yiddish
/ˈjɪd.ɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.07 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or pertaining to the Yiddish language.
name
A West Germanic, or more specifically High German, language that developed from Middle High German dialects, with an admixture of vocabulary from multiple source languages including Hebrew-Aramaic, Romance, Slavic, English, etc., and mostly written in Hebrew characters which is used mainly among Ashkenazic Jews from central and eastern Europe.
Example Sentences
- "As a Yiddish proverb has it: Badarf men hunik ven tsuker iz zis? Who needs honey when sugar is sweet?"
- "“Many goyim are confused by the large number of Yiddish terms beginning with ‘schl’ or ‘schm’ (schlemiel, schlemazzle, schmeggegge, schlub, schlock, schlep, schmutz, schnook), and use them incorrectly or interchangeably,” he wrote."
- "Yiddish cooking; Yiddish music"
- "Yiddish is a High German language […] two varieties of Yiddish developed […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Semitic *yad- Hebrew יָדָה (yadá) Hebrew יהודהder. Ancient Greek Ἰουδά (Ioudá) Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Ancient Greek -ιος (-ios) Ancient Greek Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaîos)bor. Latin iūdaeusder. Old High German judeo Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old High German -isc Old High German judeisc Middle High German jüdesch Yiddish ייִדיש (yidish)bor. English Yiddish Borrowed from Yiddish ייִדיש (yidish), from Middle High German jüdisch (in reference to the language, more fully jüdischdiutsch (literally “Jewish-German”)). By surface analysis, Yid + -ish.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: jüdisch
Usage
Inflected Forms
more Yiddish (comparative)
most Yiddish (superlative)