Gaon (Hebrew)

Gaon (Hebrew: גאון, gā'ōn, lit. 'pride', plural geonim, גְּאוֹנִים‎, gĕ'ōnīm) was originally a formal title for the Geonim, heads of Talmudic academies in the 6th–11th century. Since the rishonic period, many great rabbis, whether or not they head academies, are often lauded with this honorific as a mark of respect; for example, one may refer to Ovadia Yosef as "HaGaon Ovadia Yosef". Modern Hebrew reuses the word as an equivalent for "genius" based on phonetic similarity.

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