“L’hit”

Most newcomers to the Hebrew language are familiar with the word Shalom as having triple meaning – “peace,” “hello” and “goodbye.” However, native Hebrew speakers rarely use it in the latter form. The implication is that when one says Shalom as “Goodbye” one will not be seeing the other person ever again. Most Hebrew speakers (kibbutzniks over the age of 70 being the exception) use L’hitraot instead.

L’hitraot comes from the root R/A/H which creates words having to do with sight (e.g. mar’ah = mirror, ro’eh = see, re’iah = sight). This reflexive verb is the equivalent of the English “See you later.” However it is commonly shortened simply to l’hit, which would be the equivalent of “See ya!”