Talmud dictionary practice - the leading terms, in search and recall drills
The most frequent Talmudic terms are not a list to memorise: they are the skeleton of the argument. Here they are lifted out of the catalogue into one practice page - ranked by frequency, with a search drill, recall flashcards and a multiple-choice quiz. The systematic explanation of how a word breaks down waits on the parallel page, the Talmud dictionary guide.
Three drills over the same core
Search to identify, flashcards to recall, multiple choice to verify - all three run over the same leading terms.
Find the term
Think of a term you met on the daf, type it in Aramaic, English or transliteration, and check whether you identified it correctly.
What does this term mean?
מבעיא
Mib'aya
Say the meaning out loud, then reveal.
Which term fits this meaning?
As we said — refers back to an earlier discussion.
The leading terms by frequency
| # | Term | Meaning | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | מבעיא | It is asked; clarification is needed | Open |
| 2 | איתי | there is, he has | Open |
| 3 | אין | yes, true | Open |
| 4 | מצינו | We found | Open |
| 5 | בעי | He asked, wanted, requested | Open |
| 6 | דמי | Similar; compares | Open |
| 7 | אתי | He comes, he will come | Open |
| 8 | אתיא | comes, will come (feminine) | Open |
| 9 | מַאי לָאו | Is it not? Meaning, certainly yes. | Open |
| 10 | קא אמר | He says, is saying | Open |
| 11 | תנו רבנן | The Sages taught — opening of a tannaitic beraita. | Open |
| 12 | קא סלקא דעתך | You assumed — the premise the Gemara is about to reject. | Open |
| 13 | סלקא דעתך אמינא | I might have said — presents the mistaken reading before it is corrected. | Open |
| 14 | קא משמע לן | It teaches us — the novelty the source comes to convey. | Open |
| 15 | דיוקא | A precise inference from the wording of the Mishnah or verse. | Open |
| 16 | קל וחומר | A fortiori argument — inference from a lighter case to a stricter one. | Open |
| 17 | גזירה שווה | Inference from an identical word in two verses. | Open |
| 18 | בנין אב | A paradigm case from which other cases are derived. | Open |
| 19 | בְּעָא | Asked, wanted, requested | Open |
| 20 | לית לן בה | we have no concern with this | Open |
| 21 | מצי | he found, he was able | Open |
| 22 | מיעוט | A restrictive word that excludes a case from a law. | Open |
| 23 | ריבוי | An inclusive word that brings additional cases into a law. | Open |
| 24 | סתמא דגמרא | The anonymous voice of the Gemara's redactor. | Open |
| 25 | קמייתא | The first — the first version or clause cited. | Open |
| 26 | בתרייתא | The latter — the later version or clause. | Open |
| 27 | מתיב | Objects — raises a challenge from a beraita against an amora. | Open |
| 28 | מדרבנן | By rabbinic enactment — an obligation not from the Torah. | Open |
| 29 | דאורייתא | From the Torah — an obligation rooted in Scripture. | Open |
| 30 | לכתחילה | From the outset — the proper way to perform the act. | Open |
| 31 | בדיעבד | After the fact — when the act was done improperly. | Open |
| 32 | אתקין | He instituted — established an enactment or wording. | Open |
| 33 | שמעת מינה | Do you infer from here — testing a proof from the source. | Open |
| 34 | לא שנא | There is no difference — both cases share the same law. | Open |
| 35 | כדתנן | As we learned in the Mishnah — a cross-reference to another Mishnah. | Open |
| 36 | כדאמרינן | As we said — refers back to an earlier discussion. | Open |
| 37 | לקמן | Further on — a reference to a later discussion in the tractate. | Open |
| 38 | לעיל | Above — a reference to an earlier discussion. | Open |
| 39 | לחודיה | Alone — on its own, without combination. | Open |
| 40 | מדעיקרא | From the outset, originally. | Open |
Continue from here
The 100 most frequent Talmud words
The ranked list with meanings, entries and source links.
Talmud dictionary - the method
Four steps for breaking a word down, plus a core-term table.
The full dictionary
Search every entry: translation, root, inflections and sources.
Language of the sugya
The terms that mark question, answer and proof.
Gemara readers' guide
What to know before the first daf.
Gemara folios
Practise the terms inside the text itself.
Learners ask
- How many terms do you need to read a sugya?
- The recurring core is small: a few dozen terms carry the structure of the argument in every tractate. This page ranks them by frequency so practice starts with what returns on the next daf.
- What is the right way to drill an Aramaic term?
- Identify its role in the argument - question, answer or proof - then state the meaning out loud before revealing it. The flashcards and the multiple-choice drill follow exactly that order.
- How is this page different from /miloon?
- /miloon explains the decoding method: how a word breaks into root and prefixes. This page is the rehearsal - the same terms inside search, flashcard and multiple-choice drills.
- Does the practice save my progress?
- The score is shown for immediate feedback. The goal is not points but reading the daf without the dictionary, so every term links to its full entry and to the sugya where it appears.