afikomen

or a·fi·ko·man

[ ah-fee-koh-muhn ]

noun

, Judaism.

1. a piece of matzo broken off from the center one of the three matzoth set before the leader of a Seder: it is hidden by the leader and later searched for by the children, with the finder, usually the youngest, receiving a reward.

Word History and Origins

Origin of afikomen¹

1890–95; < Yiddish afikoymen < Hebrew aphīgōmān < Greek epikṓmion revel, noun use of neuter of epikṓmios of a revel, equivalent to epi- epi- + kôm ( os ) revel + -ios adj. suffix

Example Sentences

Kids love hunting for the afikomen, a piece of matzo the Seder leader hides during the service.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, people are turning to video calls to replace their usual holiday traditions: this means egg hunts, Easter brunch, seders, and even afikomen hiding will take place online.

From The Verge

Someone has hidden the afikomen.

From Slate

This now contains the answers to the questions: Who hid the afikomen?

From Slate

Because the cards are in your hand, they can’t be in the game host’s envelope—which means none of your cards were involved in hiding the afikomen!

From Slate