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The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults). This article is a follow up on Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know. Jewish scriptwriters introduced many Yiddish words into popular culture, which often changed the original meanings drastically. You might be surprised to learn how much Yiddish you already speak, but also, how many familiar words actually mean something different in real Yiddish.
There is no universally accepted transliteration or spelling; the standard YIVO version is based on the Eastern European Klal Yiddish dialect, while many Yiddish words found in English came from Southern Yiddish dialects. In the 1930s, Yiddish was spoken by more than 10 million people, but by 1945, 75% of them were gone. Today, Yiddish is the language of over 100 newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts, and websites.
- baleboste
A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it. - bissel
Or bisl – a little bit. - bubbe
Or bobe. It means Grandmother, and bobeshi is the more affectionate form. Bubele is a similarly affectionate word, though it isn’t in Yiddish dictionaries. - bupkes
Not a word for polite company. Bubkes or bobkes may be related to the Polish word for “beans”, but it really means “goat droppings” or “horse droppings.” It’s often used by American Jews for “trivial, worthless, useless, a ridiculously small amount” – less than nothing, so to speak. “After all the work I did, I got bupkes!” - chutzpah
Or khutspe. Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption. In English, chutzpah often connotes courage or confidence, but among Yiddish speakers, it is not a compliment. - feh!
An expression of disgust or disapproval, representative of the sound of spitting. - glitch
Or glitsh. Literally “slip,” “skate,” or “nosedive,” which was the origin of the common American usage as “a minor problem or error.” - gornisht
More polite than bupkes, and also implies a strong sense of nothing; used in phrases such as “gornisht helfn” (beyond help). - goy
A non-Jew, a Gentile. As in Hebrew, one Gentile is a goy, many Gentiles are goyim, the non-Jewish world in general is “the goyim.” Goyish is the adjective form. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich is goyish. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich on white bread is even more goyish. - kibbitz
In Yiddish, it’s spelled kibets, and it’s related to the Hebrew “kibbutz” or “collective.” But it can also mean verbal joking, which after all is a collective activity. It didn’t originally mean giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game – that’s an American innovation. - klutz
Or better yet, klots. Literally means “a block of wood,” so it’s often used for a dense, clumsy or awkward person. See schlemiel. - kosher
Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to. Food that Orthodox Jews don’t eat – pork, shellfish, etc. – is called traif. An observant Jew might add, “Both pork and shellfish are doubtlessly very tasty. I simply am restricted from eating it.” In English, when you hear something that seems suspicious or shady, you might say, “That doesn’t sound kosher.” - kvetsh
In popular English, kvetch means “complain, whine or fret,” but in Yiddish, kvetsh literally means “to press or squeeze,” like a wrong-sized shoe. Reminds you of certain chronic complainers, doesn’t it? But it’s also used on Yiddish web pages for “click” (Click Here). - maven
Pronounced meyven. An expert, often used sarcastically. - Mazel Tov
Or mazltof. Literally “good luck,” (well, literally, “good constellation”) but it’s a congratulation for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for what might happen in the future. When someone gets married or has a child or graduates from college, this is what you say to them. It can also be used sarcastically to mean “it’s about time,” as in “It’s about time you finished school and stopped sponging off your parents.” - mentsh
An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help. Can be a man, woman or child. - mishegas
Insanity or craziness. A meshugener is a crazy man. If you want to insult someone, you can ask them, ”Does it hurt to be crazy?” - mishpocheh
Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.” - nosh
Or nash. To nibble; a light snack, but you won’t be light if you don’t stop noshing. Can also describe plagarism, though not always in a bad sense; you know, picking up little pieces for yourself. - nu
A general word that calls for a reply. It can mean, “So?” “Huh?” “Well?” “What’s up?” or “Hello?” - oy vey
Exclamation of dismay, grief, or exasperation. The phrase “oy vey iz mir” means “Oh, woe is me.” “Oy gevalt!” is like oy vey, but expresses fear, shock or amazement. When you realize you’re about to be hit by a car, this expression would be appropriate. - plotz
Or plats. Literally, to explode, as in aggravation. “Well, don’t plotz!” is similar to “Don’t have a stroke!” or “Don’t have a cow!” Also used in expressions such as, “Oy, am I tired; I just ran the four-minute mile. I could just plotz.” That is, collapse. - shalom
It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?” - shlep
To drag, traditionally something you don’t really need; to carry unwillingly. When people “shlep around,” they are dragging themselves, perhaps slouchingly. On vacation, when I’m the one who ends up carrying the heavy suitcase I begged my wife to leave at home, I shlep it. - shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup. - schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.” - shlimazel
Someone with constant bad luck. When the shlemiel spills his soup, he probably spills it on the shlimazel. Fans of the TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” remember these two words from the Yiddish-American hopscotch chant that opened each show. - shmendrik
