Yiddish

See also: yiddish and yíddish

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: yĭd'ĭsh, IPA^(key): /ˈjɪd.ɪʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

Yiddish (comparative more Yiddish, superlative most Yiddish)

1. Of or pertaining to the Yiddish language.
   • 2007 January 26, Stefan Kanfer, “In Lower Manhattan, the Echo of the Yiddish Stage Endures”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 31 March 2019:

     As a Yiddish proverb has it: Badarf men hunik ven tsuker iz zis? Who needs honey when sugar is sweet?

   • 2015 December 22, Justin Wm. Moyer, “Donald Trump’s ‘schlonged’: A linguistic investigation”, in The Washington Post‎^[2], archived from the original on 24 December 2015:

     “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.

2. (informal) Jewish; relating to Yiddishkeit.

   Synonym: Jewish

   Yiddish cooking; Yiddish music

Translations

of or pertaining to the Yiddish language

• Afrikaans: Jiddisj (af)
• Armenian: իդիշ (hy) (idiš)
• Basque: Jiddisha
• Catalan: ídix (ca), jiddisch (ca)
• Czech: Jidiš n
• Danish: jiddisch
• Dutch: Jiddisch (nl), Jiddisj (nl)
• Esperanto: jida
• Faroese: jiddiskur
• Finnish: jiddišinkielinen
• French: yiddish (fr)
• Galician: yiddish (gl)
• German: jiddisch (de), judendeutsch, judenteutsch (de), jüdischdeutsch, jüdisch-deutsch, jüdischteutsch, jüdisch-teutsch
• Greek: γίντις (el) (gíntis)
• Hebrew: אִידִישָׁאִי (idishai)
• Icelandic: jiddískur
• Irish: Giúdaise
• Italian: yiddish (it)
• Ladino: idish
• Latin: Judaeo-Germanicus
• Latvian: jidiša
• Lithuanian: Jidiš (lt)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jiddisch (no), jiddisk (no)

  Nynorsk: jiddisch, jiddisk

• Persian: ییدیش (yidiš)
• Polish: jidysz (pl)
• Portuguese: iídiche (pt)
• Romanian: idiș (ro)
• Russian: и́диш (ru) (ídiš)
• Scots: Yiddish
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ји̏диш

  Latin: jȉdiš (sh)

• Swedish: jiddisk (sv), jiddisch-
• Turkish: Yidiş (tr) sg
• Ukrainian: ї́диш (uk) (jídyš), мо́вою ї́диш (móvoju jídyš)
• Welsh: Iddeweg
• Yiddish: ייִדיש (yi) (yidish)

Jewish — see Jewish

Proper noun

Yiddish

2. 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.

   Synonym: Jewish

   Holonym: High German

   Meronyms: Eastern Yiddish, East Yiddish, Western Yiddish, West Yiddish

   • 1983, Philip Baldi, An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages, page 128:

     Yiddish is a High German language […] two varieties of Yiddish developed […]

Related terms

• Spanish Yiddish
• Yid
• Yiddish Alps
• Yiddishise
• Yiddishism
• Yiddishist
• Yiddishize
• Yiddishkeit
• Yiddish-like
• Yinglish

Translations

language

• Afrikaans: Jiddisj (af)
• Albanian: jidisht m
• Arabic: يِدِيشِيَّة f (yidīšiyya), إِيدِيش m (ʔīdīš), اَليِدِيشِيَّة (al-yidīšiyya)
• Aragonese: yídix m
• Armenian: իդիշ (hy) (idiš)
• Asturian: yídix m
• Azerbaijani: idiş dili, idiş
• Belarusian: і́дыш (be) m (ídyš)
• Bulgarian: и́диш m (ídiš)
• Catalan: ídix (ca) m, jiddisch (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 意第緒語 / 意第绪语 (zh) (yìdìxùyǔ)

• Cornish:

  Kernowek Standard: Yêdhowek m

• Czech: jidiš (cs) m
• Danish: jiddisch n
• Dutch: Jiddisch (nl) n, Jiddisj (nl) n
• Esperanto: Jido, jida lingvo, jida, Jidiŝo
• Estonian: jidiši
• Faroese: jiddiskt n
• Finnish: jiddiš (fi), juutalaissaksa (fi) (dated)
• French: yiddish (fr) m
• Georgian: იდიში (idiši)
• German: Jiddisch (de) n, Jidisch n, Jüdischdeutsch (de) n (dated), Jüdisch-Deutsch (de) n (obsolete), Judendeutsch (de) n (dated), Judenteutsch (de) n (obsolete)
• Greek: γίντις (el) n pl (gíntis)
• Hebrew: יִידִישׁ (he) ? (yidish), אידיש (he) f (idish)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} यहूदी (hi) m (yahūdī), यिडिश (hi) ? (yiḍiś)
• Hungarian: jiddis (hu)
• Icelandic: jiddíska (is) f
• Indonesian: bahasa Yiddi
• Irish: Giúdais f
• Italian: yiddish (it) m
• Japanese: イディッシュ語 (ja) (Idisshu-go)
• Korean: 이디시어 (ko) (Idisieo)
• Ladino: idish ?
• Latvian: jidišs m
• Lithuanian: jidiš (lt) ?
• Macedonian: ји́диш m (jídiš)
• Malay: bahasa Yiddish
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jiddisch (no) m, jiddisk (no) m

  Nynorsk: jiddisch m, jiddisk m

• Persian: ییدیش (yidiš)
• Polish: jidysz (pl) m
• Portuguese: iídiche (pt) m, ídiche (pt) m
• Romanian: idiș (ro) n
• Russian: и́диш (ru) m (ídiš)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ји̏диш m

  Latin: jȉdiš (sh) m

• Slovak: jidiš m
• Slovene: jidiš m
• Spanish: ídish (es) m, yidis (es) m, yídish (es) m
• Swedish: jiddisch (sv) c
• Thai: ภาษายิดดิช (paasăa yítdìt)
• Turkish: Yidiş (tr), İdiş sg, Yiddiş (tr)
• Ukrainian: ї́диш (uk) m (jídyš), і́диш (uk) m (ídyš)
• Vietnamese: tiếng Yiddish (vi)
• Welsh: Iddew-Almaeneg m or f, Iddeweg m or f
• Yiddish: ייִדיש (yi) n (yidish), מאַמע־לשון n (mame-loshn), זשאַרגאָן m (zhargon) (pejorative), טײַטש n (taytsh) (dated), ייִדיש־טײַטש n (yidish-taytsh) (dated)

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Yiddish terms

Further reading

• ISO 639-1 code yi, ISO 639-3 code yid (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Yiddish, yid ⁠, a macrolanguage including:
  • Ethnologue entry for Eastern Yiddish, ydd ⁠
  • Ethnologue entry for Western Yiddish, yih ⁠