The Best Yiddish Words (and How to Use Them)

"If you don't have anything nice to say, say it in Yiddish!"

Yiddish might be the most fun language there is: affectionate, dramatic, a little dark and very, very good at insults. How many ways does one person need to call someone an idiot? Apparently a lot.

Yiddish Words for Family and Love

• Bubbe: grandmother.
• Zayde: grandfather.
• Bubbeleh: sweetheart, darling. What your bubbe calls you right before she pinches your cheek.
• Balaboosta: the ultimate homemaker. She cooks, she hosts, she fries latkes for 40.
• Mishpocha: family, the whole extended clan. "The entire mishpocha is coming for Passover."
• Naches: the proud joy you get from your kids or grandkids. "Her graduation gave me so much naches."
• Kvell: to burst with pride. "Every time he plays the violin, his grandparents kvell."

Yiddish Words for People (Nice and Not So Nice)

• Mensch: a genuinely good, decent person. The highest compliment in Yiddish. "He drove her to the airport at 5 a.m. What a mensch."
• Yenta: a busybody or gossip.
• Klutz: a clumsy person.
• Shlemiel: a hapless person who always messes up, the guy who spills the soup.
• Shlimazel: someone with terrible luck, the guy the soup lands on.
• Nudnik: a pest, someone who won't stop bugging you.
• Maven: an expert (often a self-appointed one). "My uncle is a real bagel maven."
• Putz / Schmuck: a jerk or a fool. Not words for Bubbe's dinner table.

The classic joke: the shlemiel spills the soup, and the shlimazel is the one it lands on.

Yiddish Words for Feelings

Yiddish has the perfect word for feelings English fumbles.

• Kvetch: to complain, habitually and with feeling. "Stop kvetching and eat your brisket."
• Oy vey: an all-purpose expression of dismay. Literally "oh, woe."
• Verklempt: choked up with emotion. "The toast was so sweet, I got verklempt."
• Plotz: to collapse or burst, usually from excitement or exasperation. "When I saw the price, I almost plotzed."
• Shpilkes: nervous energy, ants in your pants.
• Meshuga: crazy. A meshugeneh is a crazy person. "You drove to Jersey for a bagel? You're meshuga."
• Chutzpah: nerve, audacity, for better or worse. "It took a lot of chutzpah to take the last bagel."

Mensch Mug · $22 Chutzpah Bubble Letter Necklace - Gold · $42 Yiddish Word Magnets · $16.95 Kvetch the Crab Jewish Dog Toy · $12

Yiddish Words for Everyday Life

• Nosh: to snack, or the snack itself. "Grab a little nosh before we go."
• Schlep: to haul something (or yourself) a long, annoying way. "I schlepped this suitcase across three terminals."
• Schmooze: to chat warmly and work the room.
• Schmutz: dirt, a smudge. "Hold still, you have schmutz on your face."
• Shvitz: to sweat, or a steam bath.
• Tchotchke: a little trinket or knick-knack.
• Bupkis: nothing at all, zilch. "I worked all weekend and got bupkis."
• Shpiel: a long, often persuasive pitch.
• Mazel tov: congratulations! Literally "good luck."

Yiddish Expressions and Sayings

• Der mentsh trakht un Got lakht: Man plans and God laughs.
• Genug shoyn!: Enough already!
• Gey gezunt: Go in good health, a warm goodbye.
• Es vet helfn vi a toytn bankes: It'll help like cupping helps a corpse. In other words, not at all.

Yiddish Words You Already Speak

You probably speak more Yiddish than you think. Schlep, schmooze, klutz, chutzpah, maven and bagel all made their way into everyday English.

How to Pronounce the Tricky Ones

• Chutzpah: the "ch" is a throaty kh, not "ch" as in cheese: KHOOTS-pah.
• Naches: same throaty sound: NAKH-es.
• Kvetch: rhymes with "fetch."
• Schmooze: rhymes with "booze."

Where Did Yiddish Come From?

Yiddish grew up among Ashkenazi Jews in Central Europe roughly a thousand years ago. It's built mostly on medieval German, mixed with Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic words, and written in the Hebrew alphabet. It was the mame-loshn ("mother tongue") of millions of Jews in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust destroyed most of its speakers. Today it's still an everyday language in many Hasidic communities, and it lives on in klezmer music, theater, university classrooms and every family that still says "oy."

Wear (and Gift) Your Favorite Yiddish

Know someone who's a total mensch? Or a champion kvetcher? Our Yiddish gifts say it for you.

Mensch Hat · $30 Schvitz, Schmatta, and Schmutz House Towels - Set of 3 · $42 Chutzpah Bracelet - Gold · $42 I Like Your Chutzpah - Board Book · $9.99

Yiddish FAQ

What are the most common Yiddish words in English?

Schlep, schmooze, klutz, chutzpah, kvetch, nosh, mensch, maven and bagel are all Yiddish words that became everyday English.

What is the nicest thing to call someone in Yiddish?

Mensch, a good and decent person. Calling someone a mensch is one of the highest compliments in Jewish culture.

What's the difference between a shlemiel and a shlimazel?

The classic joke: the shlemiel is the one who spills the soup, and the shlimazel is the one it lands on.

Where does Yiddish come from?

Yiddish developed among Ashkenazi Jews in Central Europe about a thousand years ago. It's built mostly on medieval German, with many Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic words, and it's written in the Hebrew alphabet.

Is Yiddish still spoken today?

Yes. It's an everyday language in many Hasidic communities, and it's also taught at universities and kept alive in music, theater and the words so many families still use at home.