Yiddish words used in the English language include both words that have been assimilated into Englishused by both Yiddish and English speakersand many which have not. An English sentence that uses either may be described by some as Yinglish, though the second meaning of the term refers to the distinctive way certain Jews in English-speaking countries add many Yiddish words into their conversation, beyond common Yiddish words and phrases that entered English vocabulary.
Many of these words have not been assimilated into English and are unlikely to be understood by English speakers who do not have substantial Yiddish knowledge. Leo Rosten's book The Joys of Yiddish explains these words (and many more) in detail.
Yinglish Yinglish words (also referred to colloquially as Hebronics) are neologisms created by speakers of Yiddish in English-speaking countries, sometimes to describe things that were uncommon in the old country. Leo Rosten's book The Joys of Yiddish uses the words Yinglish and Ameridish to describe new words, or new meanings of existing Yiddish words, created by English-speaking persons with some knowledge of Yiddish. Rosten defines "Yinglish" as "Yiddish words that are used in colloquial English" (such as kibitzer) and Ameridish as words coined by Jews in the United States; his use, however, is sometimes inconsistent. According to his definition on page x, alrightnik is an Ameridish word; however, on page 12 it is identified as Yinglish.
While "Yinglish" is generally restricted in definition to the adaptation of Yiddish lemmas to English grammar by Jews, its usage is not explicitly restricted to Jews. This is especially true in areas where Jews are highly concentrated, but in constant interaction with their Gentile fellows, esp. in the larger urban areas of North America. In such circumstances, it would not be unusual to hear, for example, a Gentile griping about having "shlepped" a package across town. The portmanteau word Yinglish was first recorded in 1942.Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 33. DOI: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam Similar colloquial portmanteau words for Yiddish influenced English include: Yidlish (recorded from 1967), Yiddiglish (1980), and Yenglish (2000). A number of other terms have been promulgated, such as Engdish and Engliddish, but these have not enjoyed widespread adoption.Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 8. DOI: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam
As with Yiddish, Yinglish has no set transliteration standard; as the primary speakers of Yinglish are, by definition, Anglophones (whether first-language or not), Yinglish used in running speech tends to be transliterated using an English-based orthography. This, however, varies, sometimes in the same sentence. For instance, the word may be spelled farkakte, ferkockte, verkackte, fekakte among others. In its roots, though, Yiddish (whether used as English slang or not) descended from mediaeval High German; although mediaeval German suffered from the same vagaries in spelling, it later became standardised in Modern High German. This list shall use the same conventions as Modern High German, with the exception of certain words, the spellings of which have been standardised. Furthermore, common nouns shall be left lowercase, as in English.
The Jewish English Lexicon from Hebrew Union College is an extensive online index for Yinglish terms. Yinglish was formerly assigned the ISO 639-3 code yib, but it was retired on July 18, 2007, on the grounds that it is entirely intelligible with English.SIL International, Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: yib. Accessed 2009-08-04.ISO 639-3 Registration Authority, 2006-10-16, Request for Change to ISO 639-3 Language Code. Accessed 2009-08-04.
A
aidim (Yid. ): son-in-law, from middle-high-German eidam a schande (Yid. ): a disgrace; one who brings embarrassment through mere association, cf. German eine Schande, translated "a disgrace", meaning "such a shame" a schande far di goyim (Yid. ): "a disgrace before (in front of) the Gentiles", used as a Jewish insult against Jews who are perceived to further antisemitic stereotypes; also spelled in varied phonetic and Germanic ways as "a shanda fur di goyim", "a schande fur die goyim", and so forth; sometimes partially mistranslated as "a shande for the goyim", though far here means before and not forBefore Madoff, or the Goyim, a Shande, Philologos, The Forward. ay-ay-ay (Yid. ) (sometimes spelled ai-yi-yi; spoken "ei, yei, yei")Rosten, op. cit., p. 7. abi gezunt! (Yid. ): The first word is Slavic: compare Ukrainian aby (аби), Belarusian aby (абы) and Polish oby, both meaning "if only", "hopefully". The second word is Germanic, cognate to High German gesund. The phrase thus means "As long as you're healthy!"; often used as an ironic punchline to a joke abi me lebt (Yid. ): abi from Slavic, as in the previous entry; me lebt cognate to the German, man lebt, meaning "At least I'm alive"
B billig or billik (Yid. ): cheap, shoddy (said of merchandise); common expression "Billig is Teir" (cheap is expensive); as the German billig, "cheap" bissel (Yid. ): a small amount, "a pinch of" something (cf. Austrian/Bavarian bissl, a dialectal variant of the more standard German bisschen, "a little bit") bentsch/bentsching (Yid. ): to bless, blessing; commonly referred to saying Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) or when lighting shabbat candles (bentsch-light), from Latin, "benedicere", (to bless)Joyce Eisenberg, Ellen Scolnic, Dictionary of Jewish Words: A JPS Guide, 2010, p. 17 bentcher: a booklet with Birkat Hamazon and other prayers and songs associated with meal bubbameisse (Yid. ) old wives' tale, cock and bull story (often attributed by erroneous folk etymology to a combination of bubbe, "grandmother", and meisse, "tale", but in fact derives from "Bove-meisse", from the "Bove Bukh", the "Book of Bove", the chivalric adventures of fictitious knight Sir Bevys ("Bove") of Hampton, first published in Yiddish in 1541 and continually republished until 1910
C chazerei/chazerai/chozerai (Yiddish, khazerai "filth" or, perhaps more literally, "piggery", from khazer "pig" from Hebrew "hazeer", pig): junk, garbage, junk foodDictionary of Jewish Words: A JPS Guide, p. 26
E ekht (Yid. ): real, true (from German echt, "real") emes (Yid. ): the truth. From Hebrew emet, "truth" eppes (Yid. ) a little, not much, something; probably from Old High German eddeshwaz, with the eventual /-tw-/ assimilating into /-p-/; compare modern Swiss German and Bavarian dialects which have a rough equivalent ebbes ess (Yid. ; "Iss!" German imperative for "Eat!"): to eat, especially used in the imperative: Ess! Ess!
