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Kiryat

Kiryat is a common element in Israeli place names. The word means town or city and derives from the Biblical Hebrew kiryah, meaning settlement or inhabited place. In modern Hebrew, Kiryat is used as a prefix in toponyms to designate an urban locality; it is often paired with a personal name or biblical figure, sometimes commemorating a person, a family, or a historical or literary figure. The resulting names may designate a city, town, local council, or neighborhood.

The prefix appears across the country in a variety of settlements, from large cities to smaller communities.

Notable
examples
include
Kiryat
Gat,
a
city
in
the
Southern
District;
Kiryat
Malakhi,
a
town
in
the
Southern
District;
Kiryat
Shmona,
a
city
in
the
Northern
District
near
the
Lebanese
border;
Kiryat
Bialik,
a
city
near
Haifa;
Kiryat
Ono,
a
city
in
the
Tel
Aviv
District;
Kiryat
Motzkin
and
Kiryat
Yam,
cities
in
the
Haifa
District;
Kiryat
Ata,
a
city
in
the
Haifa
District;
Kiryat
Sefer,
a
neighborhood
in
Modi'in
Illit;
and
Kiryat
Haim,
a
neighborhood
of
Haifa.
The
prefix
also
appears
in
settlements
such
as
Kiryat
Arba
near
Hebron
in
the
West
Bank.