chutzpah

WOTD - 23 June 2008    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Originated 1890–95 from Yiddish חוצפּה (khutspe), from Mishnaic Hebrew חֻצְפָּה (ḥuṣpâ), from חֲצַף (ḥāṣap, “to be insolent”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: ᴋʜo͝otsʹpă, IPA: /ˈxʊts.pɑ/, SAMPA: /"xUts.pA/
• (US) enPR: ᴋʜo͝otsʹpə, IPA: /ˈxʊts.pə/, SAMPA: /"xUts.p@/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (RP) enPR: ᴋho͝otsʹpă, IPA: /ˈhʊts.pɑ/, SAMPA: /"hUts.pA/
• (US) enPR: ᴋho͝otsʹpə, IPA: /ˈhʊts.pə/, SAMPA: /"hUts.p@/

Noun

chutzpah (uncountable)

1. (slang) Nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion;
   • 22/01/2007, The Times, Modern Manners

     If the service is rotten and the meal a disaster, we should withhold a tip and explain why we are doing so. Few of us have the chutzpah to do this.

Derived terms

• chutzpadik

See also

• cheek (n.), cheekiness (n.), cheeky (adj.), immortal rind (n.)

Translations

nearly arrogant courage

Bulgarian: безсрамие (bg) n., нахалство (bg) n. Czech: voprsklost (cs) f., chucpe (cs), drzost (cs) f. Dutch: gotspe (nl) f. Finnish: kantti (fi) German: Chuzpe (de) f. Italian: sfacciataggine (it) f.

Macedonian: одважност (mk) (ódvažnost) f., дрскост (mk) (d'rskost) f. Portuguese: repichuchi (pt) Russian: наглость (ru) (náglost’) f., нахальство (ru) (naxál’stvo) n. Serbian: дрскост (sr), дрчност (sr) Spanish: desfachatez (es) f. Yiddish: חוצפּה (yi) (khutspe) f.

References

• “chutzpah” in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
• “chutzpah” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "chutzpah" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.