Return to main page
Verhtehrbook

(Yiddish Dictionary)

a be gezunt: as long as you're healthy

a bissel: a little

af tseluches: in spite of

Alter Zaida: great Grandfather

Bar or Bat mitzvah: boy's or girl's coming of age ceremony

beema: altar

beshanna haba'a

be'Yerushalayim: Heb: next year in Jerusalem

big macher: big shot

beest du: you are

boychiks: boys, or men (affectionate)

bris: ritual Jewish circumcision

bruches: blessings

bubkes: nothing, beans, goat turds

chaloshes: weakness, nausea

chazar: pig

chochem: wise man

Chumash: book form of the Torah

chutzpah: impertinence, nerve, cheek

drek: crap

echad, shtayim: Hebrew: one, two

emmes: truth

Eretz Yisroyel: Land of Israel

Eretz Mitzrayim: Land of Egypt

farblondjet: misguided/lost

farkakteh: crappy

farmisht: mixed up

gai avec fun mir: get away from me

gai mir "kebenyeh fenyeh": slang: get away from me

gahntseh: entire

ganef: crook

gefilteh fish: chopped, cooked fish

gib a keek: take a look

glatt (kosher): certified kosher

Gotteniu: Oh God

goy, goyim: gentile, gentiles

greener: newcomer to Canada

hack mir nisht kain tsheinik: slang: don't bother me

haftorah: scriptures of the Prophets

haim: home

horah: Jewish folk dance

kasha & varnishkes: buckwheat & noodles

kenahora (kayn aynhoreh): without the evil eye

kish mir: kiss me

kishka: stuffed derma

klezmer: Jewish folk music

klutz: clumsy person

knobel: garlic

Kol Nidre: the emotional prayer that ushers in Yom Kippur

kreplach: perogies

kvetch: squeeze, slang: whine, or whiner

lieber: loving

maidel: girl

maisseh: story

mazel tov: congratulations, good luck

mazel: luck

mechayeh: a great pleasure

meeshpucheh: family

megilleh: lit: scroll, slang: verbose rigmarole

mentsh,mentshen: responsible person, and persons

meshuganner: crazy person

meshugeh: crazy

mezuzah: tube with scriptures on doorway of Jewish homes

mieskite: ugly thing or person

milchik or fleishik: dairy or meat

mohel (moyel): circumciser

morgen is main tag: tomorrow belongs to me

nebesh: nerd

noshen hommentashen: nibbling on Purim cookies

nudnik: bore, pest

ongeshtopt: stuffed

oy gevalt: a cry of anguish

paysachdik: kosher for Passover

pisher: a little squirt

plotz: burst

ptsha: meat bits & garlic in clear jelly

punim: face

pupik: belly button, chicken gizzard

pushkeh or pishkeh: charity poor box

potz: male organ

seder plate: ritual Passover plate

shabbis: Sabbath

shaygits: Gentile male

shiva: seven days of mourning

shlameil: clumsy bungler

shlemazel: a person with very bad luck

shlep, shlepper, shleppy: to drag, a beggar, unkempt

shlong: serpent, slang: penis

shmaltz, shmaltzy: grease or fat, sentimental, corny

shmatah: rag

shmegegge: a jerk

shmooze: chat; modern: to network

shmuck: a jerk, lit: male organ

shmutsik: dirty

shnorring: mooching

shpiel: to tell a tale

shpilkes: pins

shtetl: "old-country" village

shtarker: masculine

shtup: to push, slang: to fornicate

shvitz: sweat

shvontz: lit: tail, slang: male organ

s'vet dir gornisht helfen: it’s beyond help

takeh: indeed

Torah: the Jewish Bible

trayfe: unkosher

tuchas: posterior

tzimmis: carrot compote/overblown mess

tzooris: troubles

U or COR: letters identifying kosher food

varf: barf

vi gates? how’s it going?

wachad, nen: Arabic: one, two

yarmulke: skull cap

yashir koyech: may your strength continue

Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement

zei gezunt: be well