A jerk, a stupid person, popularized in The Last Unicorn and Welcome Back Kotter. - shmaltzy
Excessively sentimental, gushing, flattering, over-the-top, corny. This word describes some of Hollywood’s most famous films. From shmaltz, which means chicken fat or grease. - shmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress. - schmuck
Often used as an insulting word for a self-made fool, but you shouldn’t use it in polite company at all, since it refers to male anatomy. - spiel
A long, involved sales pitch, as in, “I had to listen to his whole spiel before I found out what he really wanted.” From the German word for play. - shikse
A non-Jewish woman, all too often used derogatorily. It has the connotation of “young and beautiful,” so referring to a man’s Gentile wife or girlfriend as a shiksa implies that his primary attraction was her good looks. She is possibly blonde. A shagetz or sheygets means a non-Jewish boy, and has the connotation of a someone who is unruly, even violent. - shmutz
Or shmuts. Dirt – a little dirt, not serious grime. If a little boy has shmutz on his face, and he likely will, his mother will quickly wipe it off. It can also mean dirty language. It’s not nice to talk shmutz about shmutz. A current derivation, “schmitzig,” means a “thigamabob” or a “doodad,” but has nothing to do with filth. - shtick
Something you’re known for doing, an entertainer’s routine, an actor’s bit, stage business; a gimmick often done to draw attention to yourself. - tchatchke
Or tshatshke. Knick-knack, little toy, collectible or giftware. It also appears in sentences such as, “My brother divorced his wife for some little tchatchke.” You can figure that one out. - tsuris
Or tsores. Serious troubles, not minor annoyances. Plagues of lice, gnats, flies, locusts, hail, death… now, those were tsuris. - tuches
Rear end, bottom, backside, buttocks. In proper Yiddish, it’s spelled tuchis or tuches or tokhis, and was the origin of the American slang word tush. - yente
Female busybody or gossip. At one time, high-class parents gave this name to their girls (after all, it has the same root as “gentle”), but it gained the Yiddish meaning of “she-devil”. The matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” was named Yente (and she certainly was a yente though maybe not very high-class), so many people mistakenly think that yente means matchmaker. - yiddisher kop
Smart person. Literally means “Jewish head.” I don’t want to know what goyisher kop means.
As in Hebrew, the ch or kh in Yiddish is a “voiceless fricative,” with a pronunciation between h and k. If you don’t know how to make that sound, pronounce it like an h. Pronouncing it like a k is goyish.
Links
Yiddish Language and Culture – history of Yiddish, alphabet, literature, theater, music, etc.
Grow A Brain Yiddish Archive – the Beatles in Yiddish, the Yiddish Hillbillies, the Pirates of Penzance in Yiddish, etc.
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Fantastic post! I grew up in a town with many, many Jewish people and Yiddish sayings are 2nd nature to me. However, the town I have lived in for the past 15 years has a very small Jewish population in comparison. Consequently, whenever I use a Yiddish term, the response is either hysterical laughter or the “DAHHH… shmendrik” look. Thanks for a great post!
Interesting indeed, many of these words I had used in the past, without knowing their origin.
I love the word schmuck. Great post!
In Southern American Jewish Yiddish of the 1950s, to kibbitz just meant “to have a good chat”; but often with overtones of gossiping.
What hutzpa, ani roche ledaber lbeail shel atar.
kan leiot 100 milim ze ata charih ladot.
41: Shtup
Literaly “to stuff.” Used as a euphemism for sex. “He stopped shtupping his shiksa after she gained weight.”
Shalom Aleichem! Great List! No other language has the expressive power of Yiddish – maybe because it’s a mash-up of several languages. Some other widely used Yiddish words you should consider for future lists (50 words?) include:
1) Gonif – thief
2) Shnorren – to beg or mooch
3) Versteh – understand, get it? – use in place of “capeesh” (from Italian, capire) for a one word interrogative for “Do you understand? ”
4) Macher – a “hot shot” or “big wig”
5) Zaftig – buxom or hefty (but in a good way)
Sei gesund!
Jim
Thanks for the additions guys, we might even update the list later to incorporate these.
What yiddish words list is complete without the inclusion of “Shabbos Goy”? term for the local neighborly, gentile whom
the Orthodox Jewish community knew to rely on in turning
on electricity, light. fire, other activities they were forbidden
to do themselves
Some of these words also cross over to other languages like russian where they mean similar things and are used similarly to english… could yiddish be the hidden world language?
Yiddish is slang plain and simple, it’s the middle ages version of ebonics.
Many of the words are German; here are some I recognize:
bissel > bisschen (a little)
mentsh > Mensch (man)
kop > kopf (head)
nosh > gnash (snack)
spiel > Spiel (play)
gornischt > nichts (nothing)
schmutz > schmutz (dirt)
Spiel:
Also means “story” in Irish. Cad e an spiel ? == What’s the story.
Remarkably similar meanings.
Schvitzing – Profuse sweating
Good list! You will find some Yiddush/Hebrew in the Star Trek movies and novels too. In one scene, Kirk uses a Klingon communicator and screams to the transporter operator: “Shmaltz! [beam me up]“
Great list.
You can’t leave out nudnik — when the shlemiel spills his soup on the shlimazel, it’s the nudnik who asks what kind of soup it was!
I read #4 and thought ‘huh?’. The polish word for beans is… ‘fasola’.
“No Chupah no Shtupa”…not advise I follow, but it’s what so many bubbelahs say!
Oh wow! Jewish people is so cool! I have to learn this words because gringos use them!
You are useless… I mean, Yiddish.
