mezuzah

noun, plural me·zu·zoth, me·zu·zot, me·zu·zos [Sephardic Hebrew muh-zoo-zawt; Ashkenazic Hebrew muh–zoo -zohs] /Sephardic Hebrew mə zuˈzɔt; Ashkenazic Hebrew məˈzʊ zoʊs/; English me·zu·zahs. Judaism.

1. a parchment scroll inscribed on one side with the Biblical passages Deut. 6:4–9 and 11:13–21 and on the other side with the word Shaddai (a name applied to God), inserted in a small case or tube so that Shaddai is visible through an aperture in front, and attached by some Jews to the doorpost of the home.

noun plural -zuzahs or -zuzoth (Hebrew -zuˈzɔt) Judaism

1. a piece of parchment inscribed with biblical passages and fixed to the doorpost of the rooms of a Jewish house
2. a metal case for such a parchment, sometimes worn as an ornament

n.1640s, from Hebrew, literally “doorpost.”