Meanings
comparative more Yiddish · superlative most Yiddish
- Of or pertaining to the Yiddish language.
As a Yiddish proverb has it: Badarf men hunik ven tsuker iz zis? Who needs honey when sugar is sweet?
2007 January 26, Stefan Kanfer, “In Lower Manhattan, the Echo of the Yiddish Stage Endures”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 31 Mar 20191 more example
“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.
2015 December 22, Justin Wm. Moyer, “Donald Trump’s ‘schlonged’: A linguistic investigation”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 24 Dec 2015
- 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.
Yiddish is a High German language […] two varieties of Yiddish developed […]
1983, Philip Baldi, An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages, page 128Synonyms: Jewish
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveJewish; relating to Yiddishkeit.
proper nounA 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.
Origin
- Proto-Semitic*yad-
- Hebrewיָדָה (yadá)
- Hebrewיהודה
- Ancient GreekἸουδά (Ioudá)
- Ancient GreekἸουδαῖος (Ioudaîos)
- Latiniūdaeus
- Old High Germanjudeo
- Old High Germanjudeisc
- Middle High Germanjüdesch
- Yiddishייִדיש (yidish)
- EnglishYiddish
Borrowed 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. Piecewise doublet of Jewish.
More words from Yiddish, Middle High German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans Jiddisj, Jiddisj
- Jiddisjof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Jiddisjlanguage
Arabic يِدِيشِيَّة, إِيدِيش
- يِدِيشِيَّة (yidīšiyya)language
- إِيدِيش (ʔīdīš)language
- اليِدِيشِيَّة (al-yidīšiyya)language
Basque Jiddisha
- Jiddishaof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
Bulgarian и́диш
- и́диш (ídiš)language
Catalan ídix, jiddisch
- ídixof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddischof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- ídixlanguage
- jiddischlanguage
Chinese Mandarin 意第緒語 /意第绪语
- 意第緒語 /意第绪语 (yìdìxùyǔ)language
Czech Jidiš, jidiš
- Jidišof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jidišlanguage
Danish jiddisch, jiddisch
- jiddischof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddischlanguage
Dutch Jiddisch, Jiddisj
- Jiddischof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Jiddisjof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Jiddischlanguage
- Jiddisjlanguage
Esperanto jida, Jido
- jidaof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Jidolanguage
- jida lingvolanguage
- jidalanguage
- Jidiŝolanguage
Estonian jidiši
- jidišilanguage
Finnish jiddišinkielinen, jiddiš
- jiddišinkielinenof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddišlanguage
- juutalaissaksalanguage
French yiddish, yiddish
- yiddishof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- yiddishlanguage
German jiddisch, judendeutsch
- jiddischof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- judendeutschof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- judenteutschof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jüdischdeutschof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jüdisch-deutschof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jüdischteutschof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jüdisch-teutschof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Jiddischlanguage
- Jidischlanguage
- Jüdischdeutschlanguage
- Jüdisch-Deutschlanguage
- Judendeutschlanguage
- Judenteutschlanguage
Greek γίντις, γίντις
- γίντις (gíntis)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- γίντις (gíntis)language
Hebrew אִידִישָׁאִי, יִידִישׁ
- אִידִישָׁאִי (idishai)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- יִידִישׁ (yidish)language
- אידיש (idish)language
Hindi यिद्दी, यिडिश
- यिद्दी (yiddī)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- यिडिश (yiḍiś)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- यिद्दी (yiddī)language
- यिडिश (yiḍiś)language
Hungarian jiddis
- jiddislanguage
Icelandic jiddískur, jiddíska
- jiddískurof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddískalanguage
Indonesian bahasa Yiddi
- bahasa Yiddilanguage
Irish Giúdaise, Giúdais
- Giúdaiseof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Giúdaislanguage
Italian yiddish, yiddish
- yiddishof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- yiddishlanguage
Japanese イディッシュ語
- イディッシュ語 (Idisshu-go)language
Korean 이디시어
- 이디시어 (idisieo)language
Latin Judaeo-Germanicus
- Judaeo-Germanicusof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
Latvian jidiša, jidišs
- jidišaof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jidišslanguage
Lithuanian Jidiš, ji̇̀diš
- Jidišof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- ji̇̀dišlanguage
Malay bahasa Yiddish
- bahasa Yiddishlanguage
Norwegian Bokmål jiddisch, jiddisk
- jiddischof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddiskof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddischlanguage
- jiddisklanguage
Persian ییدیش
- ییدیش (yidiš)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
Polish jidyszowy, jidysz
- jidyszowyof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jidyszlanguage
Portuguese iídiche, iídiche
- iídicheof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- iídichelanguage
- ídichelanguage
Punjabi ਯਿੱਦੀ, ਯਿਡਿਸ਼
- ਯਿੱਦੀ (yiddī)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- ਯਿਡਿਸ਼ (yiḍiś)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- ਯਿੱਦੀ (yiddī)language
- ਯਿਡਿਸ਼ (yiḍiś)language
Romanian idiș, idiș
- idișof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- idișlanguage
Russian и́диш, и́диш
- и́диш (ídiš)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- и́диш (ídiš)language
- и́дыш (ídyš)language
Slovak jidiš
- jidišlanguage
Spanish ídish, yidis
- ídishlanguage
- yidislanguage
- yídishlanguage
Swedish jiddisk, jiddisch-
- jiddiskof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddisch-of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- jiddischlanguage
Thai ภาษายิดดิช
- ภาษายิดดิช (paa-sǎa yít-dìt)language
Turkish Yidiş, Yidiş
- Yidişof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Yidişlanguage
- İdişlanguage
- Yiddişlanguage
Ukrainian ї́диш, мо́вою ї́диш
- ї́диш (jídyš)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- мо́вою ї́диш (móvoju jídyš)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- ї́диш (jídyš)language
- і́диш (ídyš)language
Urdu یدی, یِدّی
- یدی (yiddī)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- یِدّی (yiddī)language
Vietnamese tiếng Yiddish
- tiếng Yiddishlanguage
Welsh Iddeweg, Iddew-Almaeneg
- Iddewegof or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- Iddew-Almaeneglanguage
- Iddeweglanguage
Yiddish ייִדיש, ייִדיש
- ייִדיש (yidish)of or pertaining to the Yiddish language
- ייִדיש (yidish)language
- מאַמע־לשון (mame-loshn)language
- זשאַרגאָן (zhargon)language
- טײַטש (taytsh)language
- ייִדיש־טײַטש (yidish-taytsh)language
Cite this entry
Yiddish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yiddish
“Yiddish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yiddish. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Yiddish,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yiddish.
Source: Yiddish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.