May I add k’nocker – which is a big talker, full of hot air, without the ability to back it up; nebbish – an unfortunate nobody who gets picked on; shmatteh – which is a rag or inferior clothing [also the Apparel Business is known as the 'Shmatteh' Trade]; farblondget – hopefully lost or confused. Dreck is also an important word, means inferior product or worse..
My, my, Mr. Poster of Comment #8, who’s the Racist? if you read your history, you will find that the Jews in Eastern Europe were excluded from many professions, forced to live in Ghettos [the Yiddish Word is Shtetl], and faced severe discrimination and Anti-Semitism. Often the ‘Grubbe Yungem’ [low class coarse individuals] would come into the Shtetl and Beat Up or even Murder a few Jews to feel good about things. Hence the Jews were understandably wary of Gentiles. Shabbes Goy was usually an agreeable neighbor.
Yes, there is definitely overreaching on the part of some Israelis with their neighbors, but it happens in all races and religions, perhaps except yours, whatever it is, since you are so pristine.
@toneii
Yes, many words seem familiar.
gornischt > nichts (nothing)
I would say its more like:
gornischt > gar nichts (nothing)
Most of these words come from the German language: Schmalz, schleppen, quetschen, Klotz, oweh, mir (accusativ of ich), Mensch etc. So what does that tell you about exclusivity?
@nr 11, Jim
No other language? Do you know any others than English and Jiddish
Shnorren – German: schnorren, same meaning
Versteh – German: verstehen, to understand (Verstehst du das?)
Macher – German: machen, to make; Macher: an accomplisher
Zaftig – German: saftig, from Saft=juice; ein saftiges Bussgeld – a heavy fine
What about verklempt? It was made popular during SNL’s Coffee Talk sketch and it seemed that they were using it as “I’m emotional and unable to talk”. Some of my Jewish co-workers said that’s not the real meaning and verklempt was not being used properlyl
Jiddish is a german language.
Linguistic says.
Hey Mr. Ed, commentator # 32,
Your comment is worthless – several commented here already about the obvious German cognates with Yiddish. Nothing new – both Yiddish and modern High German stem from the older Middle High German. Yiddish also borrows from Slavic languages (e.g., Polish and Russian), as well as Semitic tongues (e.g., using the Hebrew aphabet). My post just suggested some other Yiddish words – that are used in vernacular English – for possible inclusion on a future list here. Just some constructive commentary on my part. Maybe you should try that, instead of making useless, persnickety comments about other posts. No one is impressed that you can conjugate a few German verbs. Und ja, Ich kenne andere Sprache – zum Beispiel, Italienisch: “Va’ fanculo!!”
“Ok and Marc you forgot to add “hypocritical” before “Orthodox Jewish”, truly observant (of halacha) Jews would not use legal loopholes to try to get around their own rules.”
I think you are misguided here. The essence of the rules is that they are formal entities — you are required to obey the strict letter of the law, no more — and no less.
If they bred a pig that chewed its cud, it’d be kosher. Well, probably, see here: http://www.radosh.net/archive/001475.html
Ah, Yiddish, what a language!
Combines only the best of German and Hebrew/Aramaic!
But you forgot the word ’schvitz/shvitz’ meaning a sauna or to hand around and have a nice long chat.
Remember, little ‘chats’ for Jews take much longer than for Goyim
Signed Josh
Great conversation, everybody. Maybe we’ll have to make another list. One challenge is to figure out the true origin of words. For example, in 1836, Charles Dickens wrote in Sketches by Boz, “‘Hooroar,’ ejaculates a pot-boy in parenthesis, ‘put the kye-bosk on her, Mary!’” The word kibosh sounds Yiddish, but it also sounds like the Irish “cie bais,” meaning “the cap of death” worn by a judge. Thanks to Elizabeth Mitchell for mentioning that.
The “origin” of kibosh reminds me of the story that in Russia, when the Tzar would come into one of the small Jewish towns, the army would be there before him to insist that the townspeople greet the Tzar appropriately.
The townspeople didn’t know what to do. They all hated the Tzar, and hated all the things he did.
So, when the Tzar rode through the town, all the townspeople shouted “Hoo Rah, Hoo Rah”
(NOTE: in Hebrew “Hoo Rah” translates literally into “He is Evil.”)
Is Yiddish a sister language of Arabic?
Thanks for sharing, ..interesting to know
Nice post. But what is even more interesting is the huge interest for Yiddish language.
At http://eYiddish.org we have started offering online Yiddish lessons. We were surprised by the demand. Another proof (if needed) that Yiddish is a living language and studied by youngster also.
A sister language to Arabic? That’s an interesting thought. Arabic is a sister language to Hebrew, which is a major source for Yiddish words. German speakers have told us about all the words that German shares with Yiddish. I wonder if Arabic speakers can recognize any of the Yiddish words which came from Hebrew.
I should point out that Arabic is a colorful language as well, but Jews have been much more involved than Arabs in English-speaking radio, television and film. So fewer Arabic words have entered the English language than Yiddish words. Perhaps as other ethnic groups become more influential in American or British popular culture, their languages will also feed the development of English to a greater extent.
Cool list!
