yiddish
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List of English words of Yiddish origin

I didn’t realize some of these were Yiddish.  I grew up with many of these, such as:

  • bagel: a ring-shaped bread roll made by boiling then baking the dough (from בײגל beygl) (OED, MW)
  • blintz: a sweet cheese-filled crepe (Yiddish בלינצע blintse from Russian “блины” bliny) (AHD)
  • bupkis (also bupkes, bupkus, bubkis, bubkes): emphatically nothing, as in He isn’t worth bupkis (indeterminate, either ‘beans’ or ‘goat droppings’, possibly of Slavic, Vlach, or Greek origin; cf. Polish bobki ‘animal droppings’)[2] (MW, OED)
  • chutzpah: nerve, guts, daring, audacity, effrontery (Yiddish חוצפּה khutspe, from Hebrew) (AHD)
  • dreck, drek: (vulgar) worthless material, especially merchandise; literally: “crap” or “shit” (Yiddish ‫דרעק ‬ drek cf. German Dreck) (OED, MW)
  • glitch: a minor malfunction (possibly from Yiddish גליטש glitsh, from גליטשן glitshn ‘slide’, cf. German glitschen ‘slither’) (AHD)
  • kibitz: to offer unwanted advice, e.g. to someone playing cards; to converse idly, hence a kibitzer, gossip (Yiddish קיבעצן kibetsn; cf. German kiebitzen, related to Kiebitzlapwing’) (OED, MW)
  • klutz: clumsy person (from Yiddish קלאָץ klots ‘wooden beam’, cf. German Klotz) (OED, MW)כּשר kašer) (AHD)
  • latke: potato pancake, especially during Hanukkah (from Yiddish‫לאַטקע ‬, from either Ukrainian or Russian латка meaning “patch”) (AHD)
  • nebbish: an insignificant, pitiful person; a nonentity (from Yiddish interjection נעבעך nebekh ‘poor thing!’, from Czech nebohý) (OED, MW)
  • putz: (vulgar) an idiot, a jerk; a penis (from Yiddish פּאָץ pots) (AHD)
  • schlock: something cheap, shoddy, or inferior (perhaps from Yiddish שלאק shlak ‘a stroke’, cf. German Schlag) (OED, MW)
  • schlub: a clumsy, stupid, or unattractive person (Yiddish ‬זשלאָב zhlob ‘hick’, perhaps from Polish żłób) (OED, MW)
  • schmo: a stupid person. (an alteration of schmuck; see below) (OED, possibly influenced by Heb. שמו, ‘his or its name’, indicating either anonymity or euphemism.
  • schmooze: to converse informally, make small talk or chat (from Yiddish שמועסן shmuesn ‘converse’, from Hebrew שמועות shəmūʿōth ‘reports, gossip’) (OED, MW)
  • schmuck: (vulgar) a contemptible or foolish person; a jerk; literally means ‘penis’ (from Yiddish שמאָק shmok ‘penis’, maybe from Polish smok ‘dragon’) (AHD)
  • schnoz or schnozz also schnozzle: a nose, especially a large nose (perhaps from Yiddish שנויץ shnoyts ‘snout’, cf. German Schnauze) (OED, MW)
  • shtick: comic theme; a defining habit or distinguishing feature (from Yiddish שטיק shtik ‘piece’; cf. German Stück ‘piece’) (AHD)
  • spiel or shpiel: a sales pitch or speech intended to persuade (from Yiddish שפּיל shpil ‘play’ or German Spiel ‘play’) (AHD)
  • tukhus: buttocks, bottom, rear end (from Yiddish תחת tokhes, from Hebrew תחת taḥath ‘underneath’) (OED)
  • tush (also tushy): buttocks, bottom, rear end (from tukhus) (OED, MW)
    6:21 pm, by candysores
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    tagged: language, yiddish,