Hebrew

Noun

דֶּרֶךְ • ‎(dérekh) f ‎(plural indefinite דְּרָכִים, singular construct דֶּרֶךְ־, plural construct דַּרְכֵי־) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. (literally and figuratively) a road, a path, a way

   כל הדרכים מובילות לרומא.‎ ― kól had'rakhím movilót l'róma ― All the roads lead to Rome.

   • Genesis 3:24, with translation of the New International Version:

     וַיְגָרֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן מִקֶּדֶם לְגַן־עֵדֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִים וְאֵת לַהַט הַחֶרֶב הַמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת לִשְׁמֹר אֶת־דֶּרֶךְ עֵץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃‎

     After he drove the man out, he placed on the east sidefn of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

2. a journey
3. (by extension) a custom
   • Genesis 19:31, with translation of the New International Version:

     וַתֹּאמֶר הַבְּכִירָה אֶל־הַצְּעִירָה אָבִינוּ זָקֵן וְאִישׁ אֵין בָּאָרֶץ לָבֹוא עָלֵינוּ כְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃‎

     One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth.

Usage notes

• Unlike most nouns of the קֶטֶל pattern, דֶּרֶךְ is primarily feminine (though masculine usage is not unheard of, especially in older forms of Hebrew). Nonetheless, it has the same inflected forms as other like-patterned nouns, including an indefinite-state plural in ־ים ‎(-im) rather than ־ות ‎(-ot).

Declension

Preposition

דֶּרֶךְ • ‎(dérekh) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. Through, via, by way of.

   ראיתי את זה דרך החלון. — ra'íti et ze dérekh ha-khalón. — I saw it through the window.

Verb

דָּרַךְ • ‎(darách) ‎(pa'al construction)

1. to step on, to walk on (something or someone)
2. to tread (grapes, etc.)
3. to cock (to lift the cock of a firearm), to draw (to pull back the bowstring)

Conjugation

References

• “H1870”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979