Regarding the shlemiel and shlimazel, I learned a slightly different definition. Basically the shlemiel spills the soup on himself, and the shlimazel spills the soup on the person sitting next to him. The nebish (or nebich not sure on the spelling) sits next to the shlimazel…
The mazel in shlimazel is also found in mazltof – it means luck. Or in his case, unlucky.
Reply on Christie on January 17th, 2008 12:04:
“What about verklempt?”
It’s probably close to the german “verklemmt” which means “uptight”. Someone who’s not comfortable around others or a little unsecure. It can also relate to sexuality. In that case it means prudish.
oops…I meant to write insecure (not unsecure)
#28 … Acts 10:9-15 comes in handy, sometimes. Otherwise, no calamari!
The thing I, a Caucasian goy, appreciate about sites such as these and the other ethnic / racially oriented sites is that I come away with a better knowledge of the people around me. I have a sort of universal love for humanity … I wish I had time to truly know each and every decent human being I meet. Like Saul / Paul of the Christian Greek scriptures, I am indebted to every well-lived life I have ever learned from. Those aren’t his words, but I think that they do reflect his thinking at 2 Corinthians 7:13-16.
As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, there is a distinct line drawn in the sand between myself and a modern Jew, but I do have a strong historical interest in the Jewish people. They are, after all, the kin of Jesus and that is the religion he was raised in and was thoroughly familiar with. Basically we differ in only one important regard … the anointed messiahship of Jesus. We were with you in the Nazi extermination camps with the important distinction that we were free to leave. All we had to do was repudiate Yahweh and walk out of the camp. With only a handful of exceptions, we stayed, choosing martyrdom over betrayal.
I am leaving behind a link pointing to my blog regarding my beliefs. If you change the URL, dropping the word “beliefs” and adding the word “life”, you’ll find further insight into the world as I see it.
BillinDetroit,
Assuming a typo, that you aren’t actually a “caucasian goy,” are you a caucasian guy, or a caucasian gay?
Anyway, I’m not sure what place your religious views have on a glossary of yiddish words. We weren’t really looking for lessons on how each word is to be perceived by various religions. This is more of a culture thing, though a religion is involved, it isn’t really religious so to speak. This isn’t, as you have assumed or mistakenly concluded, an “ethnic / racially oriented site.” It is a writing / language oriented site.
~ Mark Anthony
The top nomination for “favorite Yiddish word that didn’t get included on this list” seems to be:
nebbish (n) An innocuous, ineffectual, weak, helpless or hapless unfortunate.”
A nice post, many words which I use. My beef is not giving phonetic pronunciations. If these are 40 words people should know, shouldn’t they know how to say them correctly? Good luck pronouncing tchatchke correctly without help.
So I’m a nudge (nooj). Sue me.
Ah, but since we’re a writing blog, not a reading blog or a speaking blog, may we not be excused for our lack of pronunciation guides? Besides, the Southern Yiddish pronunciation is different from the Eastern European pronunciation. Okay, okay… to hear tchatchke pronounced, give this link a kvetch (audio in ogg format).
Excellent! but what about ladino, the language of the jews who fledd from Spain to places like Istambul and Thesaloniki?
It’s a funny language, very funny. Try to develope the issue. Daniel Levy
What about gevaldig (great), draikup (crooked guy)
i think it is interesting to know these words. thank you to the poster of them, as well as thank you to all that posted. i have a project at my school on children of the holacaust, and these words have come in handy because we have to pretend we are that child, and write a diary. i hope when people post, they arent doing it just to start stuff. because each person individually helps by adding what they think on this. as with, the caucasian goy, cool, that u thought to use the goy part at the end.
thanks to all that posted.
I like your blog! It disturbs me that anti-semites would seek out such a site just to make caustic comments. I suppose all spoken languages started as some derrivative of another as “slang” if you will. At what point they become a legitimate language I don’t know. It’s true that many widely spoken languages have come and gone and the true roots of many words that we still speak have gone with them. I speak some German and naturally recogonise the commonalities. I think it is important to understand our linguistic heritage as something given to us from many cultures. Thanks, I didn’t realize some of these common expressions were Yiddish!
shalom
Can you tell me where I might find words which are not listed?
Thanks for any help or advise.
hhp
Great list, all words and expressions I am well familiar with, and being Jewish I love to see Yiddish get the respect and attention it deserves. One minor quibble though. This:
mishpocheh
Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.”
Really? Was this necessary? “I’ll sell it to you at wholesale”?! Why bring up the stereotype of the Jewish person haggling over money? It’s such a great word and all it means is “family”. Why bring retail/wholesale into it at all? That just makes me sad. I’m sure it was just an oversight or maybe I’m being overly sensitive but I did notice it. Otherwise, great list.
The word mishpocha for family and the Maori word mokopuna also means family indicating a rabbinical influence in codifying Maori into a written language 150 years ago.
My daughter and her husband insist that my husband used a word that described someone who sponges off another person is called a “kuchanika”. I have never heard that word. Is it a real word or is there another word that sounds similar. I would appreciate any help I can get to solve this dispute.
Thanks…
Yiddish = Jewish….maybe in some cases but not necessarily.
