A Jewish teacher or religious leader, also spelled rabbi; a person learned in Jewish law and tradition.
From Hebrew rabbi, meaning 'my master' or 'my teacher' (rav = master, -i = my). This word entered English through Yiddish and direct borrowing from Hebrew.
The word 'rab' is the short form that shows up in historical texts, but 'rabbi' with the doubled letters became the standard English spelling—language keeps abbreviations sometimes but standardizes others for no entirely consistent reason.
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