Etymology

chutzpah

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Today it means: Nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion. Full definition →

Yiddish חוצפּה ← Aramaic חוּצְפָּא
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The story

  1. Aramaic · derived fromחוּצְפָּא“audacity, boldness”
  2. Yiddish · borrowed fromחוצפּה
  3. English todaychutzpah

Originated c. 1890–95 from Yiddish חוצפּה (khutspe), which was either borrowed via Medieval Hebrew or directly came from Aramaic חוּצְפָּא (ḥuṣpā, “audacity, boldness”), derived from חֲצַף (ḥăṣap̄, “to be impudent, arrogant”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.