Hebrew (Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. In Israel, it is the de facto language of the state and the people, as well as being one of the two official languages (together with Arabic), and it is spoken by a majority of the population.

The core of the Tanach is written in Classical Hebrew, and much of its present form is specifically the dialect of Biblical Hebrew that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, near the Babylonian exile. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Lesh?n Ha-Q?desh, "The Holy Tongue", since ancient times.

Semitic language used in Israel, principally by Jews. Hebrew is categorized as a part of the Canaanite group of the Semitic languages, to which also the ancient languages, Phoenician and Moabite, belonged.
There are several theories to the origin of the name 'Hebrew', but among the most likely is that it comes from Egyptian 'apiru'. 'Apiru' was used as a designation for the class in the Egyptian society which hired themselves out for specific services.
Today's Hebrew is a spoken language that is based upon the written Hebrew taken from old Hebrew texts. It is the only spoken language in the world derived from a written language.