Meanings
plural yentas · alternative yente · alternative yentl
- JewishA woman who meddles in the business of others; a busybody; a female gossipmonger.
Please don't tell your girlfriend what I said; she's a yenta!
1 more example
And you had to marry that yenta West Side broad from a family of ward politicians and punchboard gamblers of candy-store kikes and sewer inspectors.
1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 201
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Yiddishיענטע
- Yiddishיענטע
- Englishyenta
Borrowed from Yiddish יענטע (yente).
More words from Yiddish
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
yenta. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yenta
“yenta.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yenta. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yenta,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yenta.
Source: yenta on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.