Sitzfleisch

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From German Sitzfleisch.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Sitzfleisch

  1. (countable) The ability to endure or carry on with an activity.
    • 1947, Frank Vigor Morley, “My One Contribution to Chess”, in Chess Notes, Faber & Faber:
      Sitzfleisch: a term used in chess to indicate winning by use of the glutei muscles--the habit of remaining stolid in one's seat hour by hour, making moves that are sound but uninspired, until one's opponent blunders through boredom.
    • 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin, published 2004, page 203:
      He never dallied with the image, beloved of the Renaissance, of the lean and shrunk-shanked scholar, possessed of infinite Sitzfleisch and inured to pain.
    • 2019 May 16, A.J. Goldmann, “A Festival of German Theater, Where More Is More”, in New York Times[1]:
      This year’s installment of Theatertreffen Berlin, the spring festival of the best of German-language theater that has been going strong since 1964, required some sitzfleisch — that is, the ability to stay planted on your derrière without fidgeting for the duration of a Wagner opera.
  2. (slang) A person's bottom; the posterior.
    • 1987, The Lexington Reader, page 530:
      Just as he was snorting and puffing like a grampus, I chanced to observe a quite formidable scar on his Sitzfleisch. With an apology for the personal nature of the question, I asked if it was a war wound of some kind.

German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From sitzen (to sit) +‎ Fleisch (flesh).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈzɪt͡sflaɪʃ/
  • (file)

Noun[edit]

Sitzfleisch n (strong, genitive Sitzfleisches or Sitzfleischs, no plural)

  1. (colloquial) buttocks
    Synonym: Gesäß
  2. (colloquial, by extension) ability to sit still, Sitzfleisch
    Diese Tätigkeit erfordert sehr viel Sitzfleisch.
    This activity requires a lot of Sitzfleisch.

Declension[edit]

Further reading[edit]