I grew up in Antwerp, a region known for its Diamaond trade which is largely handle by the jewish community. My dad himself being from Jewish decent married my mom (Of course) a shiksa herself. But though he no longer was considered jewish, he stayed very active in the Jewish community for both business and from a social stand point. many of the Jews in antwerp are Ashkenazi Jews. Ashkenaze being an old term for the Rhineland in Germany. Hence much of the Jiddish spoken there is influenced by german and quite easy for me to understand. Yet when I came to the US and even when I travelled to Israel, the yiddish I heard there, though very resembling the Euro Yiddish, there were distinct differences.
I believe Yiddish is influenced a lot by the area the jewish people can be traced back to.
Then again, just an opinion.
Mazel Tov!
Nice selection- better than wikipedia!
yiddish is just german, stolen language. notice the reference to shikse and its connotations?
yea josh, i bet your little jewish talks take longer than goyim. so typical.
steal something and claim it as your own, age old trick.
yiddish is german, and dont insult the germans by claiming
you invented it.
I just love the use of yiddish words….the meaning is exactly what the words sounds like…..In though I have gentile origins I have many Jewish friends and a Jewish daughter-in-law and grand daughter. I have a great appreciation and love of words but the Yiddish words are in a category all their own. Thanks. Renata J. Beaudoin.
I thought this was about Yiddish expressions, but instead I see it is a list of Yiddish words. Just like the pronunciation of words depends on the origin of the speaker, so the selection of words reflects the country where they are taken up. Thus American obsessions with hygeine, sex and prurience, and the ignorance and stupidity of others gets promoted. Sorry for pomo rant,
“No other language has the expressive power of Yiddish” – with imagination like this Jim Walsh should be writing advertising copy.
In Russian we also say “FEH” or “FOO” for “ew” and “NU” just to answer any question or to “fill the silence”)
Thanks for the list!
I am not familiar with most of these, but I am fairly sure that “shtik” is supposed to be spelled “shtick”, since that is the only word I use regularly.
@Chris Chapman, the title of the article is pretty clear.
@motormind, you might be right.
Most (but not all) of these words would be inappropriate to use in English, because they are not established borrowings in the English language. The purpose of language is communication, so if you use foreign words, you will not be understood. (By “foreign words” I do not mean words of foreign origin. The origin of a word is not relevant, only whether it is an English word today.)
Also, I found that many of them are appropriate only for Jews to use. Being a non-Jew, I would never use the word “goy”. I think it’s silly to try to sound Jewish, unless you really are Jewish.
To settle the origins questions (Linguistics was my college major), Yiddish is classified as a “High Germanic” language. The only other one being Modern Standard German. It is really a Jewish form of Middle High German. There have been Jewish versions of other languages as well. The reason that Jews had their own versions of a language is because they were segregated for most of European history. Like species, languages tend to diverge when groups of speakers become isolated from each other.
Finally, Yiddish is the only Germanic language that is not written in the Roman alphabet. It is written in the Hebrew alphabet. Writing systems have nothing to do with the origins or relatedness of languages.
(BTW, it’s Hebrew that is related to Arabic, not Yiddish. Both are members of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages.)
I always thought shtik was spelled schtick, in German style, but the mavens at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research have standardized the spelling. Actually, we’re all wrong. The correct spelling is שטיק. So nu.
I saw some of these and immediately thought of the nadsat language Burgess invented in “A Clockwork Orange” – mentsh, for instance. I had no idea it came from Yiddish!
You forgot the worst and most used of them all:
schvatza from the german word schvatz or schwartz meaning “black” albeit, it has a derogatory meaning similar to the “N” word. Not to be used at all in my opinion.
by the way, a schmuck in german mean jeweler and is still used today on storefronts and small jewelry repair shops
Nice list! I studied Yiddish briefly in university and it’s a fascinating language that’s rapidly dying. My bubbe speaks it, but she’s 93. It is mostly cribbed from German, but it also blends in bits of other languages like Russian and Hebrew.
Pronunciation is key with Yiddish. Saying a Yiddish word the wrong way ruins the effect. Getting the “ch” of “chutzpah” makes the difference! Since some letter combinations used in Yiddish don’t exist in English, it can be tricky. The “tz”, for example; although it can be found in the “zz” of pizza.
The other key piece to Yiddish is Yiddish curses. There’s a fantastic book full of them I used to have but which has disappeared somewhere. The most well known (I think) is “gay kaken aufen yam” which translates to “go take a sh** in the ocean,” but there are much more colorful ones. I did a search on Amazon for the book, but can’t seem to find it.
The other one I remember is “May you grow like an onion, with your head in the ground!”
A few more:
Putz = schmuck
nebbish, he’s a nebbish, a nothing, no personality.
Gesundt, as in, a gesundt (or gezundt) on old people. Health, straight from German.
Schmatte, schmahte, rags, where did you get that schmatte? You couldn’t dress up?
A tchochka in its diminutive, tchochkale or tchochkele, a plaything, sometimes a gentile you’re playing with but won’t marry.
drek, literally feces, but garbage you want in any event.
I think I read in Philip Roth that he grew up thinking the word “aggravation” was Yiddish–and literally I did, too. Helped but not remedied with a seltzer.
