Kibbutzim

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collective community in Israel that engages in agriculture and shared living arrangements
2. Groups characterized by cooperative labor and communal ownership of resources
3. A form of communal settlement where members contribute to farming and social services while living together

Etymology: "Kibbutzim" is the plural of "kibbutz," and it is one of the few English words whose plural is taken straight from Hebrew, where the ending "-im" marks the plural. The singular comes from Hebrew קִבּוּץ (kibbutz), meaning "gathering" or "collection," derived from the verb קָבַץ (kavats), "to gather, collect, assemble." So the root idea is simply people brought together. That plain sense is exactly what the settlements were named for. A kibbutz is a community built on shared work and shared property, and the name points to the act of coming together rather than to any particular crop or ideology. The word is unrelated to the English "kibitz," despite the similar sound, which is a frequent source of confusion.