F fachnyok (Yid. ): negative term meaning very religious, often used to connote someone holier-than-thou; can be shortened to "chenyok", or used as a noun ("don't be such a chenyok") or an adjective ("you're so chnyokish"); possibly derived from Russian (khnyka) farblunjet (Yid. ): confused, perplexed, totally lost farkakte (Yid. ): screwed up, contemptible; literally "shat upon" (see verkackte) farklemt (Yid. ): choked up (with emotion) (cf. German verklemmt) farmisht (Yid. ): confused (cf. German vermischt = intermingled, mixed) farshtunken: contemptible, nasty (cf. German verstunken) feh (Yid. ): expression of disgust feygele or faygeleh (Yid. ): (pejorative) homosexual (literally 'little bird', from Old High German fogal; cf. modern German Vögele, also possible cf. German word Feigling, meaning 'coward'), could be used for anyone slightly effeminate, "Ugh, that Moishele washes his hands, what a feygele" often used as a disparaging term for a homosexual male fress (Yid. ): to eat, especially with enthusiasm (German fressen = "to eat like an animal, in an untidy way") frimmer (Yid. ): (British English slang): a Hasidic Jew (from Yiddish "frum", religious; also cf. German "Frommer" = pious person)
G gantz; gantze (Yid. ): all, the whole of ("the ganze mischpache" = the whole family, etc., cf. German ganz = "whole, all") gei gesund (Yid. gey gezunt): (from German) go in health; used as a goodbye; repeated in reply; usually neutral, but can be used sarcastically to mean "good riddance" gei avek (Yid. ): go away, from German gei shlofen (Yid. ): (from German Geh schlafen) go [to] sleep gehivays (Yid. ): It means literally "go know", as in "go figure." ("Last week she said she hated his guts and now she's engaged to him, geh vays") genug (from German genug; Yiddish ): enough geschmad, geschmadde (Yid. , from Hebrew meshumad, "destroyed"): adjective meaning "(a Jew who) converted to Christianity" gewalt (Yid. ; It is from German Gewalt, violence): equivalent to "oi, weh" or "good grief!" literally "violence" glück (Yid. , German): a piece of good luck gonef or gonif (Yid. , also ganiv): It means thief (Hebrew ganav. It can be used as a somewhat generic insult, implying a "lowlife"): the word has also been adopted from Yiddish into German as Ganove; also a thief (often figurative) gornisht (Yid. , from German gar nichts = nothing at all): nothing, not a bit, for naught goyisher mazel (Yid. ): good luck (lit. "Gentile luck"); mazel is from Hebrew mazzal, referring to luck or fate graube (Yid. ): (from German grobe, rough) coarsely or crudely made
H hegdesch (Yid. ): pigpen, often used to describe a mess (as in "your room is a hegdesch") hock (Yid. ): It means to bother, pester (as in the character Major Hochstetter from Hogan's Heroes; a hockstetter being someone who constantly bothers you). The word is a contraction of the idiom Hakn a tshaynik (literally "to knock a teakettle"; Yiddish: ), from the old time pre-whistle teakettles whose tops clank against the rim as the pressure pushed them up and down. It is often partially translated in informal speech, as in, "Don't hock my tshaynik about it!" ("Don't pester me about it!") hocker (Yid. ): botherer, pesterer (see above)
K kadoches (Yid. ): a fever; frequently occurs in oaths of ill-will (e.g., "I'll give him a kadoches is what I'll give him!); from Hebrew kedachat keppalah (Yid. ): forehead, diminutive of keppe keppe (Yid. ): head (e.g. "I needed that like a loch in keppe", i.e. a hole in my head); German "Kopf", coll. "Kopp": "head"; German "Loch": "hole" keyn ayn horeh (Yid. ; also pronounced: kin ahurrah): lit., "No evil eye!"; German kein: none; Hebrew ayn—eye, harrah—bad, evil; an apotropaic formula spoken to avert the curse of jealousy after something or someone has been praised khaloymes (Yid. ): dreams, fantasies; used in the sense of "wild dreams" or "wishful thinking", as in "Ah, boy, that's just khaloymes, it'll never come true" from Hebrew khalom (dream), pl. khalomot kife or kyfe (Yid. ): enjoyment; from Arabo-Persian keyf 'opiate; intoxication; pleasure, enjoyment' klop (Yid. ): a loud bang or wallop (German klopfen = "to knock") klumnik (Yid. ): empty person, a good-for-nothing (From Hebrew klum, nothing) krankhayt (Yid. ): a sickness (German Krankheit)
L l'ch'oira: (Yid. ) "seemingly;" from Hebrew lichora; ultimately from or, "light", as light is being shed on what has happened lobbus: a rascal, or young mischievous person; from lobes, lobus "urchin, young rascal" luzim (Yid. ): let it go, forget about it, from Old High German lazan, "let, allow;" famously used by the "Indians" in Blazing Saddles, where Mel Brooks says luzim gayen (), "let him go"
M maiseh (Yid. ): It literally means "deed, occurrence", a story or vignette about a person or event, (Heb. ma'aseh (same meaning as in Yiddish, though infrequently used). A small problem which blew up into a big story would be called a "ganze maiseh". It is also famous in the phrase a "bubbe maiseh", the equivalent of the English idiom "an old wives' tale".