List of English words of Yiddish origin explained

This is a list of words that have entered the English language from the Yiddish language, many of them by way of American English. There are differing approaches to the romanization of Yiddish orthography (which uses the Hebrew alphabet); thus, the spelling of some of the words in this list may be variable (for example, is a variant of, and,).

Background

Yiddish is a Germanic language, originally spoken by Jews in Central and later Eastern Europe, written in the Hebrew alphabet, and containing a substantial substratum of Hebrew words as well as numerous loans from Slavic languages.[1] For that reason, some of the words listed originated in Hebrew or Slavic languages, but have entered English via Yiddish.

Yiddish is closely related to modern German, and many Yiddish words have German cognates; in some cases it is difficult to tell whether a particular word was borrowed from Yiddish or from German. Yiddish is written in the Hebrew alphabet, and Yiddish words may be transliterated into Latin spelling in a variety of ways; the transliterated spelling of Yiddish words and the conventional spelling of German are usually different, but the pronunciations are frequently the same (e.g., yi|שוואַרץ|shvarts|label=none in Yiddish is pronounced the same way as de|schwarz|label=none in German).

List of words

These English words of Yiddish origin, except as noted, are in the online editions of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD), or the Merriam-Webster dictionary (MW). The parentheses-enclosed information at the end of each word's entry starts with the original Yiddish term in Hebrew script, the Latin script transliteration, and the literal English translation (if different from the English definition given earlier). This may be followed by additional relevant languages (mostly Hebrew and German). One or more dictionary references appear at the end.

A

B

A ring-shaped bread roll made by boiling or steaming, and then baking, the dough (from, from Old High German boug with diminutive -el suffix; OED, MW).

A sweet cheese-filled crepe (from (plural); AHD).

The circumcision of a male child. (from ; OED, MW)

C

D

The malevolent spirit of a dead person that enters and controls a living body until exorcised (; AHD)

yi|דרײדל|dreydl, a four-sided spinning top (OED)

F

G

A minor malfunction (from ; cf. German: ; AHD)

A man-made humanoid; an android, Frankenstein monster (from Hebrew: ; OED, MW)

A gentile, term for someone not of the Jewish faith or people (; plural or ; from Hebrew: or, plural of ; AHD)

H

K

buckwheat porridge or grains (prefabricated for a porridge). Originally a Slavic term, it probably entered into English usage with Jewish emigrants, especially the form Yiddish: קאַשי|rtl=yes kashi (Slavic plural for "kasha").[4]

A clumsy person (; cf. German: ; OED, MW, AHD)

Correct according to Jewish law, normally used in reference to Jewish dietary laws; (slang) appropriate, legitimate (originally from ; AHD)

To express great pleasure combined with pride (from an old Germanic word; cognate with German: ; OED, MW)

L

A Lithuanian Jew or a dialect of Yiddish used by Lithuanian Jews (; OED)

Cured salmon, sometimes referred to as Nova, often used loosely to refer to smoked salmon (; cf. German: ; OED, MW)

M

Bastard (from Yiddish/Hebrew: ; OED)

Expert, aficionado (from Hebrew: ; OED, MW, AHD)

An upright person; a decent human being (; cognate with German: ; OED, MW)

The quorum of ten adult (i.e., age 13 or older) Jews that is necessary for the holding of a public worship service; in Orthodox Judaism ten adult males are required, while in Conservative and Reform Judaism ten adults of either sex are required. (from Hebrew: ; OED)

N

O

P

S

something cheap, shoddy, or inferior (perhaps from ; cf. German: ; OED, MW)

Melted chicken fat; metaphorically, excessive sentimentality (or German: ; OED, MW, AHD); adjective: schmaltzy

(vulgar) A contemptible or foolish person; a jerk; (probably from Old Polish ; MW, EO)

An easily imposed-upon or easily cheated person, a pitifully meek person, a particularly gullible person, a cute or mischievous person or child (perhaps from ; cf. Northern German: ; OED)

beggar, esp. "one who wheedles others into supplying his wants" (; cf. German: ; OED, MW)

(derogatory) a young non-Jewish man (or, from Hebrew: ; AHD)

A small town with a large Jewish population in pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe (diminutive of ; cf. German:, South German / Austrian colloquial diminutive of ; AHD)

A small synagogue or place of prayer (; cf. German: ; OED)

Comic theme; a defining habit or distinguishing feature or business (yi|שטיק|shtik|piece|label=none; cf. German: de|Stück||piece|label=none; AHD)

T

A knickknack, trinket, curio (yi|צאַצקע|tsatske|label=none, yi|טשאַטשקע|tshatshke|label=none, from Polish: pl|[[wikt:pl:cacko|cacko]]|label=none; OED, MW)

A sweet stew of vegetables and fruit; a fuss, a confused affair, a to-do (; OED, MW)

V

Y

A round cloth skullcap worn by observant Jewish men (yi|יאַרמלקע|yarmlke|label=none, possibly from Polish: pl|jarmułka|label=none and Ukrainian: uk|ярмулка|yarmulka|skullcap|label=none, possibly from tr|yağmurluk||raincoat/oilskin; see yarmulke; OED, MW)

(mildly derogatory) A German Jew; its most common usage derives from the British Mandate period to describe Fifth Aliyah German Jews, who were perceived to be more formal in dress and manners. (yi|יעקע|yeke|jacket|label=none; cf. German: de|Jacke|label=none; OED)

The Yiddish language (yi|ייִדיש|Yidish|Jewish|label=none; cf. German: de|jüdisch|label=none; AHD)

Z

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bartleby.com: Great Books Online – Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and hundreds more. bartleby.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20071016050330/http://bartleby.com/68/23/6623.html. 16 October 2007.
  2. Dictionary of Jewish Words: A JPS Guide, p. 5
  3. News: Horwitz . Bert . A Hill of Bupkis . The Jewish Daily Forward . New York . 19 August 2005 . 28 November 2010.
  4. [Sol Steinmetz|Steinmetz, Sol]
  5. See also Wex, Michael. Born to Kvetch. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2005.
  6. Book: Even-Shoshan, Avraham. Avraham Even-Shoshan. HaMilon HeHadash (The New Dictionary). 1966 . he. Kiriat-sefer. 978-9651701559.
  7. Web site: World Wide Words: The whole megillah. World Wide Words.
  8. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3878331/jewish/What-Do-Milchig-Fleishig-and-Pareve-Mean.htm What Do "Milchig, Fleishig and Pareve" Mean?
  9. Web site: Doyle . Dr Siobhán . A short history of shemozzles in the GAA . . 2020-02-20.
  10. [David Carr (journalist)|Carr, David]
  11. [Jeffrey Goldberg]

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