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The 22 Best Yiddish Words to Know. A brief glossary of important and commonly used Yiddish words and phrases. By My Jewish Learning
- Lauren Le Vine
- Alterkaker. An old fart.
- Bupkis. Nothing (figurative) Extra credit: In Yiddish, bupkis comes from the word for goat turd. The usual Yiddish word for nothing is gornisht.
- Chutzpah. Supreme self-confidence. Extra credit: Keep in mind that chutzpah is a breath-taking audacity (something that is not valued in Yiddish culture, but is highly praised in the United States).
- Klutz. In English, klutz has come to mean accident-prone. Extra credit: However, in Yiddish the “clumsy” sense of klutz comes from its primary meaning of wooden beam, which was extended to refer to really awkward questions (klutz kashes), the kind of questions that stop a conversation like a wooden beam in the middle of the road.
- 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.”
- Bupkis
- Chutzpah
- Goy
- Keppie
- Klutz
- Kvell
- Kvetch
- Mazel Tov
- Mensch
- Meshuggeneh
The word bupkis means nothing. No, seriously. This is one of the Yiddish words you can use when, for example, you want to emphasize that you (or perhaps other people) know zip, nada, zilch about a subject matter. Wherever you can use the word nothing, you can use the word bupkis. So, the next time someone asks you how much you know about, say, oute...
Being told that you have chutzpah isn't always a compliment. According to Merriam-Webster, this noun is synonymous with nerve and gall and is used to describe someone with the utmost confidence and audacity. Though the Yiddish word originally had an entirely negative connotation, it is now used as a slang wordin everyday conversation both positivel...
Quite simply, a goy is just someone who isn't Jewish. And when there are multiple non-Jewish people in a group, you refer to them not as goys, but as goyim.
Jewish mothers love to kiss their kids' keppies. And keppie, in case you didn't grow up in a Jewish household, is just a much sillier way of referring to the forehead.
Do you have two left feet and tend to trip even where there's nothing in front of you? Then the Yiddish word that most accurately describes you is probably klutz. As you might've already deduced, this noun is simply just a concise way of referring to a clumsy person.
Bubbes always kvell over their grandkids' soccer matches and good grades. You yourself might even kvell without knowing it whenever someone close to you gets a promotionor overcomes a big hurdle. This verb, taken from the Yiddish language, is used to indicate that one is bursting with pride over the actions and accomplishments of someone else. It's...
You really don't want someone to call you a kvetch or telling you that you're kvetching too much. As a noun, this word describes someone who complains far too frequently, and as a verb, it refers to the act of said complaining.
Attend any bar mitzvah or Jewish wedding and you'll hear the phrase mazel tov used in every other sentence. That's because in Yiddish, this is what people say when they want to congratulate someone or wish them good luck. Any time there is something to celebrate, it is appropriate to shout out a mazel; just don't use it when a woman is pregnant, as...
Thanks to the popularity of the Shark Tank-famous Mensch on a Bench, it's possible that you're already somewhat familiar with the Yiddish word mensch (pronounced "mench"). However, the Hanukkah product hardly makes it clear what the noun actually means. To call someone a mensch is to call them an honorable and admirable person—and using the word to...
Meshuggeneh can be used as an adjective to describe someone as insane or as a noun to refer to a crazy person. In a sentence, you might see something like, "He must be meshuggeneh to think that he can get there in under an hour."
- Morgan Greenwald
- What Does 'Naches' Mean? Naches (נחת) is a Yiddish word that means "pride" or "joy." Typically naches refers to the pride or joy that a child brings a parent.
- What Does 'Mensch' Mean? Mensch (מענטש) means "a person of integrity." A mensch is someone who is responsible, has a sense of right and wrong, and is the sort of person other people admire.
- What Does 'Oy Vey' Mean? Oy vey (אױ װײ) is typically used when a situation is causing exasperation or dismay. It means something along the lines of "woe is me."
- What Does 'Mazel Tov' Mean? Mazel tov (מזל טוב) is a Hebrew and Yiddish phrase that literally means "good destiny, stars" but is used to say "good luck" or "congratulations."
Useful Yiddish phrases. A collection of useful phrases in Yiddish, a Jewish language that developed from Medieval German with influences from Hebrew, Aramaic, and various Slavic languages. There are recordings of some of these phrases. Key to abbreviations: sg = said to one person, pl = said to more than one person, frm = formal, inf = informal.
1. Shmitchik is somewhat like doodad, a good word to describe something small whose name is unknown. So if you are cleaning your sink for Passover and wish to store the aerator safely, you can put it in an envelope and label it “faucet shmitchik.”
