Perhaps you’ve been to a Jewish wedding and noticed the words to a song (lyrics from the biblical ספר ירמיהו

– Book of Jeremiah):

קול ששון וקול שמחה, קול חתן וקול כלה…

The sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of a bridegroom and the voice of a bride…

ששון

(also a name for boys) is one of the many Hebrew words for joy. Its verb form – the simple verb לשוש

– doesn’t show up much in day-to-day conversation, except in the expression “not thrilled” – לא שש

if the speaker is male, and לא ששה

if she’s female.

For example:

אני לא שש לראות אותה חוזרת לתחביבים הישנים שלה.

I’m not jumping for joy to see her return to her old hobbies.