Cronk, sick, a bisl cronk is what you are right before you die in some dialects. He was a bisl cronk, alov ha-shalom. (rest in peace).
Poylishe, a way some have to talk to certain gentiles.
Crook, worse than a gonif.
Eyin harah, the evil eye, straight from the Hebrew.
Punnim, or poonim, face, usually cute.
Sheyne, or sheynie, beautiful. A sheynie kop. Beautiful head, but more like cute, a real beauty, a sweetie.
Kugl, overly romanticized hard noodle casserole, sometimes onions, sometimes sugar, but not my favorite.
Kishke, a dumpling with meat stuffed in it, and therefore kishkes are testicles. I got to pronounce this at a spelling bee to a sixth grader during a year Scripps-Howard emphasized foreign words in English, and I looked forward to the kid asking me to use it in a sentence. He thought he’d freeze his kishkes off.
A shlemiel is someone who can fall on his back and break his nose.
Actually, “shikse” is derogatory, even more in Yiddish than in English. The meaning of the word is NOT “non-Jewish woman” and it certainly doesn’t mean “beautiful.” It’s an insult.
my husband loves to say he’s kibbitzing ….only he doesn’t realize it but he’s pronouncing it wrong. it’s KIB butz ….not ke BITZ. the emphasis is on the first syllable. so it’s KIBBIT zing….not Ke BITTZING.
Great list! The curious might find Leo Rosten’s book “The Joy of Yiddish” worth browsing through.
great article, i think that one word in yiddish sums up everything, i am an irish catholic, and i love to speak yiddish.
I think many Yiddish words are like onomatapoeias (sp?) – or – words that sound like their meanings. It is the picturesque quality of the language that is so appealing to me.
Can you have pronunciations on all of the words?
By the way, kosher is required for all jews, not just observant ones. Though they may be the ones who keep Kosher, that does not mean it is not required for everyone. That is like saying it is only required of upstanding people to drive within the speed limit. It is required for everyone, but only some people actually do it
.
thank you
It would really add to the functionality of this site if people (like me) could email articles (like this) to our friends…easily. Any plans?
Just a thought…
I think this is an awesome website, i grew up with Yiddish and Hebrew in my family and i think they are a beautiful language.
how about tserdrait..meaning mad.
love that word. usually accompanied with a Bissel.
so discriptive of a neurotic person.
“Nu” is really used to mean “Hurry up” or “What’s taking you so long?” Most people would say the official definition is “What are you waiting for, the Messiah?”
You left out the one I use the most, “keinohorah”, meaning “without the evil eye”. It is kind of the Jewish equivalent of “knock wood”.
“Machatunim” should be included because there is no English equivalent. When two people are married, his parents’ machatunim are her parents and vise/versa.
SHPEIL, SPEIL
Now that it’s almost Purim this word is heard every day in the meaning “play” as in performance. The “Purim Speil” is the re-enactment of the story of Queen Esther and her Uncle Mordechai who saved the Jews in ancient Persia under King Achashverosh and the evil Haman.
I really enjoyed this. Now I keep the site in my favorates. Thanks.
Shabbat Shalom from Israel.
KISHKEH
Kishkeh is literally intestine. The kishkeh that some people eat (NOT ME!) is the intestine of a cow stuffed like a sausage but with grains, spices, probably onions fried in schmaltz. The stuffed kishkeh is then cooked in a pot with vegetables and water.
Lo aleynu, but a lot of people love it.
Sottish haggis resembles it.
@AltMichael – I beg to differ. I grew up in a community with a large Jewish population, and while I am goyische, they became a regular part of my vocabulary. One day I was cleaning house with my German born mother-in-law and told my daughter to clean the schmutz off the floor, and my MIL demanded to know how I knew German words!
I use schmutz, schmaltz, schtick, tuchus, tchotchke, spiel, chutzpah, and many more on a daily basis without thinking.
I grew up in a Toledo ‘burb with a large Jewish population and lived in New York, so Yiddish (and Italian) expressions are part of my vocab. However, when I attempt to acquaint anthropology and cultural geography students with Yiddish words and phrases at the university where I teach, I am greeted with the blank, unknowing stares of the clueless. Here in the Heartland such rich language is practically absent. Perhaps the incessant two-thumb texting that pervades our campuses (what the hell are they saying) serves to narrow the verbal capabilities of the young to a truncated lingo that has turned their expression into a new and sterile teen-speak devoid of the rich meanings of the past. “LOL” etc. – feh!
Great list. Most of these I hadn’t heard off and the a few that I did I didn’t really know where they came from
Words I’ve known so long I had no idea other people didn’t know them. And I’m a gentile, nonetheless.
I love Yiddish for the descriptive nature of the words. They are words with meaning and depth. I am not a Jew but I use these words all the time to fill in for the lack of words in the English language to cover these descriptions and emotions.
Great stuff. Great webpage. Thanks!
If anyone would like to further delve into and profoundly understand alittle about Yiddish Civilization and its influence upon the world and the world’s influence upon the rise and fall of a forgotten nation, Paul Kriwaczek wrote a great book entitled:
Yiddish Civilization: The Rise & Fall of A Forgotten Nation, A Vintage Book 2005 ISBN10:1-40000-3377-2
Tribalism that has wreaked havoc wherever it went. Do you think that when they decided to despise someone, they picked a “J” out of the hat?
