The Hebrew word for hobby is תחביב

, as in:

מה התחביבים שלכם?

What are your (plural) hobbies?

The root of תחביב

is ח.ב.ב

, which brings us the פיעל verb לחבב

– to like (someone, as opposed to “to love” someone), as well as the word for amateur (someone who likes doing something but isn’t a professional) – חובבן

for a male and חובבנית

for a female.

For example:

כרגע הוא מצלם תמונות טבע כחובבן, אבל הוא רוצה ללמוד צילום.

At the moment he takes nature photos as an amateur, but he wants to study photography.