חַיְזַר (hayzar) — alien (extraterrestrial being)

Etymology

The word חַיְזַר is a portmanteau of חַי (alive, living) and זָר (stranger, foreigner), meaning "living stranger" — a word for a being from another world. It was coined by translator Amos Gefen for his 1961 Hebrew translation of Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel "The Puppet Masters" (published as "הפלישה לכדור הארץ," "The Invasion of Earth," by Matzpen Press). The word follows the blending pattern established by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's חַיְדָּק (microbe, from חַי + דַּק, "living tiny-thing").

The broader context is the development of Hebrew science-fiction vocabulary. The genre entered public awareness in Israel via newspaper reports: the "flying saucer" phenomenon reached the Hebrew press in December 1949, when Al-Hamishmar reported on sightings in the United States. The formal term "UFO" (Unidentified Flying Object) was coined in English in 1953 by Edward J. Ruppelt of the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book; it appeared in Hebrew as "עצם בלתי מזוהה" (unidentified object) in 1958, and the Hebrew acronym עַמְבָּ"מ appeared in 1959, though the more familiar עָב"מ only took hold from 1967. The genre name "science fiction" went through numerous failed Hebrew attempts — "עלילות מדע," "ספרות-מדע," "הדמיון המדעי" — before Dan Almagor introduced מַדָּע בְּדִיוֹנִי in Maariv in November 1965, and it gradually prevailed. (The first Hebrew appearance of the phrase "מדע בדיוני" was actually in the same 1959 article that introduced עמב״מ.)

For the beings themselves, the first Hebrew term was the phrase "יצורים מהחלל החיצון" (creatures from outer space), attested from December 1959, later shortened to "יצורים מהחלל." Around 1987, UFO researcher Hadassa Arbel began using the word חוּצָנִים (from חוּץ, "outside"), explaining it meant "outsiders." This word started gaining traction. But חַיְזַר, dormant in science-fiction books since 1961, began spreading into general use in the early 1990s and quickly displaced חוצנים. The Academy of the Hebrew Language officially approved חַיְזַר in 1994.

Key Quotes

"חוּצָנִים (מהמילה חוּץ)" — Hadassa Arbel, in interviews to Ha-Olam Ha-Ze, Hadashot, and Maariv, 1987 (explaining the word she used for extraterrestrials)

Timeline

• December 1949: Al-Hamishmar publishes first Hebrew report on "flying saucers" reaching Israel
• 1952: Uri Avnery coins חַלָּלִית (spaceship) in Ha-Olam Ha-Ze
• 1953: U.S. Air Force officially names the phenomenon "UFOs"
• 1958: "עצם בלתי מזוהה" appears in Hebrew press
• November 1959: Acronym עמב״מ and the phrase "מדע בדיוני" both appear for the first time in Hebrew
• 1961: Amos Gefen coins חַיְזַר in his Hebrew translation of Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters"
• 1965: Dan Almagor introduces מדע בדיוני in Maariv; the term gradually prevails
• 1967: Acronym עָב"מ begins appearing in the press (replacing עמב"מ)
• 1987: Hadassa Arbel uses חוצנים in press interviews, bringing it into public awareness
• Early 1990s: חַיְזַר migrates from science-fiction books into general Israeli usage
• 1994: Academy of the Hebrew Language officially approves חַיְזַר

Related Words

• חוּצָנִים — competing term for extraterrestrials, from חוּץ (outside); less common than חיזר
• עָב"מ — UFO (acronym for עצם בלתי מזוהה מעופף, unidentified flying object)
• חַלָּלִית — spaceship; coined by Uri Avnery, 1952
• חַיְדָּק — microbe; coined by Ben-Yehuda on the same portmanteau pattern (חַי + דַּק)
• מַדָּע בְּדִיוֹנִי — science fiction