Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An ornamented pointer used to mark one's place when reading out loud from a scroll of the Torah in a synagogue.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small tapering hand with outstretched index-finger, made of precious metal or ivory, beautifully carved. It is used to indicate the words to the reader while he is reading the Scriptures in the synagogue from the scroll called Sepher Torah.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Judaism A pointer used in the ritual of Torah-reading.
  • noun The letter in the Tifinagh alphabet.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Mishnaic Hebrew yād, from Hebrew, hand; see yd in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hebrew יד (hand)

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Tifinagh alphabet.

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  • Rod used by readers of the Torah as a pointer for following text. (From The Phrontistery)

    June 30, 2009