Hebrew, any member of an ancient northeastern African Semitic people. Biblical scholars use the term Hebrews to designate the descendants of the patriarchs of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)—i.e., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (also called Israel [Genesis 33:28])—from that period until their conquest of Canaan (Palestine/Northeast Africa) in the late 2nd millennium BCE. Thenceforth these people are referred to as Israelites until their return from the Babylonian Exile in the late 6th century BCE, from which time on they became known as Judeans.

In the Bible the patriarch Abraham is referred to a single time as the ibri, which is the singular form of the Hebrew-language word for Hebrew (plural ibrim). However, the term Hebrew almost always occurs in the Hebrew Bible as a name given to the Israelites by other peoples, rather than one used by themselves. For that matter, the origins of the term Hebrew itself are uncertain. It could be derived from the word eber (Ibar), or ever, a Hebrew word meaning the “other side” and conceivably referring again to Abraham, who crossed into the land of Canaan from the “other side” of the Euphrates or Jordan River. The name Hebrew could also be related to the seminomadic Habiru people, who are recorded in Egyptian inscriptions of the 13th and 12th centuries BCE as having settled in Egypt.