Another fine example of superstition and tribalism that has plagued the Middle East for centuries.
for #3, bubbe (bobe), you noted that bubbele is not in dictionaries – that’s because the -l (-el in transliteration) is a diminutive form. -le is even more so. for example, if a child’s name is chanah (hannah), a grandmother might call her chanele (KHah-nuh-luh) as an affectionate nickname. see also yentl (like the movie, from yenta), or kindl (little child, from kind, not to be confused with the amazon kindle). it won’t be in a dictionary… because it’s a morphological form of another word. that’s all =)
also, if you’re interested in any books on yiddish, look for anything written by neil jacobs or david neal miller, my yiddish professors from the ohio state university. brilliant gentlemen.
The third word in your list “bubbe”, (grandmother) is very important, but what about “Zaydeh” (grandfather) which you left out?
I think 31547 = BillinDetroit.
Anyways, mazltof is from Hebrew mazal (where the luck part comes from) + t.ov (Hebrew for good). Does it ever have a bad connotation then? One poster seemed to think it does sometimes – but how can one have bad good luck? I ask because I do not know Yiddish, and since words in new linguistic settings can lose part of their meaning or take on a redundant addition.
Re: PetrosinGirpri:
mazel tov is never used to mean something bad, as far as i know.
Shikse: Although people try to make is seem nice, there were stickers on guys dorms rooms in college that said “Shikses are for practice”. It’s not nice, and the thing about Yiddish, while often sweet, when viewed in context can often be alarmingly elitist, racist and mean.
Don’t be fooled.
How come “schvartze” isn’t on your list?
Great site…
My husband is “a Goy”, and he loves to learn yiddish words from my childhood.
One day at the table he announced to my father and my self that he wanted his own ” Knippis Money”.
After all the giggles died down we explained to him that knippis money is what the wife hides in her bra in case her husband runs away with the blonde down the street.
One of my favorite expressions is Gai kakhen afenyam – Go shit in the ocean. I say it at work a lot.
Obviously commenter Miquel needs some help here…While the yiddish word shikses does translate to a female non-jew, I am quite sure there is no yiddish word that translates to that childish and ingnorant phrase found in a male college dorm that he reprinted. Language like anything else in the wrong hands can be made ugly and evil. And to answer why the word schvarzte is not on the list…simply, it means the color black..not interesting..but if you want to give it a mean or racist connotation then go ahead if thats where your brain lives.
Look around you and see the beauty in the world Miquel..not the ignorant ramblings found in college dorm rooms.
My friend and I are trying to remember the Yiddish word for a “super salesman”. ( You know… the one who can sell ice to Eskimos.) Any help with this?
Cris
My Brooklyn-born father of Irish decent loved Yiddish slang and used it often as I was growing up. One term in particular I remember but can’t seem to find online is (phonetically): sim-itz. It usually came out when something needed to be described as a clusterfu*k, total confusion, an out of control situation. Any help on this would be most appreciated! Thanks in advance…
Re: Tzimmes
Literally, it refers to a traditional Jewish side dish composed largely of diced/sliced/mashed carrots.
Colloquially, the word is used to mean: making a big fuss over a situation, and usually implies that the fuss being made is much greater than is warranted and is referred to as a making “big tzimmes” over a relatively trivial thing.
Let’s not overlook:
One of my favorites: Farshtunken (stinky, smelly)
Shlufen, as in “The kids are shlufen in the back seat.”
Pisher (a litle squirt, a nobody)
What about:
Pupik – bellybutton
Purimshpieler -a very amateur entertainer(derogatory)
Chalish – expire, pass away
Nachas – pride/happiness over particular event or person
Nuch besse! – even better! (Sarcastically used)
Hak meir ein chainik – literally, bang on a tea kettle, used for “nagging” – “quit hakking me already!”
Shlep – long inconvenient journey
Keppy or keppelah – head
Dray – to drone on and on
Lozzem gemacht – leave ‘em alone
Shtimmer bebik – a stupid person
Yachne – an annoying gossip or talker, won’t shutup
Tatelah or mamelah – little father or mother, affectionate
Yoiner – a dense person, a clod (often used ina derogetory way for a fat person, a “fat yoiner”)
Shlong – penis
Shmekel – penis
Shtarker – a big bruiser
Emmis – truth
Neshtuggidacht – an expression of sympathy
Rachmunis – pity, sympathy
Nudnik – stupid, annoying but ultimately harmless fellow
Kvel – to swell with pride
Lukshen – noodles
Shander – a public shame or sin – “a shander fur der goyim” a “shame before the gentiles” a disgrace for the whole “jewish” community
Bobbemeintze – nonsense, obviously false stories
A note on pronunciation: many words with an “er” or “ar”when spelled I heard as “ah” growing up, probably bc my family were all new yorkers. So for example “shtarker” was heard as “shtakah”,”schvartzer” was heard as”schvatzah” and “shander” was heard as “shandeh”.
So many of these words I grew up with, and use, but didn’t even realize they were Yiddush! This is a great site.
