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English word origin

Etymology of Jonah

From the Hebrew יוֹנָה (yônâh, “dove”). Doublet of Jonas.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A person who brings a ship bad luck. · Any person or object which is deemed to cause bad luck; a jinx.

name

A male given name from Hebrew. · A minor prophet who was cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish. · A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh. · The 10th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From the Hebrew יוֹנָה (yônâh, “dove”). Doublet of Jonas.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "he",
        "3": "יוֹנָה",
        "4": "",
        "5": "dove",
        "tr": "yônâh"
      },
      "expansion": "Hebrew יוֹנָה (yônâh, “dove”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Jonas"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of Jonas"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "יוֹנָה",
      "יונה#Hebrew"
    ],
    [
      "Jonas",
      "Jonas#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A person who brings a ship bad luck.",
        "Any person or object which is deemed to cause bad luck; a jinx."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "broadly"
      ],
      "recordId": "4bef2eb924ee57c7e7381726a4a87c201ec3b6322f29eedd307b1a3120667674",
      "rawRecordSha256": "fd17c67926a94f8644c2f45438252f8588d1dc91ba8c4217711ec916e6f644d2",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 463819
    },
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A male given name from Hebrew.",
        "A minor prophet who was cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish.",
        "A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.",
        "The 10th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "4d83efa3e918bedeb8940a3366f0fccf99b7cbf0ad2827ebdfb3ad357ab7c83c",
      "rawRecordSha256": "c07155fe44f7983c174e222966db0c8b102a3a92cb6c8b6f92825befb7d5f1a3",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 463818
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Jonah →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Sm9uYWg