A dreidel (Yiddish: דרײדל dreydl plural:
dreydlekh, Hebrew: סביבון Sevivon) is a
four-sided spinning top, played with
during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of
the Hebrew alphabet: נ (Nun), ג (Gimel), ה
(Hei), ש (Shin), which together form the
acronym for "נס גדול היה שם" (Nes Gadol
Hayah Sham – "a great miracle happened
there"). These letters also form a
mnemonic for the rules of a gambling game
played with a dreidel: Nun stands for the
Yiddish word nisht ("nothing"), Hei stands
for halb ("half"), Gimel for gants
("all"), and Shin for shtel arayn ("put
in"). In Israel, the fourth side of most
dreidels is inscribed with the letter פ (Pei),
rendering the acronym, נס גדול היה פה, Nes
Gadol Hayah Poh—"A great miracle happened
here" referring to the miracle occurring
in the land of Israel. Some stores in
Haredi neighbourhoods sell the ש dreidels.
