לכאורה

From אורה (“light, sun”) + כ־ (k-, “as, like”) (possibly contracted from מאיר כאורה (“obvious”, literally “clear as the sun”)) + ל־ (l-, “to, for”).

• IPA^(key): /lixʔorɑ/

לכאורה • (liḵəʾōrā)

1. at first sight, at first glance, on the face of it
   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud. Ketubot, 54a.19:

     לכאורה כשמואל רהיטא כי מעיינת בה הלכתא כוותיה דרב

     liḵəʾōrā kišəmūʾēl rəhīṭāʾ, kī məʿayyənattə bāh — hiləḵəṯāʾ kəwōṯēh dəraḇ

     At first sight it would run (agree) with Samuel, [but] when you consider it, the halakha is in accordance with Rav.

• → Hebrew: לכאורה (likh'orá)
• → Yiddish: לכאורה (lkhurh)

• Jastrow, Marcus (1903), A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature‎^[1], London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 710
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903), A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature‎^[2], London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 33

Borrowed from Jewish Babylonian Aramaic לכאורה (“at first glance”). The word appears only once in the Talmud. Common in the language of the Rishonim and Acharonim.

• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /liχ.(ʔ)oˈʁa/

• (Sephardi Hebrew) IPA^(key): /li.xe̞.ʔoːˈraː/

• (Mizrahi Hebrew) IPA^(key): /li.xe̞.ʔoːˈraː/

• (Yemenite Hebrew) IPA^(key): /li.xø̆.ʔøːˈrɔː/

• (Ashkenazi Hebrew) IPA^(key): /liˈxoi.ʁɔ/

• (Tiberian Hebrew) IPA^(key): /liː.xŏ.ʔoːˈrˤɔː/

לִכְאוֹרָה • (likh'orá)

1. seemingly, apparently

   Synonyms: כַּנִּרְאֶה, כִּבְיָכוֹל

2. allegedly, supposedly

   Synonym: כִּבְיָכוֹל

   הרכב שייך לכאורה לחבר כנופיה ידוע לשמצה ― harékhev shayákh likh'orá lekhéver knufyá yadúa leshimtsá ― the vehicle allegedly belonged to a notorious gang member.

3. (archaic) at first glance, on the face of it

   Synonym: עַל פָּנָיו

   • 1798, Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, Kedushas Levi:

     לכאורה אינו מובן מה ענין לבשר זכרנו את הדגה.

     likh'orá eynó muván ma inyán levasár zakhárnu et hadagá.

     At first glance, it is unclear what is the point of [saying] "we remember the fish" in the [subject of the] meat .