an administrative district.
That would usually correspond to שכונה, which can be a formal designation as well as an informal one.


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## leslangues13

I actually used Wikipedia to see its equivalent, and it says "רובעי פריז", even though there are 20 of them. (Arrondissement is a special district in France, exists only in 3 big cities, namely Paris, Lyon, Marseille) 


"


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## shalom00

OK, but on the other hand, Israeli cities are divided (usually) into שכונות.


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## Drink

In French, neighborhoods can also be called "quartier", which essentially means "quarter".


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## leslangues13

That's not my point.


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## Abaye

I don't think there's an authoritative difference in Hebrew for רובע vs. שכונה. Maybe רובע sounds somewhat more impressive and in certain places has an administrative function. In specific cases one is used and not the other, e.g. הרובע היהודי of old Jerusalem, הרובע הלטיני of Paris, שכונת היהודים of Cairo. The Tel Aviv municipality divides the city to רבעים and the רבעים to שכונות, but it seems like a local distinction, and I wouldn't dare asking a resident of TLV "is what רובע you live" as it may sound ridiculous.

רבעים ושכונות | עיריית תל אביב-יפו (tel-aviv.gov.il)


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