The Hebrew term for the symbolic foods eaten on Rosh Hashanah is **simanim**.
Simanim means “signs” or “symbols.” In many Jewish communities, diners eat foods whose names, appearance, or taste suggest blessings for the coming year. Apples dipped in honey represent hopes for sweetness, while pomegranates can symbolize abundance and fruitful deeds.
The custom is especially associated with the Rosh Hashanah seder practiced widely among Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, though symbolic foods are also part of Ashkenazi traditions. Common simanim include dates, leeks, beets, gourds, black-eyed peas, carrots, and a fish head. Families differ in both the foods they use and the prayers recited over them.
Simanim are sometimes confused with the general Rosh Hashanah meal or with apples and honey specifically. Apples and honey are only one example; the collective Hebrew name for the symbolic foods is simanim. The practice has roots in a Talmudic passage listing foods to eat at the start of the year, and later traditions developed wordplays connecting each food with a desired blessing.