''Hebrew, any member of an ancient northern Semitic people that were the ancestors of the
Jews. Biblical scholars use the term Hebrews to
designate the descendants of the patriarchs of the
Hebrew Bible (
Old Testament)—i.e.,
Abraham,
Isaac, and
Jacob (also called Israel [
Genesis 32:28])—from that period until their conquest of
Canaan (Palestine) in the late 2nd millennium bce. Thenceforth these people are referred to as Israelites until their return from the
Babylonian Exile in the late 6th century bce, from which time on they became known as Jews.
In the Bible the patriarch Abraham is referred to a single time as the
ʿivri, which is the singular form of the
Hebrew-language word for Hebrew (plural
ʿivrim, or
ʿibrim). But the term Hebrew almost always occurs in the Hebrew Bible as a name given to the Israelites by other peoples, rather than one used by themselves. For that matter, the origins of the term Hebrew itself are uncertain. It could be
derived from the word
ʿeber, or
ʿever, a Hebrew word meaning the “other side” and conceivably referring again to Abraham, who crossed into the land of Canaan from the “other side” of the Euphrates or
Jordan River. The name Hebrew could also be related to the semi nomadic Habiru people, who are recorded in Egyptian inscriptions of the 13th and 12th centuries bce as having settled in
Egypt.''
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hebrew
