The story
- Hebrew · derived fromמַזָּל“luck”
- Middle High German · derived fromslim“crooked”
- Yiddish · borrowed fromשלימזל“misfortune”
- English todayshemozzle
UK late-19th century. Borrowed from Yiddish שלימזל (shlimazl, “misfortune”), from Middle High German slim (“crooked”) and Hebrew מַזָּל (mazzāl, “luck”). Cognate with US English schlimazel (“unlucky person”). Compare German Schlamassel.
Words from the same roots
Yiddishשלימזל all →
schlimazel
Middle High Germanslim all →
schlimazel
Hebrewמַזָּל all →
mazaldikmazel tov
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.