My grandmother used to sing a song to me when I was very little and draw circles on my belly, singing “Measala Mazala” and then tickle me. Could that be a Yiddish ‘jingle’ her mother did to her when she was a little girl? I saw a posting above that mazal means luck, and seeing it spelled that way, it clicked that this little song she sung could be Yiddish. Thanks for any info!
To Bryan who said ’spiel’ means story in Irish . It doesn’t!!
Sceal is story in Irish. Cad e an sceal? – What’s the story.
Isn’t the the definition of ‘chutzpah’ found in the old joke about the man convicted of murdering both his parents, who pleaded for mercy from the court on the grounds that he was an orphan?
Question – Where can I find English words translated to Yiddish?
One of the best Yiddish sayings ever: “Kush meer in toches!” – meaning “Kiss my A…”
When growing up I often remember my parents telling each other to “Kush meer in Toches!” Always said in jest however…
As a South African Jew, I have noticed that sadly yiddish terms are being used less and less in SA. Our family do however always throw in some words when appropriate – a great language!!
So, by way of review, I could say something like:
A shmaltzy young schmuck of a goy
was shmoozing a yenta named Gert
kibbitzing all cutesy and coy
his shtick was so thick she was hurt.
“Oh stop with your bupkiss and spiel
your kvetching’s offensive and gay,
you’re such a non-kosher shlemiel
just shtup me and be on your way!”
Great list.
By the way u shud add meis kiet n drai mit nir kain kot -which means leave me alone or dont bother me.
Until I was about 4 years old, I understood a bissele Yiddish & spoke less, mainly to Boobie [oo as in good, not goof] Sara, or Sonia, my ailing mom’s mom, then living her last months of life with us. Though here forty years by then, she, like many immigrants, preferred her first language with family & friends & to follow the news, sometimes bis radio, or read aloud to her. So, sitting under the table as she & my mom cooked & talked, I was learning more than kitchen/kiddie Yiddish… Then Boobie Sara died, & shockingly took my Yiddish with her, since my mom, rather than continuing to use it with me, her son & only child, held it back, as was also common then, to use as a secret code with adults & talk freely with Yiddish-speaking girlfriends. However, my dad knew much less of it than my mom, having lost his Yiddish-speaking mom when he was only eight to the 1918 “Spanish Flu” which BTW had actually come her from Asia. Anyway, he & my mom soon resorted to whispering, & yelling, in English.
Thus, for about the last sixty years, Yiddish has remained almost literally my emotive mamaloschen, romantically preserved in my memory a a kind of Platonic mother tongue. Schmaltzy or not, it’s sometimes hard for me to hear or see it without feeling my face start to smile or my eyes tear up. So this site, & especially this discussion, which I’ve just read instead of working on a paper due tomorrow at 1PM, is bittersweet for more than one reason.
The Nazi war machine didn’t just murder a third of world Jewry, it inadvertently vindicated Zionism’s ardently national-colonial project as it wiped-out the Bund’s competing Yiddishist autonomism, along with the rest of “Ashkanzia’s” wonderful borrowed, demotic, mongrel, exilic culture, including of course, its crown jewel (& sometime schmuck)–sarcastic, secular Yiddish. Still, as a fine & famous goyische US writer, recently deceased, was fond of, & famous for, saying, “There are no unmixed blessings.”
Amen I guess.
There should really be info about how to pronounce these words!!
Glaring, glaring omission!
I am doing an assignment on Ellis Island I need to know what how much is in Yiddish!!! please help me
Hey, it’s your assignment. Write all of it in Yiddish if you want… though you better check first that your teacher can read it.
(weird question…)
I like to learn this language I am loving this beautiful language please if your can help me i am emanuel, add me a this facebook please
Speaking schwarza, it is NOT a bad word! It only means BLACK. If you know German at all, SCHWARZ = BLACK.
A schwarza is a black person. PERIOD. It is we American Jews with pcness that attached the N-word connotation to it. It does NOT MEAN that at all.
SCHWARZA= BLACK PERSON, only.
The best part of any Jewish joke book is the glossary. Any Momzer knows that!. Try these on…
Poopik… Technically a belly button, used in Yiddish to denote something small & insignificant.
Shikker… Drunkard
Chozzer… Pig or Glutton
“…So fewer Arabic words have entered…” The only truly Arabic words used in English are
Bakshish – bribe
Hashish – hashish
Assasin – assasin
oh and
Algebra
15 seconds Googling reveals 900 commonly used English words that are Arabic in origin, from admiral and albatross, through muslin and mattress, to zero – everyone should know the last one, since Arabic philosophers revolutionised mathematics by inventing the concept.
It’s a pity that a thread on a lovely language like Yiddish should be hijacked by people wanting to smear and misrepresent other languages…
Dear Noghar
It is not amazing that you can read my mind? Who is “wanting to smear and misrepresent”?
Thank you for the update. I really was not aware that there were more Arabic words in English. Perhaps you could write an article on Arabic in English usage for this website. I would like to read it.
Sincerely
Baruch
Noghar,
Medieval Christiandom, aka Europe, emerging from its “Dark Ages,” learned both algebra & zero from its Arab neighbors & opponents, along with a lots else. However, these technologies had been developed centuries earlier by Hindu mathematicians, who had themselves borrowed some ideas from classical Greece.