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 Kiebitz ‘lapwing’) (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)